wcs@ho95e.UUCP (x0705) (02/05/86)
(Disclaimer: Ok, so I'm not a vegie, and I do eat meat, but still..) I was walking through a grocery store the other night, and they'd just put in a live trout tank in the appy department. There was this fish staring at me with a dumb-looking expression on its face, and it really bothered me that it was just sitting there for someone to kill it and eat it. At least there was pasta at home for dinner. Depressing. -- # Bill Stewart, AT&T Bell Labs 2G-202, Holmdel NJ 1-201-949-0705 ihnp4!ho95c!wcs
wfi@rti-sel.UUCP (02/06/86)
In article <456@ho95e.UUCP> wcs@ho95e.UUCP (Bill Stewart 1-201-949-0705 ihnp4!ho95c!wcs HO 2G202) writes: >(Disclaimer: Ok, so I'm not a vegie, and I do eat meat, but still..) > >I was walking through a grocery store the other night, and they'd just >put in a live trout tank in the appy department. There was this fish >staring at me with a dumb-looking expression on its face, and it really >bothered me that it was just sitting there for someone to kill it and eat it. Why would the impending end of an animal with a brain the size of a popcorn kernel bother you when you're surrounded in the meat department by the body parts of animals that have much more complex nervous systems and hence are much closer than us in their responses to pain and emotional stimuli? Fish are dim bulbs, intellectualwise (if I may Haigspeak myself :-). Feeling empathy for a fish makes as much sense to me as feeling empathy for an oyster or a block of wood. -- A True Troutivore, Bill Ingogly
slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) (02/07/86)
>Fish are dim bulbs, intellectualwise (if I may Haigspeak myself :-). > -- A True Troutivore, Bill Ingogly I'm always tickled by the fishermen (bass fishermen are the most vocal about it) who spend a great deal of time telling you how they outwitted a fish last Saturday. Somehow, being smarter than a fish was never anything I'd care to brag about. Now watch the flames pour in from the fishermen! (The lobsters in the store bother me more. I realize they are even dimmer than the trout, with an IQ in the same general range as slime mold, but something about boiling your dinner alive turns me off. I don't eat lobster. By the way, anyone remember Larry the Lobster on Saturday night live?) -- Sue Brezden ihnp4!drutx!slb ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nirvana? That's a place where the powers that be and their friends hang out. --Zonker Harris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
tookman@endot.UUCP (Kathy Tookmanian) (02/12/86)
I agree with you! I can't stand to go into a grocery story and see those poor LOBSTERS (who also have small brains) walking around waiting to be boiled alive. At least when you see meat PARTS, it's easier to call it food. I suspect we'd feel differently about hamburger if we saw the COW waiting around to be killed. kathy
ccc@bu-cs.UUCP (Cameron Carson) (02/14/86)
>I agree with you! I can't stand to go into a grocery >story and see those poor LOBSTERS (who also have small brains) >walking around waiting to be boiled alive. At least when >you see meat PARTS, it's easier to call it food. I suspect >we'd feel differently about hamburger if we saw the COW >waiting around to be killed. This was the scenario of one of the early "Bloopers and Practical Jokes" segments. Someone went down to the butcher shop with one of the girls from "Facts of Life" and found a cow tethered inside the shop. After they ordered the roast or steaks or whatever, the butcher's assistant led the cow into the back room, presumably to slaughter, cut, wrap, etc. It definitely added a new perspective. -- Cameron C. Carson Distributed Systems Group Boston University ACC UUCP: ...!harvard!bu-cs!ccc ARPA: ccc%bu-cs@csnet-relay.arpa