The push for 'Lobster Rights'

[foodie52]

Has anyone asked the lobsters what THEY think?

[Arianna]

I find this very disheartening. Animal rights are something that we should all be talking about and supporting. They are not something that we can even argue about. When you are part of an ecosystem, you cannot disregard that ecosystem and live how you want. This is the problem with America and it's excesses. We have invaded and taken over an entire planet. What makes this planet our space, and allows us to treat it's creatures as if we are the best one? Lobsters, be they insects or creatures lower on the food chain or whatever they are in relation to us, still deserve at least a thought about how they are going to be treated.

Of course, if Whole Foods was serious about this whole sustainability pitch that they constantly trumpet, they would only sell lobsters in Maine or off the coast of Newfoundland and other places where they actually catch lobsters. Of course this is a marketing ploy, Whole Foods is a guilt assuager for yuppies.

[TPO]

I do believe that all animals should be respected, especially those used for food, but I would prefer that activists begin with the animals who have horrible lives before they are killed. At least lobsters live a normal life until the day they get caught in the trap. That's more than I can say for cows and chickens that spend an entire lifetime in pens where they can't move, who never know sunshine or grass under their feet. That's better than ducks who are force-fed excessively through tubes so they can become fois gras.

In the case of Whole Foods perhaps they already sell only free-range meats and eggs, so maybe lobsters are the final frontier for them. Otherwise I would prefer they worry about the animals who have zero quality of life. Then after they are helped, move on to insects of the sea.

Edited January 3, 2006 by TPO (log)

[srhcb]

I find this very disheartening.  Animal rights are something that we should all be talking about and supporting.  They are not something that we can even argue about.  When you are part of an ecosystem, you cannot disregard that ecosystem and live how you want. This is the problem with America and it's excesses. We have invaded and taken over an entire planet. What makes this planet our space, and allows us to treat it's creatures as if we are the best one? Lobsters, be they insects or creatures lower on the food chain or whatever they are in relation to us, still deserve at least a thought about how they are going to be treated. 

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One person's excess may be another's necessity?

Perspective is individual.

Freedom to express opinions based on it are a luxury.

Anyway, some day our Sun will burn out if it doesn't explode first. All life as we know it will cease to exist. How we treated lobsters, other creatures, or each other will become a moot point.

SB (In the meantime, in between time .....

[Daniel]

I find this very disheartening.  Animal rights are something that we should all be talking about and supporting.  They are not something that we can even argue about.  When you are part of an ecosystem, you cannot disregard that ecosystem and live how you want. This is the problem with America and it's excesses.

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Actually, that is what I find great about America.. Most countries dont even take human rights into consideration.. Here we have compassion and whole organizations set to protect creatures big and small..

[Lady T]

Quite, srhcb. In the meantime, my knives are kept at a pretty fine edge, and if I don't quickly boil my lobstahs, then they're going on the grill, split in two and discharged of unnecessary innards, after a fast merciful meeting with my 9" Wusthof.

Nobody suffers that way. And PETA, in my 'umble opinion, needs to go mind its own business.

*Edited to correct punctuation.*

Edited January 3, 2006 by Lady T (log)

[JLam]

The fact that we are sitting around discussing the treatment of lobsters speaks volumes of the good fortune afforded every single one of us who participates here.

We get to lounge around and debate whether or not lobsters are treated well. We get to choose whether or not we want to eat them. We can, in fact, eat whatever we want, whenever we want.

We should stop for a moment and realize that we are part of a very small minority of the world's population who enjoys these kinds of priveleges. We are all, by virtue of nothing more than the place we were born, very very lucky. So eat the lobster, enjoy it, and remember how fortunate you are to be eating it.

Sorry to derail the thread, but that thought just struck me and I wanted to get it out.

[Megan Blocker]

Amen, JLam. Every time a thread like this comes up, I find myself interested...but I also find myself thinking about the fact that millions of people on this earth don't have enough to eat on a day to day basis...

Makes me think that debates over lobster treatment are a little self-indulgent.

I still find them fascinating, though, and am thrilled to be a part of the conversation!

[Megan Blocker]

Just a thought - people who actually lose sleep over this probably won't be buying the lobsters.  I mean, I see the point of free-range, organic chicken - we're talking about treatment over a longer timespan, and it does make tastier chicken - but concerns over how lobsters are treated just before they die?  You're going to cook the thing alive, man!  If you're down with that, are you really worried about the tank it's in?

