Enough dogma, throw the disc.
It’s an often reiterated rule of etiquette to never discuss religion or politics in polite company. And this is why etiquette is for pussies.
See, “religion and politics” are essentially stand-ins for weltanschuuang – a larger world view that incorporates philosophy, values, and ethics. The big IMPORTANT things in life unless you’ve tuned out and decided to just get by and let other people do your heavy lifting for you.
The dog world is inherently religious and political and thus any meaningful discussion of the culture is bound to be controversial.
It’s asinine that the most fundamental aspects of culture are off the table “in polite company” and it makes etiquette into a shallow, superficial, fake experience, albeit one that preserves the status quo. If you can’t work through ethics and values and philosophy what’s the point of everything else?
The obvious reason that such topics are taboo is because they are controversial and most people are not particularly willing to change their stance, especially with the activation energy of a dinner party or meeting with people you frankly don’t care deeply about otherwise. It usually requires a much more significant event like a death or epiphany to move someone to really question and alter their views in a rapid fashion or the long slow process of erosion of a belief over time against the realities of life.
Thus “just don’t talk about it” is a conflict avoidance mechanism for etiquette doyennes to play fun-police and say NO ARGUMENTS! and keep people happy and the wine in the glasses instead of splashed in faces.
The thing is that this conflict avoidance makes sense when we out-source and up-source the big questions to other people. The sheep let the shepherd make the choices and worry about the smaller questions of where am I going to eat and poop today. There’s also an inherent insecurity involved with most world views where having others believe what you believe and act how you act is an evolutionary advantage so when you find yourself in conflict, you change them, they change you, or you get out. Some missionaries employ the tactic to overcome someone’s extant world-view, but by far the most popular strategy is to use family pressure over children and spouses and indoctrination of blank slates via upbringing and control of the schools. It’s no small coincidence that most people adhere to the religion they were born into or married into.
Taking risks and learning things first-hand is hard and can lead to failure so it’s a risk-averse strategy to let others experiment, let others stick their necks out and stay with the herd because it’s easier and safe, even though it’s pretty mindless.
And human culture has positively reinforced this behavior. Religions and Political Parties are like turn-key weltanschuuang for you to just swallow whole, and both are also highly indoctrinated into youth by their parents and peers right along with language and fashion and a variety of communal behaviors. And even with their massive and inherent contradictions and flaws almost all social systems enforce the rules on everyone with strict punishments for anyone who doesn’t play the game the “right” way.
Dog culture, the primary focus of this manifesto, is all about Religion and Politics and this is why any discussion about ethics, efficacy, values, faults, and change are inherently impolite. Registries are hierarchical political organizations that delegate power downward through breed clubs and exercise their power through intellectual property and barriers to entry. They “own” the breeds and issue limited member certificates to distinguish “us” vs. “them.”
The social political structure is also informally enforced by breed matrons and patrons who are typically the most connected breeders to the breed club and the registry and position themselves as “mentors” to select few new breeders and position themselves against most others. Who gets to use whose stud dog and who selects the judge for which specialty and whose dogs that judge favors are all sorts of social-political drama-inducing behaviors that are entrenched in the culture.
The culture is also religious in the sense that there are just so many elements of the philosophy that must be taken on faith, as they are not science or evidence based — and would not naturally reemerge if they were forgotten, and are thus handed down by indoctrination like all faith-based systems. The breed standards are part of this ad hoc religion as well as breeding methods like certain inbreeding schemes or sire selection criteria. So too are puppy rearing techniques and placement behaviors.
If there were an easy, universally effective, and uncontroversial way to tell people they’re wrong or even find the Truth on even a single issue; there would be one government, one belief system, and scientific consensus on every issue.
Failing that, making sausage is going to look messy. There’s just no other way about it. Pick what strategy you want, but they all have their strengths and weaknesses and even the most brilliant and motivated people have yet to find the one-true-way to convince people of some greater truth.
In fact, most of the best methods to win minds are logical fallacies, conspiratorial, manipulative, and used to convince people of falsehoods. Or you don’t try and change minds and just preach to the choir, reinforce extant biases, and cheer-lead instead of lead.
So if you actually want to tackle extant culture head on, it gets messy. It’s part of the process really. It’s not primarily about changing minds and winning hearts, liars do a much better job of that. It’s not about waxing romantic about history or pretending that your little corner of the culture is just superior as-is and above reproach. To me it’s about speaking truth and recognizing things that will be validated not by popularity but by authenticity.
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You say it’s not considered polite to talk about religion and politics. Maybe I read too many dog forums and blog comments . . . I sure see a lot of dog people who aren’t polite, and I wish some of them would shut up and think critically before they start preaching.
I grew up with mutts, and a mother who lamented that show culture had ruined the breeds she grew up with as a child (Cocker spaniel and rough collie). I’ve ended out on the fringes of dog culture, agnostic, but fond of Labradors. I find lots of fellow agnostics in the Labrador crowd.
