March 19, 2009

"It's okay to eat fish 'cause they don't have any feelings..."

... or, oh, maybe not...



***

Song lyric in the post title comes from this:

61 comments:

Synova said...

It's okay to eat fish because humans are omnivores, for Pete's sake.

Same reason it's okay to eat an antelope or cow or chicken or eggs or insects or fungus or fruit.

Also, if the head can be removed without the body knowing it's dead... it's a vegetable. Which counts both fish *and* chickens.

Bissage said...

It's not okay to eat people 'cause other people will kick your ass.

garage mahal said...

Speaking of Nirvana:

Grilled Wahoo

Ingredients: 6 fillets wahoo, about 1/2 inch thick
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
6 cloves fresh garlic
1/3 cup fresh cilantro or parsley
2 Tbsp Cajun seafood seasoning
1 lemon, juiced
lemon wedges for garnish

Puree everything in a blender, brush on liberally and DO NOT overcook. Best tasting fish in the ocean, possible exception ocean run snook. Yes better than tuna.

TJ said...

O. My. G! Ezra Klein has this same clip up today. Althouse is taking blogging orders from the JournoList! Conspiracy unmasked!

traditionalguy said...

The continuing saga of demeaning Man's right to rule this planet in the name of "Morality". This type of drivel is toxic waste. Do any serious people really fall for this "fish suffering" requiring a morality police's jurisdiction to judge (for a price) who is absolved of the Truckload of made up guilt by these same professional con men?

traditionalguy said...

To answer my own question, if Global Warming con-man inspired guilt can sells us out using crap for brains, then what's a little Fish worship also imposed under the confused authority of the thinking atheists of the world?

Jane said...

The Buddha said:
So long and thanks for all the fish.

Tibore said...

This imposed morality that Animal "activists" throw out is just useless. It's even descended into frivolity; anyone notice PETA's "Sea Kitten" campaign? Also, has anyone noticed that such morality is not followed in the wild? When was the last time you saw a lion take the wildebeast's feelings into consideration? I've also yet to see a shark or tuna feel remorse over eating some other fish.

Eating animal flesh is natural. There's nothing wrong with avoiding it, and there's nothing wrong with indulging in it. But raising any question about morality is creating an argument that's contrived at its base.

Like the cliche goes: If God didn't intend man to eat cows, he wouldn't have made them out of steak.

TitusMyLipchins said...

I am glad to know this because I eat a lot of fish. Yummy, yummy.

I am not a big meat eater though. Not because of the animal thing just because I don't really like meat that much.

What about when you throw a lobster in the hot water and it makes that noise?

I don't like swimming in the ocean that much either because the fact that all those fish have pinched a loave in there and it makes me a little squeezy. And some of those fish are whales so you know they must have some huge loafys.

I prefer just to walk along the coast, sandals thrown over shoulder, shorts down a little low so you can see a little bit of my bush and abs glistening.

Chip Ahoy said...

A few days working in the onion mines should cure a bloke of any indisposition to eating fish.

The other day I replaced the high output fluorescents on the tank which involved removing the hood. Once finished, I noticed a rasbora on the carpet looking a little sere with a pillow feather stuck on its body. I carefully flicked it onto a finger and lifted it back into the tank. It floated helplessly. I poked it downward. The feather was still stuck to its body. It suspended aimlessly eventually drifting over to the filter output where it's body was pushed back and its gills became flooded with a stream of water. It shook to life and joined the school. Now all the fish think I'm the fish the messiah. Lo, they have seen with their own eyes being lifted up and restored. Have they not seen me feed the masses with a single node of frozen meal? I giveth the light and bring on the darkness. They worship me, and fear me. They feel.

Fish broth made the Japanese way, kombu katsuobushi dashi in other words, with sole and vegetables and pasta. The sole is frozen, diced, and added in the last moments. The fish cooks for all of two minutes.

Skeptical said...

Singer pwned by Cowen.

Put this on Failblog with an ANIMAL RIGHTS FAIL.

rhhardin said...

The only legitimate food is furniture.

Nat Lamp had a whole issue on it, I think.

I recommend encoignure loaf.

AllenS said...

Does this onion ring smell fishy?

TitusMyLipchins said...

Speaking of fish the summer beach season is a little over two months away. Are you ready? What are you doing to get in top shape in order to whip it off and begin the runway walk along your local beaches and boardwalks?