Just wondering who they think this "marketing ploy" will appeal to...

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I'm not sure exactly who those folks are either Megan. But in the very competitive, low profit margin world of supermarkets, perhaps management felt it couldn't hurt to give the "appearance" of caring about lobsters. What's scary is that according to the article above which sparked this, as usual, lobsters are just a starting point; there are movements afoot to extend this "concern" to the steaming of crabs and crayfish, with the suggestion that these crustaceans be sold dead and raw. Ugh.

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Good points...and, ugh, indeed!

[JLam]

What's scary is that according to the article above which sparked this, as usual, lobsters are just a starting point; there are movements afoot to extend this "concern" to the steaming of crabs and crayfish, with the suggestion that these crustaceans be sold dead and raw.  Ugh.

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Yeah, let's get everybody sick....as long as the shellfish are comfy before they die.

[handmc]

"lobster rights" - where is Monty Python when you need them. THey could fill a half hour with this one.

[Patrick S]

After the lobsters will come the cockroaches, and after the cockroaches will come the Demodex folliculorum liberation movement.

D. folliculorum are tiny little 8-legged arthropod animals (lobsters are arthropods too), less than 1/2mm long, that live in and around the ecosystem that is our hair follicles and sweat glands, where they feed on dead skin cells and (occasionally) cause skin disease. I imagine that every shower we take is like a flood or a tsunami to these little buggers. Yet no matter how hard I try, I can't make myself feel any more compassion for them than I do for lobsters.

[AndrewK]

One thing I noticed last week while walking around the ultra-cool brand-spanking new John Mackey theme park (aka Whole Foods on 6th Street) was the lack of roaches, rats, or other vermin running around the store. How did this happen? Speaking as someone who has worked in grocery stores and the food industry for his entire professional life, there is no way this could have been done without some sort of "inhumane" disposal. What a bunch of hypocrites! You're telling me that I can't buy a sea-roach from you because they are sitting in a cardboard box instead of in their own crap on the ocean floor, but you can spray for bugs and get rid of your own pest problems so that you can keep up the appearance of a squeaky-clean store? It makes me ashamed to be a stock-holder in WF.

For that matter, there were no homeless people or any of that ilk hanging around the store, but a number of very mean looking security guards standing at the entrance and exit doors. No transients hanging around a building downtown in a post-Katrina Texas city? Someone is clearly not making them feel welcome since they won't be buying a wheatgrass shot from the veggie bar.

Lobster rights? Give me a break...

ak

[fatmat]

Top of the food chain, not planning on budging

[mikeycook]

I, for one, would be happy if they could just find a way to keep the lobsters from dying in the tanks. I miss being able to buy lobsters in Portland and Boston where they are live and fiesty, with their tails kicking hard against their bodies when you pick them up, as opposed to the ones that look like they are awaking from a thousand-year sleep.

If the activists want to talk humanity, they should look at the treatment of cows and chickens. Of course, that's easy to ignore when they come pre-wrapped in plastic.

Having been born in Maine and lobster being a first love, I will buy my own traps and catch them myself before I will stop eating them (even if activists chain themselves to my boat).

[CtznCane]

The more I think about it, the more I start to think the reason Whole Foods will discontinue the lobsters is because with all their organic produce and such a good many of their customers are these half baked nut cases who are complaining about it in the first place.

I'm in total agreement that worrying about the lobsters when millions even in America are going hungry is so absurd. What do these same people say about what these animals, in the wild, do to one another? Heloooooooooooo. You think a Lion is going to humanely kill its prey? Get a clue, get a life, get a dose of reality. As to us 'giving them a thought about how they're treated' we do. We give thought as to whether we'll broil them, sautee them, stuff them, and have lots of consideration in just how we will choose to devour them. All we ask is, just because you don't want them dont try to visit and impose your arcane beliefs on the rest of us. If you haven't gathered it by now, we don't care. We want our lobster.

Bottom line, these extremists are no different in many regards than many other fanatics. They are obsessed to a point of sheer lunacy. Moreover, in general they are the ones most adamant about not wanting any of their freedoms infringed upon but don't give a damn about the freedom of others. The lesson to the rest of us should be clear, there is no cure for stupid.