Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Foie gras is a disease, not a delicacy
I read all of the comments on both links. What I don’t understand is people’s refusal to educate themselves. Talk about knee jerk reactions, people! Especially the people blathering on about the environment, I was surprised (though I shouldn’t have been, I know better) that they didn’t see animal farming as being incredibly harmful, and one of the easiest ways for them to improve their own “footprint” on the earth.
What is so wrong about being as compassionate as possible, anyway? And human rights? Haven’t they paid any attention to the conditions of the workers in the slaughterhouses? Our food choices have a huge impact on people as well as the animals and the environment. Why can’t they see that it is all connected? Frustrating.
I will send some friends here today, for sure.
And I just realised I forgot to bring my lunch. Hopefully an apple will get me through the day!
Morning all, hopefully everyone’s day is off to a better start than mine!
Posted by Deb on from NoVa 02/08 at 08:15 AMGood morning Deb & good morning Mick,
I fully confess to having enjoyed foie gras and leberwurst for many years. Like most, I never gave all that much thought to what exactly it had started out as, or how it ended up in it’s present form on my plate.
Knee jerk reactions and willful ignorance are once again the culprits keeping many people from educating themselves.Those commentors are largely off their nuts. I especially liked the one who berates you for caring about animals rather than people...quite an embarassing assumption on that individual’s part.
I’ve noticed a creepy aspect to that sort of criticism...they seem to believe that we need to either be caring toward other humans or toward other animals. Pray tell what should stop us from caring for both??
I received a similar reaction when Katrina’s aftermath was unravelling and so many animals were in need of shelter...I did a short post asking people to help if they could, really rather mild stuff, and some psychopath berated the very notion of assisting cats or dogs when there were human lives at stake. I was altogether shocked that an appeal for mindfulness and generosity should instead generate judgemental and self-righteous behaviour.
Thanks for another great article, Mickey.
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 02/08 at 08:39 AMGood morning Amelopsis and Deb...Deb an apple sounds good. I have been eating red grapefruit every day. This years crop has been really good.
Mickey...I have never tasted foie gras. I guess I’m not missing much. You would like one of the news stories in the local newspaper today. It is not online yet, but the high school gets to do one page every week. Today one of the reports was about the vegan group at the local high school.
Looks like a mistrial has been declared in the case against Lt Watada. That is an interesting case because his original defense was going to be that the war is illegal, not that he is a CO. That defense was not allowed by the court. Too bad because it would have been great to see the legality of the war argued in a usa court; on second thought, it would be even better to see that arguement made in a court that had some legitimacy.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 02/08 at 08:58 AMAmelopsis, I always find it funny also to be accused of not caring about animals as if it is an either/or. As if humans are not animals! Creepy is right.
Rarely are those people especially caring about humans themselves. Honestly, I think it is a line they have heard, and which they repeat as if it means something.
RMJ, now you have me wanting some red grapefruit. I saw them at the store the other day, but I didn’t get any because they’re sort of messy for me to eat at work. But I think of grapefruit, and I think of sunday mornings, sunshine, and my dad in the house I grew up in. Now I’m going to have to get some!
Interesting about Lt. Watada’s case being declared a mistrial. What comes next, do you know?
captcha says “several”, and I really hope so!
Posted by Deb on from NoVa 02/08 at 09:35 AMHello Expendables. It’s still very cold in NYC.
Nice start here, Deb, Empress, and RMJ. To my taste buds, grapefruit is very bitter...so I don’t eat them too often.
RMJ: Do you know what’s next for Watada?
Btw, I really should write an article about the disconnect between human rights and animal rights. In the meantime, Peter Singer sez:
“Everyone has a limited amount of time and energy, and time taken in active work for one cause reduces the time available for another cause; but there is nothing to stop those who devote their time and energy to human problems from joining the boycott of the produce of agri-business cruelty. It takes no more time to be a vegetarian than to eat animal flesh. When non-vegetarians say ‘human problems come first,’ I cannot help wondering what exactly it is that they are doing for humans that compels them to continue to support the wasteful, ruthless exploitation of farm animals.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/08 at 10:25 AMMorning all…
Mick, I’ve met Singer once or twice....a friend of mine became good friends with him through Clearwater Revival...my friend now runs a boatbuilding program for kids in the Bronx and Pete always comes to his boat send offs into the Bronx River or the Hudson up north. Excellent guy (both of them).
This quote frlom the smirking chimp comments stands out as particularly sick:
“I once stayed in the guest house of a farm in southern France that produced both duck and goose foie gras. It was interesting to watch the birds eagerly stretch their necks out and open their mouths when the farmer came by with the bucket of corn and the funnel. The birds seemed quite content to get a bellyfull of food without actually having to eat it. Remember, birds eat rocks. They have very leathery esophogi.
Mickey, why don’t you worry about your fellow humans once in a while? There’s plenty of human suffering to go around.”
Almost made me puke.
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 02/08 at 11:50 AMAside from the obvious cruelty to the birds of producing foie gras, what disgusts me most about it is that people, especially in the US, seem to eat it more for status reasons than because they actually like it. If it were associated with poor banlieue-dwellers instead of with fine restaurants, would it still be considered “high end” and “upscale” enough to appeal to the people who defend it? Do people even know whether or not they really like it if they’re trying so hard to conform to notions of the behavior of the wealthy? I’m reminded of Madonna’s pathetic attempts to appear gentrified by rabidly engaging in pheasant hunting and ignorantly dismissing anti-hunt people as beyond the pale, her attitudes expressed with the shallow contempt of the US middle school “popular” crowd to which she once belonged. Foods that people strive to like in order to seem “refined” or “high class” invoke a reflexive revulsion in me, the more so when production of it involves such cruelty (which isn’t to say I never eat things considered fashionable. I’m told huitlacoche is occasionally trendy, but I do like it).
