30 years ago, I perpetrated a media hoax called Dog Meat Soup in which, pretending to be a Korean entrepreneur, I solicited dog shelters for their unwanted dogs to be used as food for human consumption. My intent was to expose hostility and racism that permeates both the public discourse and the media’s coverage. As I expected, all hell broke loose, as gullible animal lovers spewed outrageous invectives against ALL Asians (they apparently couldn’t tell the difference between Koreans, Japanese, Chinese and others) accusing them of outrageous acts of violence against animals and telling all Asians to go back to their countries and cook their own babies.
This cultural intolerance is eerily like what’s happening now based on fake information perpetrated by politicians with an agenda, targeting immigrants and accusing them of eating family pets in Springfield Ohio. Prejudiced and biased opinions about this are dominating our news and social media platforms. Let’s not be fooled by reactionary politicians who have a political agenda to confuse and divide the public.
Check out John Tierney’s 1994 expose of the Dog Meat Soup hoax for The New York Sunday Times Magazine.
And watch the Dog Meat Soup segment of a 2003 ABC TV 20/20 interview.