Time is of the essence this time of year. Make sure you keep track of everything you put in your mouth.

Joseph said...

"The continuing saga of demeaning Man's right to rule this planet in the name of "Morality". This type of drivel is toxic waste. Do any serious people really fall for this "fish suffering" requiring a morality police's jurisdiction to judge (for a price) who is absolved of the Truckload of made up guilt by these same professional con men?"

I feel similarly about the drivel of made up "Morality" promoted by the Pope and many others telling us that stable legalized relationships between people of the same sex are an abomination, railing against use of condoms in AIDS-sick Africa. The deference so many of us give to the "Morality" these conmen spew comes at a big price too.

Synova: "Also, if the head can be removed without the body knowing it's dead... it's a vegetable. Which counts both fish *and* chickens."

I assume you are just joking as this is true of many animals, including humans. The headless body of an animal doesn't "know" anything and will continue to function briefly until all residual chemical and nervous inputs have ceased.

DaLawGiver said...

A few days working in the onion mines should cure a bloke of any indisposition to eating fish.

That's not an onion mine, that's my colon and how the doctor removed some polyps.

How did you get that video anyway, haven't you heard of the medical privacy act?

David said...

Hey, the fish will eat you if given a chance.

Not just sharks.

Put a body in the water, let it start to decompose into edible bites for the smaller fishies, and presto, you are fish food.

Do you think the fish are worried about eating you?

Cedarford said...

Fish do have feelings. Animal behavioralists have charted a range of emotions - most hardwired, some adaptive. They have even better understanding of emotions in squid and octopus because their chromatopheres (color cells on skin) instantly chart their emotional state.

Even finding octopi can be made very happy by solving a puzzle, after going through problem-solving with a range of emotions.

One experiment put a crab in a clear box right outside the tank. The octopus went brown dotted (I'm agitated I can't seem to get that tasty crab because the tank wall blocks me) to red (I'm really pissed I can't kill it and eat it) white and blended with sand color (screw it, I'm just a dumb octopus) to pulsing blue-green with ink jets (hey, wait, what if I go to the top of the tank and lower my tenacles down? Hey, it's working! The clear crab shell box is opening with two tenacles prying open the top! Yes, be afraid little crabbie! Very afraid.)
Bright blue (Gotcha) Satisfaction (My, crab is so yummy! Yum! Crunch! Yum! Wave and pitch with your stupid claws tasty morsel, while my beak chews you apart while you are alive.)

Animal behavioralists have noted similar behavior from Octomom. Especially on Welfare Check Day, when Octomam can be spotted hovering by her mailbox for her state disability welfare check and the welfare checks and WIC card for her 14 spawn. Octomom takes on a beaming smile, a red flush, and in a strange Octomom version of a animal mating display - approaches suitable males passing by to ask them for a fresh cup of semen..

traditionalguy said...

If the Pope's legalism bothers you, you could read the book for yourself. It has been translated into English since about 1600, ever since that translating and printing ceased to be a Death Penalty offense required by the Pope.The Presbyterians in Scotland found lots of good reading in the 1611 translation and there are also modern english translations today. Read it if you dare.

Unknown said...

traditionalguy --

"Fish worship also imposed under the confused authority of the thinking atheists of the world?"

Screw off, religio-boy. This atheist hunts, fishes and eats all manner of fauna. By the way chump, many PETA'ns are religious. Animal rights idiocy knows no bounds.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

garage said...

Grilled Wahoo

Ingredients: 6 fillets wahoo, about 1/2 inch thick
...
Puree everything in a blender...


I tried your recipe, but the pureed wahoo kept dripping down into the grill.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Bissage said...

It's not okay to eat people...

That's why they invented Hufu

traditionalguy said...

Oligonicella... How do you fight these idiots without ammunition? It helps when your "unalienable rights" come from an authority gteater than the latest fad.

Christopher in MA said...

Joseph Hovsep said:

"I feel similarly about the drivel of made up "Morality" promoted by the Pope and many others. . .railing against the use of condoms in AIDS-sick Africa."

Speaking of which:

"We have found no consistent associations between condom use and lower HIV-infection rates, which, 25 years into the pandemic, we should be seeing if this intervention was working." - Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, earlier this week.

But what do "conmen" like that know? He's probably a stooge on the Vatican payroll.

