I've caught a lot of lobster off the coast of LA. We hoop net by the breakwall in Redondo. Usually they're just over a foot long at the beginning of the season and by the end it's hard to find a legal one. I always let the men deal with the killing part. They use the "knife through the skull" method instead of the boiling alive method. They also had the same mentality as the David Foster Wallace mentioned: Typically we catch 10-20 lobsters a session, so the rest of the tails get frozen in milk cartons filled with ocean water until they are ready to be eaten. Fresh lobster is better, but 2 day old lobster that's been frozen in saltwater isn't noticeably different. It is fucking ordeal to catch lobsters yourself – which is why those lobsters taste way better than the same lobsters from the fish market. We typically get down to the harbor at 4:30 or 5, grab some scraps of bait from the fish market, untangle the nets, hope there aren't maggots in them, put the bait scraps in pantyhose, tie those to the nets, find leftover 2 liter bottles in the recycling, put glowsticks in them, tie those to the nets, pack everything and a case of beer into the dingy, and set off. Then we drop all the nets one by one, circle back to the first one, pull it up, grab any lobster, check the length, throw them back if they are undersized, add new bait if it's gone, drop it the net back down, and repeat until we've hit our limit or we are too cold, wet, and stinky to do it anymore. I never really thought about the killing part or pain that the lobster feel, beyond the fact that I'm too squeamish to take part in it myself. I don't necessarily like it but I don't know if it is better or worse than the slabs of pink meat I pick off the shelf at the grocery store every week. I have a higher respect for hunters who hunt, kill, skin, butcher, and eat their own meat than I have for myself picking $15 steaks out of a fridge. There really is something to eating something that required effort to obtain. I don't know. It's easier to ignore the death or horrible shit or pain or whatever. (This applies to everything - not just lobster.) Taking a moment to think about it instead of ignoring it or forcing it to the back of your mind is probably better in some sense. But it's also fucking depressing. One thing about being human is we get to rule this Earth - for better or for worse. I think the takeaway from this piece is that we should all be more aware and reflective about the things we do, or animals we eat, or choices we make every day. The things that are easy to ignore can be quite interesting when examined – especially when examined by David Foster Wallace in ten thousand words. Does it mean that I'll stop eating lobster? No. Does it mean I'll think twice before throwing the lobster into the dingy next season? Not at all. But I'll probably think back to this essay next time I'm trying to wash the saltwater and fish smell out of my skin while licking my lips and watching lobster tails boil magnificently. Another thing about being human is we are capable of being reflective and empathetic. Maybe we should try to do more of the latter as we are ruling the world.
...plus that a willingness to exert personal agency and accept responsibility for stabbing the lobster’s head honors the lobster somehow and entitles one to eat it.
Just me who spotted the contradiction in these two consecutive sentences? On one sentence you say you don't give a shit about suffering you may cause on other creatures and on the next sentence you say we should give a shit? Which is it?One thing about being human is we get to rule this Earth - for better or for worse.
Yes, and because we rule the world we should do it consciously and responsibly if we don't want to go down the road of self-destruction like we've been doing. But I'll probably think back to this essay next time I'm trying to wash the saltwater and fish smell out of my skin while licking my lips and watching lobster tails boil magnificently. Another thing about being human is we are capable of being reflective and empathetic.
I've promised myself I wouldn't ever engage with you, but I'm breaking my own rule here. This is the dumbest, meanest, most worthless fucking thing I've ever read on this site. Where in your rotten conscience did you read "I don't give a shit about suffering"? She said "for better or worse" humans are the hegemons on Earth. That's a qualified position if I've ever read one. Then she says that she has a conflict in her own thinking between wanting to catch food and eat it and the human ability to feel empathy. I suppose it's lost on you because there's subtlety and nuance in the statement. Fuck off. Hard.
What is the "dumbest, meanest, most worthless fucking thing" is to claim you care about something and them do the opposite. To claim you care about animals and then eat them is extreme cognitive dissonance at its prime.
This statement is, also, not incredibly intelligent. I care about a lot of animals more than I care about most people, and would not want them to suffer. This however doesn't keep me from eating them because I need sustenance and my body was designed to eat omnivorously. Do you seriously think that you know better than around 200,000 years of human evolution that has designed you to be able to eat meat, as well as fruits and vegetables? So you're under the assumption that because plants can't tell you that they feel pain that they don't and their life isn't as valuable as your animals are? You realize that plants are more important than animals as far as your existence is concerned because without them you would have no oxygen and die. By your logic you should just not eat, wither away and die.
The human body is not designed to eat animal products. See this chart: No, I think doctors and science known better. We are opportunistic omnivores, not obligate omnivores. We adapted to eat meat for survival. The western society is not only well past survival point but the consumption of animal products is damaging our health, environment and depleting resources unnecessarily. You don't have to believe me, read through this website and follow the references on it if you're still sceptic: http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/ The comparison of plants to animals is a common one when you ran out of arguments. A lot of plants give their fruits freely without needing to damage the whole plant but let's say that the plants we kill do feel pain. Veganism is about reducing UNECESSARY suffering. We eat plants to survive while animals are enslaved and killed purely for human enjoyment. Yes.I care about a lot of animals more than I care about most people, and would not want them to suffer. This however doesn't keep me from eating them because I need sustenance and my body was designed to eat omnivorously.
Do you seriously think that you know better than around 200,000 years of human evolution that has designed you to be able to eat meat, as well as fruits and vegetables?
So you're under the assumption that because plants can't tell you that they feel pain that they don't and their life isn't as valuable as your animals are?
You realize that plants are more important than animals as far as your existence is concerned because without them you would have no oxygen and die.
By your logic you should just not eat, wither away and die.
Where did I say that? You do know you don't need animal products to be healthy? This is not a new concept.
Your first point is wrong- check your teeth. Your second point is wrong- doctor's and science disagree with you. I'm not saying you can't develop a diet that sustains you healthily on only meat or veggies, but you were designed for both. Your third point is wrong- its a valid argument, I am very into horticulture and there are male and female plants that both show signs of stress when you change any environmental factor or cut them up. They don't readily give you fruit, you're eating their reproductive cycle. I'm glad you agree on the fourth point because it's accurate and therefore make animals less important in the scheme of things to us. Your fifth point- where you stated you can't care about animals and eat them. As plants are more important life than animals, you should care about their lives and suffering more than animals, therefore, you should kill and eat nothing/die.
I'm sorry there's so much wrong with your comment that I have ran out of energy to reply. It looks like you completely ignored my previous effort to reply to you with blank "you are wrong" replies. To the point that I'm no longer sure if you're serious or just trolling.