Why do can't we judge someone elses ethics or culture or sports? If it is wrong and animals are tortured in the process the it is wrong period.
It is such BS that people hide behind the words culture and tradition...I find that to be a cop out.
In think there are moral absolutes and the abuse of animals is wrong in the USA, Mexico, China, Russia, Bangladesh, Norway, Gambia, South Africa....get my drift?!
PS... That isn't very open minded but a lot of things were allowed to happen by open minded people (Slavery, Holocaust, Rwandan Genocide)
Mainly, I was suggesting that on an international website, we can't assume or insist that everyone shares the same norms. But as others have already said more eloquently, I think that we in the US are too quick to judge the ethics of other peoples by our own standards, when we can't even begin to understand what a social practice means to people from a completely different place, background, language, etc. This isn't to defend animal cruelty. Surely you can understand the distinction. Or is the world really that black and white to you? Must be nice to be so smug.
And speaking of other cultures - dr2little, where exactly are livestock chained? That is such a horrible comment and it hurts me, because I know how much love is given to those dogs, and you all have continually insulted this good man. I guess you feel as though defending chained dogs (who don't need your defense, by the way) is more important than showing a little humanity.
There is no simple answer to the question you've raised about why not breed to eliminate dog aggression. First, that has already been done for the most part with pit bulls (hence, the AmStaff), although this wasn't purposeful, just the natural result of breeding for looks rather than performance. Somewhere in this process though, we ended up with the bullies, bandogs and other pit mixes, some of which have tendencies toward being unstable and human aggressive. Those are the dogs which have caused the public's pit bull prejudice and which are clogging the shelters, and it is truly horrific. Some people enjoy the drive and personality of the original gamebred APBT, and give them a good life, IMO. Many dogs of all breeds are bred today that cannot and do not fulfill their original purpose or spend 24/7 with their owners. The only answer to that is... no more dog breeding, period. And personally, I'm not willing to go there yet.