Posted by deang on from Austin, TX 02/08 at 11:51 AMCan’t help but point out this quote from SC:
“The majority of Americans will never support progressive change as long as we allow whack-job militant (urban) vego-nuts to spew their half-witted dietary edicts on sites like this one.
There are children dying of bombs and malnutrition, war and abuse, disease and poverty worldwide right now.
No one in their right mind gives a flying #### about friggin’ DUCKS.
Moran.”I didn’t know your name was Moran, Mick.
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 02/08 at 11:57 AMI’d read about foie gras atrocities some years back, but hadn’t ever eaten it. Two responses to the responses:
Someone claims that migratory birds gorge themselves for long migrations, so humans forcing the same on ducks and geese in captivity must be OK. In turn, I believe that because humans used to forage for food, it is natural to truck in pesticide- and chemical-laden junk from thousands of kilometres away.
Another bluntly points out that MZ is an activist, on a par with Exxon. The horror…
I didn’t know that Russell Simmons is a vegan. BTW the tale about angry/intrusive diet fascists isn’t a myth. I’ve seen it too many times, always with the assumption that the offender was an ass in other ways. My progress on diet has been via the tact and example of others (guerrilla tactics against the media machine) and self-education. For example, organic food does taste better and is better for you, and vegetarian dishes can be delicious.
JOS, thanks for the kind words in #20 yesterday. My only excuse for being radicalized on Turtle Island is that the prevailing story doesn’t add up. If one has a working memory, the evolution of the lies is clear, sometimes over only a few weeks’ time.
Posted by Zen Prole on from Urth 02/08 at 12:06 PMRight on, Zen.
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 02/08 at 12:16 PMMickey...I don’t think anyone is sure what will happen next but this case now might involve double jeopardy. I am in contact with some who attended the trial yesterday. They seem very happy today. I would have liked it to go as it was originally planned, as an exposure of the illegality of the war. Too bad the court would not allow that to happen.
http://tinyurl.com/3xncq8Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 02/08 at 01:08 PMJust home for a minute… great article about the duck liver, of course, but Peter Singer’s kind of a problem, right? Reminds me of Christopher Hitchens, how he used to be such a great left-wing righter, now this weird warhawk thing, while Singer’s increasingly less concerned with animal rights and more with this form of “utilitarianism” or whatever… frustrating.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 02/08 at 01:31 PMI can’t see this, but it might be good.
Remember Yusef Islam
http://www.lucasgray.com/video/peacetrain.html
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 02/08 at 01:35 PMWhoa...so much to catch up but I’ll try.
Welcome, Dean. You’ve been here before, right?
Cat Lady: Singer, like all humans, is a paradox. For me, this doesn’t invalidate his strong animal rights stance.
Zenprole: I agree. There are some annoying vegans (myself once included) who have helped create the illusion that vegans are self-righteous purists.
JOS:"Moran" sounds Irish to me...so I’ll gladly take it in honor of my mom’s side of the family.
RMJ: Your comment made me imagine thousands of soldiers doing what Watada did and millions of citizens doing what you did. There aren’t enough cops to arrest everyone, not enough jails to detain everyone, and not enough courts to try everyone. Imagine that.
If I missed anyone, just hollah (as the kids say).
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/08 at 01:38 PMMickey # 14...I agree completely. If the troops just put down their weapons and the people just put down their credit cards and everyone just stayed home, the killing would stop. It would be legal and non-violent. It won’t happen though, not in my lifetime. The thrill of the kill and the call of the mall are too much for the average person to resist.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 02/08 at 02:24 PMEveryone please repeat after me: The thrill of the kill and the call of the mall are too much for the average person to resist.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/08 at 02:34 PMGood article:
http://www.counterpunch.org/norrell02082007.html
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 02/08 at 03:23 PMJOS # 17....good link. It reminded me of this other topic.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 02/08 at 04:33 PMFYI:
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1078789Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/08 at 07:21 PMOne last link:
http://funnies.paco.to/cartoon.htmlPosted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/08 at 09:40 PMI can’t imagine why anyone would want to eat that crap. What comes around goes around.
On another subject: A few days ago there was a tragic house fire in Bardstown KY that killed 10 people including 6 children. Today I see this: http://tinyurl.com/2cx4ly It makes me so sad for the grieving family members to be mocked and jeered at by these assholes.
Captcha says “wrong”
Posted by David on from Louisville KY 02/08 at 10:30 PMI plead guilty, Mickey: I quite like ‘foie gras’ but only eat it very rarely. I hope that that is not going to get me expelled from the expendables circle. Have also read conflicting reports about the treatment of geese. That said, like Amelopsis #2, I don’t at all like those people ‘who berate you for caring about animals rather than people...’ Normally such individuals care neither about animals nor people.
A warm ‘hello’ goes to Deb, Amelopsis, Rosemarie, JOS, zeang, Zen Prole, James and David from a quite warm (86F) Daylesford. Always good to be in such excellent company.
Keep raising hell, Cool Observer!
Captcha ‘great’: what a great blog you have, Mickey.
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 02/08 at 10:43 PMRe the Watada case - and Watada is another true American patriot, like Mickey and all you expendables:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0208-01.htmPosted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 02/08 at 10:54 PMGreat post, I linked it on my blog. Always good to read you Mikey!
There’s always one in the bunch: [url="http://www.tothepeople.com/2007/01/creative-restauranteurs-beating.html"]Chicago restauranteurs can’t sell foie gras anymore, so they’re giving it away instead.
[/url]Posted by JayV on from Burlington, VT, USA 02/17 at 10:46 AM
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