Tuesday, February 22, 2011

SHARK FIN SOUP

I understand what the moral issues are regarding shark fin soup, and why some people are opposed to the harvesting practices.
Nevertheless, after reading hundreds of out and out racist comments, by writers who arrogantly flaunt their bigotries and their absolutely blinding ignorance, feeling of superiority, and sense of self-importance, I have only one thing to say.

SHUT UP!

What gives you people the right to tell anyone else what to eat?

Yes, I know that you think your culture is superior to everything on the planet, but let’s face it, your priggish self-satisfaction and puritanical judgmentalism is enough to make one puke.
Your suburbs, with all the same junk food restaurants and identical chain-stores, as well as your big four wheel drives and suvs, heck, your sheer vulgarity and sneering self-satisfaction, are far more destructive of the quality of life, and indicative of cultural bankruptcy, than anything going on in San Francisco restaurants, with the possible exception of Vegan places catering to pasty-faced hypocrites from the Midwest and pretentious sods who are into saving the planet by shopping for designer green crap.
Your culture sucks. And you probably watch ‘friends’.

Really. Just shut up. I’ve sold food to you folks, I know what you’re like.

You are not entitled to tell other people what to eat.

I know it fits in with your entire world-view to do so, and also accords with the idea you have that you are on this planet to teach lesser mortals what to think, what to wear, and what to buy.

But you’re wrong.

Just shut up.

And as for you young hip twenty-somethings who have fled here, and keep congratulating yourself on how cutting edge you are, please swill your fair-trade coffee in silence, and wash those damned Guatamalan rags once in a while. You stink.


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5 comments:

Tzipporah said...

So, when you make shark fin soup, do you kill a shark and only use the fin? B/c it seems like that would be objectionable from any standpoint (selective outrage and all notwithstanding).

Perhaps the best path to making them shut up is providing the remainder of the carcass to the complainers so they can make sure it goes to good use.

The back of the hill said...

Tzipporah, I assume that the rest of the shark was used, but I do not know. That, however, would be a good area for further legislation and certification.

And yes, providing the complainers with cans of catfood and shark steaks would be a mighty fine thing too.

Anonymous said...

Most often only the fins are removed from the shark prior to it being thrown back in the water, where it proceeds to bleed to death.

The back of the hill said...

Which of course is far worse than asphyxiation or strangulation – the more common cause of death for fish that are netted.
All in all, aren’t you outraged at the cruelty involved in fishing? ALL fishing?
Why aren’t you out there DEMANDING that seafood be killed in a humane and gentle fashion, precisely like we kill cattle and farmyard fowl?

In any case, I encourage you to think of the logistics involved in cutting the fin off a very alive and very angry animal – those fins aren’t easy to get a knife through, by the way – surrounded by piles of slippery and desperate fish. How amazing is it that there aren’t reports on a daily basis of Spanish and American fishermen (among the major harvesters of shark fin) losing their fingers or even their whole hands? Pretty much miraculous!
Do you suppose they smash the animal’s cranium BEFORE they move in to take the fins? Think the beast might be, you know, kinda dead, by the time they saw off the fins?

Perhaps harvesting the fins off a very live, energetic, and angry animal – when it’s SO easy to kill it – is tempting fate?
Or leastways a good way to get your hand bitten off.

Again, please DEMAND that ALL fish be gently and humanely killed. As well as shrimp, mussels, clams, oysters. Their suffering, while perhaps less noble, is cumulatively far greater. They should be stunned individually with a steel bolt to the brain.

You do know that huge amounts of fish end up in fertilizer, right? Including sharks.

Personally, I cannot help but think that the shark fin hoopla is just another streak of racist Anglo-outrage over what those “Orientals” are up to. Much like the typical Anglo-outrage over everything else the rest of the world does that Anglos wish to despise.

How’s the American beef industry, by the way? Anymore humane than a few years ago? Do the words “battery chicken” mean anything to you? Puppy farms? Testing labs? Hunting licenses? Commercial slaughter houses?
Lizard skin wallets, snake skin belts, expensive luggage, exotic leather………..

It’s fun to yell and scream and pitch a giant old hissy when it’s something that won’t affect you, isn’t it?

The back of the hill said...

Please note - new shark fin post: http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2011/05/shark-fin-soup-delicious-and-refined.html.

Mmmm, delicious shark fin!

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