STUDENT WRITING - Persuasive - EATING DOGS by NGUYEN, GIANG NGOC

EATING DOGS: OPINION AND EVIDENCE

Each country has its particular dishes which are made from disparate ingredients, various materials, different cooking methods and some skillful techniques. These things truly portray a country’s culture and customs. Therefore, the disrespectful and prejudiced view of said customs and traditions is unacceptable. The controversial issue about whether to eat dogs or not makes the world turn its backs on countries where dogs are used for meals and parties… including my beautiful country Vietnam, which has a variety of ways to cook them: broiling, stewing, steaming, BBQ… What is the difference among dog meat, beef, pork, and so on?

After the Big Bang, the world was divided into six continents: Asia, America, Africa, Europe, Australia and Antarctica. Due to these different distributions, it developed in diverse ways with respect to every country’s lifestyle, especially when it comes to eating dogs which has become part of the culture of my country and which most people think is a cruel and terrible affair. Before we address this question, I have a question for anti-dog eating proponents. How different is it from Mexicans eating horses, Indians swallowing bugs, Malaysians digesting insects, Koreans having live octopuses for meals, Thais eating alligators, Japanese killing whales to make sushi, or Chinese using shark for luxurious parties? If human beings are equal, why can’t animals be equivalent?

First of all, people usually consider dogs as pets, so they keep and take care of them as a part of their family (usually in Western countries). However, have they ever thought why they didn’t choose butterflies, bugs, or even wild and ferocious animals as their pets instead of dogs? Many excuses will emerge in this situation. It is an oxymoron when people can’t determine whether true or not animal intelligence is actually a fact, so they pick a normal and general one not to get in trouble. Second, why do animals exist on this planet? Aren’t they used for entertaining, helping, protecting us, and basically eating? Think about it further; if we didn’t use them for meals, what would the Earth be like? Full of animals or, more horribly, human beings would be back in the Dinosaur Empire when they were our boss and humans might become extinct. Regardless, eating dogs doesn’t mean living to eat but eating to live in moderation.

As other countries eat conventional animal meat, we Vietnamese eat dogs because of their undeniable benefits. According to Vietnamese ancient documents, dog parts were and are used as a panacea to cure diseases such as: lung cancers, asthenic, male impotence, etc. In more specific detail, dog meats help gentlemen be more vigorous and wilder when having sex because dog bones contain sweet calcium and strong yin which affects tendons, blood, and muscles. If you combine dog bones with monkey bones or horse bones and stew them for long hours in order to obtain a nutritious broth to drink, it will help heal impotence in men. Moreover, dog meat is also used for traditional medicines to treat baby night peeing habit. The recipe calls for: 150g dog meat and 40g stewed black beans. Cook together and eat from 5 to 10 days while it is hot. Another benefit is that it is good for those who often have cold hands and feet and are less resistant to cold weather as it eases diarrhea, sneezing and coughing. Because dog meat has a strong yin, it can heal these problems better than conventional medicines and it has no side effects. You can see how beneficial dog meats are.

Surely this debatable issue would make PETA organization (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) have to launch a disastrous revolution if every country ate dogs. We Vietnamese admit to eating dogs but in moderation, just once a week or a month, not every day. Everything has two sides, bad and good, if you know how to keep it under control. Breaking natural laws doesn’t mean it is utterly wrong. It depends on every single person’s mind. Whether or not you eat dogs is not a serious matter. It’s better to take it easy and show your cultural respect to dog eating countries generally and specifically my country. An extremely famous celebrity, Christina Aguilera, said in a speech: “Haters are going to hate, no matter whether what you do is right or wrong.”

How unacceptable is it? We are cleverer than animals because we have knowledge and recognition to judge something consciously. Yes, dog meats may cause fatal and serious diseases the most dangerous of which is rabies, but a British doctor, Edward Jenner has already created a vaccination for this. Anti-dog eaters who claim that most dog eating people are in a danger of getting rabies are wrong. It is a big misconception about dog eaters. We eat vaccinated, certified, and documented dogs which come through the process before cooking. A second counterargument is about morality. As I have said before, eating to live not living to eat. We are born, grow up, and become mature and we should taste everything at least once so as not to have any regrets when we are on the verge of leaving this beautiful world to meet our forefathers. Moreover, it is about broadening our knowledge of cultural culinary arts when you come to dog eating countries like Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, and certainly Vietnam. Finally, anti dog eaters claim that it is also about humanity. The dog is a loyal, smart and adorable pet. Therefore, it is too cruel when dog eating people say: “Its meat tastes delicious. It is not tough as beef or hard to swallow as alligators and resilient as goats. You just need to open your mouth and chew it easily without losing any teeth.” The problem with this argument is that they are only opposed to eating dogs and not other animals. Why aren’t they against eating cows, pigs, deer, horses, and chickens? Why such conflicted thoughts? For instance, Muslims condemn eating pork. Why? It is simply because this is their culture.