Peter V. Bella said...

Do any serious people really fall for this "fish suffering" requiring a morality police's jurisdiction to judge (for a price) who is absolved of the Truckload of made up guilt by these same professional con men?

Why yes they do. They shell out bucks to join groups like PETA and more bucks for various causes. Some law schools actually teach animal rights law. Then there are the food terrorists caled vegans. They shell out big bucks for various products that most people cannot afford.

Where ever there is a dishonest buck to be made there are suckers waiting in line to throw money away.

garage mahal said...

IiB:
Puree everything but the wahoo. And the lemon wedges. Every man should catch and eat at least one wahoo in his life.

themightypuck said...

I could eat a knob at night.

Kirby Olson said...

Exporting Democracy and Protestant Christianity would change the world. Pricey, but then we wouldn't have to take in all these losers.

themightypuck said...

Actually my view is that if you want to eat healthy, eat like Art Devany. This is clearly an immoral way to eat from a utilitarian perspective since everyone can't eat that way.

Peter V. Bella said...

Every man should catch and eat at least one wahoo in his life.

Many did. They are called ex-wives. :)

Methadras said...

Tyler looks like he is calling from PETA prison. For eating fish. How dare he.

garage mahal said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
garage mahal said...

Many did. They are called ex-wives. :)

I don't recall any wahoo extorting money from me after I caught and released them ;)

traditionalguy said...

The threat of PETA Prison for rebellious animal eaters will be the perfect solution to the Crisis of Global Cooling caused by climate change that masks the actual Global Warming taking place today that absolutely will raise the sea levels by year 2100. You just catch meat eating Doctors and nurses coming out of Sonic and sentence them to Community Service providing free Socialized Medicine worth what you pay for it. Then the rate of people dying off faster will eliminate CO2 usage by living people. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. There is a Crisis you know.

Shanna said...

Best tasting fish in the ocean… Yes better than tuna.

Better than Grouper? I doubt it.

SGT Ted said...

I wish someone would eat Pete Singer.

Alexander Wolfe said...

Also, has anyone noticed that such morality is not followed in the wild? When was the last time you saw a lion take the wildebeast's feelings into consideration?

Humans: no worse than lions.

Not very inspiring, you say?

Alexander Wolfe said...

Some law schools actually teach animal rights law.

NO!

Oh, and no one's offered the "but it tastes good" defense yet. We must have all sides of the issue here.

Automatic_Wing said...

Oh, and no one's offered the "but it tastes good" defense yet. We must have all sides of the issue here.

OK - meat tastes good. Also, it's good for your health and helps make you less of a self-righteous prick.

Unknown said...

traditionalguy --

How do you fight these idiots without ammunition?

Your presumption is wrong. Logic works plenty well.

It helps when your "unalienable rights" come from an authority gteater than the latest fad.

Fads too are not restricted by religious outlook. Fishing for Jesus? Idiots abound in every stripe.

garage mahal said...

Better than Grouper? I doubt it.

Try some grilled wahoo once and I think you'll be singing a different tune :)

traditionalguy said...

We lost this battle when we let the restaurants get away with calling Dolphin fish by the code words Mahi Mahi. Can we still eat turkeys, as long as we apologise first and pay offerings to the Turkey Temple for our absolution?

Tibore said...

"Xanthippas said...
Also, has anyone noticed that such morality is not followed in the wild? When was the last time you saw a lion take the wildebeast's feelings into consideration?

Humans: no worse than lions.

Not very inspiring, you say?"


That's sort of a misread of what I was getting at. My point was that the whole morality angle was a construct, and not reflective of nature itself. Why is it immoral for a human to eat an animal, but not a lion?

"Xanthippas said...
Oh, and no one's offered the "but it tastes good" defense yet."


That's what I was getting at with my "made them out of steak" quip.

traditionalguy said...

The Roman Empire was fed protein primarily by a diet of salted fish. The salt industry was like today's oil industry. You had to be worth your salt to get any respect. That means fish are the oldest and greatest symbol and highest honored object in the Greco-roman Mediterranean world we call our cultural ancestors. So the notion that fish are entitled to our protection will never fly. They should stick to trying to ban eating the Cows and smoking the Tobacco, both of which are more North American than Mediteranean.

Trooper York said...

