I recently met a friend for dinner. This friend is a native of Guangxi, one of the provinces where dog meat is popular. He challenged my use of the word “torture” to describe what people do at dog meat festivals in China. I explained that “torture” is defined as the act of inflicting severe pain, either to make the victim do something or simply for the sake of pleasure. Therefore, it’s the perfect word, since dog butchers inflict as much pain as they can for the sake of pleasure — gustatory pleasure. Read more