We are all born with the same goal: to live better on this Earth. So why do these prejudices still exist? Keeping a far distance and looking down on people with cultural and religious misunderstandings and misconceptions is not right. Eating dogs is as healthy as eating any other animal and not too awful to think about. Bear in mind this quote: “What you think is just only your opinion, not evidence.”

References:
http://www.ykhoa.net/yhocphothong/thamvansuckhoe/20_050.htm
http://hoianuong.vn/chu-de/nhung-tac-dung-bat-ngo-tu-thit-cho.6190/

STUDENT WRITING - Persuasive - THE NEGATIVE RESULT OF THE NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT by ARMANDO GOMORA

It has been more than twenty years since the North American Free Trade Agreement, commonly known as NAFTA, was signed by the presidents of Canada, Mexico, and the United States in 1993. The pact, which took effect on January 1, 1994, created the world´s largest free-trade zone (Encyclopedia). I specifically think that in the case of Mexico, it has not had the impact and the results that it was supposed to have in the economy and the development in pro of Mexican people. How much time is needed to see that it does not work anymore and that it has been detrimental and not beneficial instead? One could see NAFTA positively but the facts cannot be hidden.

First, its supporters maintained since the beginning that once the agreement was signed, poverty would be drastically reduced in all fields in Mexico within ten years at the longest though it has already been twenty years since then and NAFTA has caused a worrying impoverishment in critical sectors inside the country. The most affected are the farmers. Before the agreement, they used to supply the domestic market with staple products such as beans, corn, or chicken. Now, they cannot compete against transnational companies which sell these products even in the most remote places in Mexico. It is paradoxical that Mexicans buy imported beans! No matter if one goes to a big supermarket or to a little grocery store, both sell “Michigan black beans.”

As a result, some states like Oaxaca, Zacatecas, or Guanajuato lose a great amount of people who emigrate to the United States and Canada each year, mainly from rural zones, in order to get better conditions to live (Bacon). Ironically, many of them will become farm works who will work for the companies that later will sell their products in Mexico. This is harmful and unjust.

Second, urban zones are not exempt from collateral damage. In spite of the fact that multinational companies have obviously invested millions of dollars for industrial development and for the service industry, and consequently the creation of many jobs related to it, most of them are low-paid jobs. NAFTA companies come to Mexico, make Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), establish their factories, and take on many workers. Then they pay them only a miserable salary of $4.6 dollars per day (Wage). One can see that they take advantage of the cheap Mexican manpower. Moreover, managerial jobs are commonly given to American and Canadian citizens in most cases. Why don´t they give opportunities to Mexicans in these positions? We also have qualified individuals. I am not talking about Mexicans in Canada or the United States. I am talking about Mexicans in Mexico.

Finally, the Federal Government says that due to NAFTA, tons and tons of merchandise enter and leave Mexico every day and it receives the payments of customs tariffs to contribute to public spending although they have also affirmed that customs duties only represent less than 1% of the total that is collected year-round (Revenue). This is easy to understand because the principal purpose of NAFTA was to remove the barriers to trilateral commerce among the countries that signed it. More than barriers, it eliminated the chance that Mexico might be a developed nation, always being submissive to the interests of the other two countries.

As you can see, the agreement is regrettably deceptive. The patterns which NAFTA has followed these twenty years will not change. Mexico needs to take a more active role with its trading partners to protect the welfare of its people. It can do immediate actions like, for example, restrict the importation of basic products originated in NAFTA so the farmers do not have to leave the country, or to increase the minimum wage in order for employees to earn what they deserve working long days, or even in a hypothetical case, to break the agreement. What is this great country waiting for? That Guadalajara, Monterrey, or Mexico City will sell “American tortillas?”

Works Cited
Bacon, David. “Globalization and NAFTA Caused Migration from Mexico.” The Public Eye Magazine. 11 Oct. 2014. Political Research Associates. 14 Apr. 2015 ˂http://www.politicalresearch.org˃.
Encyclopedia. “North American Free Trade Agreement.” International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 14 Apr. 2015 ˂http://www.encyclopedia.com˃.
Revenue. “Ley de Ingresos de la Federación para el Ejercicio Fiscal de 2015 [Revenue Law of the Federation for the Fiscal Year of 2015].” Diario Oficial de la Federación. 13 Nov. 2014. Secretaría de Gobernación. 14 Apr. 2015 ˂ http://www.dof.gob.mx˃
Wage. “Minimum Wages in Mexico with Effect from 01-01-2015 to 31-12-2015.” WageIndicator Foundation. 02 Jan. 2015. University of Amsterdam – AIAS. 14 Apr. 2015 ˂http://www.wageindicator.org˃