Tired of the hypocrisy regarding animals on "food" TV.

I'm so tired of seeing posts with white hunters on social media, and direct claims or inferences that these people are savages.

Many of these people are conservationists.
Threats to shoot these people are totally idiotic and show a complete lack of understanding of how conservation works.

It is true that animals are sentient and feel pain.
Hence, I'm very perturbed about several shows on TV where animals like octopi are tortured to death.
Different countries have different cultures, but is it OK for Andrew Zimmern to vivisect a live octupus, just to please rich American idiots without compassion?
Was it morally OK to cut off an octopus' limbs, just so that disgusting rich people could see the tentacles wriggling on their plates?
Where is our compassion as a human community?
Perhaps it implies that we are all psychopaths.
Why pretend that such gratuitous torture on TV sends no political message, and that it's just par for the horror-story course of producing exotic food?

There have been many examples where sentient beings are slaughtered on reality TV.
Just on Zimmern I've seen a turtle getting slaughtered and drained of blood in a super-expensive, Japanese restaurant in the US.
How can this be moral or OK?
In any other instance Western people would call that behavior "Satanic".

I guess we must make allowance for traditional communities and their historic diets, but I feel that shouldn't be repeated as a fashion statement for Westerners with too much money.
Perhaps it's a necessary tragedy, just like eating cats, dogs, horses (in France), whales or dolphins.
Why can I buy "dolphin-free" tuna for my kitty?
I'd prefer it if I could buy "tuna-free" dolphin.
Is it because octopi and tuna are not cute enough, like mammals?
They're probably too beady-eyed to arouse our empathy.

In any case, I'm tired of seeing marine animals and reptiles (especially snakes) butchered on TV.
The people involved are disgusting, and lack compassion.
Shame on them!

It's blatant speceisism, and if we must see that then also show us how cows and pigs are killed and butchered.
No wonder we have a cold-hearted society!

Is it because octopi and tuna are not cute enough, like mammals?
They're probably too beady-eyed to arouse our empathy.

That is precisely why IMO. We tend to be more empathetic towards things we consider cute, cuddly, not dangerous (as in our backyards), etc. We bond with those things we can pet, are soft... things like that. We are taught that snakes are dangerous (mostly) from the time we are old enough to get around on our own, so we disregard them and consider killing them a service for the most part.

Again, it's all just my opinion on why we see it the way most of us do. It doesn't make it right, it just explains why it seems to be more acceptable I think.

I don't like to watch any animals being killed, just for the sake of killing. I even have a hard time watching the cheetahs take down the antelopes even though it's "The Circle Of Life".

I feel the same way and had an in-depth conversation about this topic the other day.

It's duck hunting season in Australia at the moment and we have these idiotic protesters that get in the way of the shooters and try to scare the ducks away. They run out and collect the carcasses before the hunters have a chance to retrieve them and are interviewed on the news saying poor defenceless ducks. Bloodsport murderers!

Yet if they let the hunters to themselves to get a clean shot and not cause a ruckus and take the carcasses then they wouldn't end up shooting so many. I've eaten wild duck its delicious. Meanwhile these 'green sheep' protesters drive back to their homes and order a pizza with sow stall ham, cage eggs and feed-lot wagu beef.

We as humans are hunter-gatherers by nature and I think it's a positive thing to respectively and humanely hunt wild prey. It is more environmentally friendly than many farming practices and when done right, more humane for the animal to be free instead of caged/restricted farming practises.

I'm no survivalist but Don't worry about these protesters, if civilisation were to collapse it'd be the hunters that would come into their own while those damned 'green sheep' would be sitting out the front of the burnt out supermarket waiting for it to open.

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe


Great post, and I suppose that snakes and fish occupy a specific space in our Western culture and mythology.

I'm just wondering why we don't see cats, dogs or even pigs and cows slaughtered, when killing reptiles is a cool "travelogue" narrative (outside whistle-blowing, for example on the leather industry, and when skinning snakes and lizards alive is shown in a journalistic sense, people are quick to complain about gore).
Otherwise, it seems quite OK to kill a snake and drink its warm blood and beating heart.
We don't see abattoirs from those countries, so what actually makes it OK to see a butchered snake?

I don't want to argue for censorship or bans of any material, but I would be more confronting if I had to witness this.
It needs some unpacking, and I simply think it's not OK for a whole American restaurant to eat tentacles that have just been chopped off a living and intelligent creature.

I find the torture of any animal abhorent to watch. Whether it has fur, fins, scales, or feathers. If it has nerve endings and some level of awareness, torturing it is never acceptable. I don't watch TV, so I don't know what's on. But if I saw some dude hacking up an octopus I'd be pretty ticked off. Octopi are actually quite intelligent.

We'll never reach a 'Level One Civilization' until our food is sourced without killing sentient creatures.

The billions of other civilizations that have already learned how (and why) are waiting for us to get a clue...

Meh, I lived in Asia when I was a kid, I've eaten the live octopus tentacles. Which aren't half as bad as they sound, to be blunt. The catch is getting over the "still moving" aspect. And the suction cups. It's weird having your lunch stick all over your mouth in that manner. I've also eaten the tripe dishes, the dried squid snack, fish head soup (that was far more gross than the tentacles, hands down. Not a flavor for me) Ox blood soup wasn't a favorite, either. I've also had sushi, which is also not something I'd care to have again. Raw octopus was ok, but the raw fish meat in sushi just churns my stomach. Go figure.

