Whether the belief is dying out or gaining acceptance is not a rational answer to the question of why people hold the belief. So again, is grouping pigs and dogs into the respective groups of meal and pet anything other than an arbitrary distinction?
Oh, I wasn't intending to comment on the discussion you were having with the GP, just to point out a small flaw in reasoning.
But since you asked, no, it does seem rather arbitrary. I'm not sure where you wanted to go with that argument. I would not eat dog, but I happily eat pork. I don't have a rational explanation for why, but neither do I care enough about it to want to try to change it.
If I did, I would probably go in the direction of eating dog rather than to stop eating meat entirely. It would not take much to push me in that direction. A few weeks in Korea might be enough for me to get over it.