On the other hand the fish taco has feelings.

Trooper York said...

The true boulevardier makes it his mission in life to make sure that he always leaves the fish taco happy and content.

Trooper York said...

Remember while is always acceptable to eat a fish taco, it is never advisable to let the fish taco eat you.

Some of them have teeth you know.

Trooper York said...

Most importantly, never let the fish taco tell you what to do. Savor it, celebrate it, and treat with all the consideration and respect you can muster. But never let it tell you what to do.

There lies madness.

Trooper York said...

Now grasshopper. See if you can grab the fish taco on my hand.

Doug Smith said...

>>>There lies madness.<<<

Madness? This is Sparta!!!!

Doug Smith said...

test

Tibore said...

Yes, but after you eat the fish taco, will she respect you in the morning?

Trooper York said...

Maybe not but respect is overrated.

I bet she will answer your calls.

Trooper York said...

You know that Simon Peter invented the first fish taco on the shores of Galiee back in Bible times. So when Jesus told him to put down his fish taco and to follow him, it caused all kinds of confusion.

Synova said...

It's not okay to eat people 'cause other people will kick your ass.

This is probably far truer a reason than most people would be comfortable admitting.

Synova said...

We lost this battle when we let the restaurants get away with calling Dolphin fish by the code words Mahi Mahi.

I had understood that dolphin is in no way the mammal we also call a porpoise, but a fish, and considering the confusion listing it as Mahi Mahi makes sense.

Synova said...

Joseph:
I feel similarly about the drivel of made up "Morality" promoted by the Pope and many others...

Most of that "morality" has clear relevance to how people actually behave... a relevance to nature, disease, and reality. Not all of it... but most. Comparing this to the morality (or immorality) of eating meat or fish is comparing moral codes in opposite directions from each other... eating meat is what we have *evolved* to do. It is entirely in line with nature and in line with our digestive systems, our teeth, and our nutritional needs. We were not designed to eat a vegetarian diet and can not do so and remain healthy without some care to replace what is missing... because something *is* missing.

Sexual morality is similar in that stable, legalized, *exclusive* relationships provide for the best protection against the spread of disease and for the knowledge of paternity and care of genetic offspring. Technology gives us some other options, but it's like eating a "healthy" vegetarian diet... it takes that extra intervention.

What we are physically designed for, in either case, is subverted by all over moralizing about eating animals or by tossing traditional sexual morality out the window.

And *please*... if you're a gay person trashing traditional morality and claiming that what you want is traditional, legalized, stable, exclusive marriage relationships, you're the first gay person I've met who had that combination of beliefs. Generally those who want "traditional" also value "traditional" and consider the Pope (or whomever) right on monogamy (or at the very least exclusivity and life commitment) even if they consider him entirely wrong on the "same sex" part of the question.

Though I shouldn't assume you're gay. Maybe you're like those male "feminists" who are trying to help out.

I assume you are just joking as this is true of many animals, including humans. The headless body of an animal doesn't "know" anything and will continue to function briefly until all residual chemical and nervous inputs have ceased.

I assume you've never actually butchered anything in your life. Ever. Certainly not a chicken or a fish.

And yes, duh, it was a joke. I don't suppose that a fish is a vegetable.

The guy on the video says that fish aren't killed in a humane manner. If you've cleaned fish you'll know that you can pith them through the head and they often don't die. My own kind heart requires that I cut through their spine behind the head and tell myself they are dead while I clean them because they keep on flopping. You can pull their guts out and often find the heart which will not keep beating for a moment or two, but maybe 15 minutes or more.

My mom once butchered a turtle that continued to "live" for an entire day.

Poultry is confined during butchering because if it isn't it will run away without a head... which is quite a sight.

David said...

Titus: "Make sure you keep track of everything you put in your mouth."

Et Tu, Titus.

Peter V. Bella said...

Fish tacos for every one! A car in every garage, a house for everyone who wants one, and a fish taco for all!!!!!

So sayeth out new soviet masters.

Tibore said...

"Trooper York said...
You know that Simon Peter invented the first fish taco on the shores of Galiee back in Bible times. So when Jesus told him to put down his fish taco and to follow him, it caused all kinds of confusion."


Well... they were all Jewish. Does that make it a Gefilte fish taco??

Penny said...

And if Troop believed that one, Tibore? We need more friggin' apples!