Call us sensitive city folk if you must, but we were horrified to hear about Monday’s enormous cockfighting bust. We know birds fight in nature, but something about drugging them to prime them for bloodlust and outfitting them with wing-blades doesn’t sound like our idea of a fun afternoon. Then again, there are no international covenants on cockfighting, so maybe that’s just cultural relativism for you–after all, if you know the term ‘cultural relativism’ you have probably taken Anthropology 101 and read Clifford Geertz’s classic anthro text “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight” (spoiler alert: Geertz wasn’t too preoccupied with the ethical implications of cockfighting), so maybe this has more to do with the specific mores of our place and time than it does with animal rights or an absolute morality, right?