What surprises me most about dog religion/politics is how ugly and vicious the various cults are toward one another. Reading the stuff Jemima Harrison puts up with in her blog makes me cringe, especially as so much of it is so poorly reasoned and attitudes are rarely backed by evidence. It’s not just the breed stuff. The desex-em-all crowd, the raw feeders, the positive-methods-only crew, the natural therapies crowd (skeptvet.com gets really impressive hate mail), the line-breeding advocates . . .
I could not say it more accurately…Thus “just don’t talk about it” is a conflict avoidance mechanism for etiquette doyennes to play fun-police and say NO ARGUMENTS! and keep people happy and the wine in the glasses instead of splashed in faces
Read more: http://www.border-wars.com/2014/11/dog-culture-is-religion-and-politics.html#ixzz3kjcxHJdX
Ha ha this made me laugh, very true.
For myself I made one brief foray into the politics and religion of dog breeding and shows to be put off for life. This wasn’t my fault I just thought I wanted a dog.
I honestly don’t have the energy never mind the will power and Im a tolerant sort of person. If it wasn’t for the welfare of the animals I love I think I would’ve let it be a long long time ago already.
What keeps me involved/interested is that puffing wheezing roaring bulldog walked around the block every Tuesday, that bulging eyed stenotic nared pug puppy sitting in the shop window, those crippled German Shepherds paraded every morning by bored Philippine domestic helpers and etc etc.
If you dine with pigs you are likely to become a pig, at least how else could you possibly manage to remain silent.
No need for us to continue grunting those platitudes to quell our own inner unease.
Sounds like SOMEONE’S warming up for spending the “holidays” with extended family, haha!
On a more serious note, I think that breeding brachycephalics is cruel and unethical, but my daughter’s 4H Youth Dog Show judge @ our county fair is a bulldog breeder. Fortunately, I was forewarned by the bulldog pendant that this judge always wears, or I may have shot my mouth off on this topic before I knew. So for my kid’s sake, I’ve felt the need to filter myself in conversation with this seemingly nice woman, tho I’ve made sure to discuss w/ my daughters the facts about the myriad problems these poor little mal-bred freak dogs are destined to encounter. It hard, because this judge is very patient, encouraging, and supportive of the youth dog handlers, and I like and respect her for that, but man, why bulldogs?
I think in the case of your judge, it’s probably a good idea to accept her patience, encouragement, and support of the youth (those aren’t bad things) while rejecting her choice of breed/breeding goals.
It probably boils down to nobody being perfect, and you can like a person’s good qualities without buying into everything about them. This is probably a good lesson to teach children — it will serve them well out in the world of adulthood.
I’ve known several horsemen that I consider fabulous riders who exhibit traits I would wholeheartedly emulate…but I wouldn’t follow all of their training techniques because I don’t agree with them (their other talents notwithstanding).
Jennifer I fully agree with your comment. I DO like this judge. She’s very supportive and encouraging of the youth showmen, and seems like a kind person when I chat with her. I guess my comment probably sounded a little harsher than it was meant to be.
I do imagine that for some folks it is quite a leap to see these critters as mutants ill-equipped for survival without humans. I guess since I live out in the boonies, I’m always thinking a few steps ahead and I hope that if my dog and I were ever separated in some kind of cataclysmic even,t and my dog had to run feral for a while, that he’d be able to survive. I’m sure he’d eat his fill of squirrels and rabbits, but his tendency to want to mount other male dogs can get him in trouble, but I don’t think I can change that–he was just born that way, haha!!! (No offense intended to ANYONE!)
it’s cool — your post didn’t sound harsh as much as frustrated. I think we can all relate to that!
I know plenty of people in the horse and dog world who are wonderful people with a lot of knowledge to give (which they do, freely), yet their some of their choices in breed, etc. leaves a person scratching their head.
Sometimes it’s just a case of “I agree to disagree with that” — that’s really something we all have to do no matter what walk of life.
Oh shame I saw a bulldog yesterday, actually I saw two this week. The one yesterday was outside the supermarket. The poor thing had such an undershot jaw all its bottom teeth were showing including both lower canines. It almost certainly would be having difficulties eating. Sweet thing it cocked its head at me then wiggled its bum. So sad to see an intentionaly deformed dog. The other was in a busy part of town. I saw it when I drove in then later again and it had walked far too far and begun making horrific noises.
I realise even though Im not sure why but it does take something of a leap in education to see dogs like this as deformed and even suffering so am never quite sure what to say to the owners who seem mostly to cherish their dogs. I feel bad for both dog and owner.
The controversy is in the details.
I believe the vast majority of reasonably intelligent people – even those who DO “hold the keys” will agree with everything you’ve written here.
But once you move to anything specific — ANYTHING specific — the knives will come out. 🙂