I do appreciate some of the food shows that showcase how people eat in foreign countries. Food is a big deal in some cultures, it's not a bad thing to educate people about foreign palates. I'm not wild about the hoity toity dishes that are sometimes showcased. I mean, yeah, the wang restaurant in China was an interesting episode, but...normal people don't eat that because they can't afford to. I'd rather learn about the dishes normal, everyday people eat that Americans would gag over, KWIM?

signalfire
We'll never reach a 'Level One Civilization' until our food is sourced without killing sentient creatures.

The billions of other civilizations that have already learned how (and why) are waiting for us to get a clue...

Meat eating is literally destroying the forests, oceans, and human health. Because it exists, and is accepted as a social norm, all the rest of the animal torture mentioned in the OP is both accepted and legally protected.

Unless your a vegetarian all your food is tortured and killed lol

Aleister

signalfire
We'll never reach a 'Level One Civilization' until our food is sourced without killing sentient creatures.

The billions of other civilizations that have already learned how (and why) are waiting for us to get a clue...

Meat eating is literally destroying the forests, oceans, and human health. Because it exists, and is accepted as a social norm, all the rest of the animal torture mentioned in the OP is both accepted and legally protected.

Hahaha without meat and fire we would have never been able to evolve our knowledge capacity.

Now it's what is destroying us? Would you rather us be primal animals without the concept of pain and suffering, ripping apart animals and chewing on them skin and all blood everywhere?

Because without meat that is exactly where we would still be.

reply to post by signalfire


Let's see. We live in a Universe that is designed to do one thing above all else. Exterminate "life" wherever it finds it. But don't trust me, just look at the facts. So, your supposition that any "advanced" civilization would have moral superiority to us because we kill things and eat them and they don't is a pretty big roll of the dice. I suppose since the only creature we have seen the Universe evolve to be capable of space flight is old Homo Angrymonkeyus, then we can assume ANY other civilization that might be out in the Universe is right about where we are at right now, since the Universe is a vicious murdering machine, but when it comes to evolution, it does have some skills. Right now, tha ONLY hope any other "animal" or "plant" life on Earth that may or may not be "sentient" has at surviving the Solar Sytem melting down, had better be counting on Homo Angrymonkeyus perfecting it's cloning skills, because the Earth is already dead, like an African Elephant you've just shot through the head. It's dead, it just doesn't know it yet. We can't stay here. the clock is ticking. and the only way we can "help" the tasty little creatures and plants is to take they're genetic code with us when we leave. A.C. Clarke "Songs of Distant Earth" is a good story that illustrates this concept. Anyway, tuna tasted so much better when they left the dolphin in it anyway. Sorry, can't help being a Heterotrope ! A hungry, Hungry Heterotrope.

ArtemisE
Unless your a vegetarian all your food is tortured and killed lol

Think again. Where are crops grown, in the sky?

When we make a field for a crop trees and other means of shelter are cut down. Displacing animals causing some to suffer then starve.
Animals like those crops too. Does that mean farmers are going to politely ask the racoon to leave? They are going to trap them and or shoot them.

Everyone has a hand in killing animals doesn't matter where you get your food from. Vegetarian or not. Unless you go out on your own and pick ALL your food from the wild. But even then you can walk on a log and not knowingly smash a lizard under that log. Causing "suffering" lol.

I hate seeing the Lobsters in the aquarium at Red Lobster myself. I just can't see picking out a lobster to have it dropped in boiling water. I actually don't know if they do that there, but I heard of places that do do that.

I like to go hunting but will not shoot anything that I do not eat. I feel bad when I catch a small trout that swallows the hook and I know it will not survive. I would rather include that in my limit than let it suffer. I even hate putting the fish on the stringer to torture them, I would rather clean them at the stream or kill them when I catch them so they would not suffer.

I don't ever want to shoot a deer and have it suffer long. I won't shoot it unless I have a good shot then try to shoot it right away so it doesn't suffer. I guess I am sort of a wimp at this.

I hate suffering so I don't want animals I eat to suffer either. I want them to enjoy life till it is time to die. I won't eat veal since I heard it is often starved. I like my beef but I know the farmer that grows my meat and I know the animals are treated well while they are alive. I wish everyone would treat the animals they eat with the respect they deserve.

I love hunting and fishing but if I can't do it in a humane way to match my beliefs, I won't do it. I once swallowed a smelt whole and live right out of the stream. He didn't suffer much but I sure won't do that again. No eating live clams for me anymore either. I even want to make sure my lettuce is dead.

reply to post by rickymouse




I think most hunters are like you , they kill only what they will eat . They don't go around shooting everything and leave it in the woods .

I could never kill another living creature without remorse. But there are a lot of people that can and, frankly, don't mind it.
It's not something I could do.
But I also love steak, so I'm at an impasse.

I'm not at all a fan of torturing anything. I don't mind animals being killed for food if it's humane and quick. I've never gone hunting, but I would. I fish and when I land one I whack it as soon as I can so it doesn't have to suffer.

I don't think cutting off a turtles head equates to torture. It's quick, and over in a second.

Warning: Some blood and animal being killed:
Here's a link of how to kill a snapping turtle

The octopus thing is usually like the following video where soy sauce (the salt) interacts and makes the thing move/appear to still be alive though it's missing it's head:


I hate snakes. When I was younger I was riding my horse on a trail and a rattler was blocking the way. Older guy hopped off his horse, whacked it with a stick, cut off it's head and threw it in my saddle bag. When we were done with the ride he taught me how to skin it. It was still moving around though it was long dead, like a lot of animals. You don't let those things slither around horses/dogs or livestock. I've met too many three legged dogs. I'm not going to kill a garter snake (but I don't like them).

I have a problem with boiling a live lobster. Kill it the second before it goes in the pot. You shouldn't prolong anything's suffering. I have a HUGE problem with Asian countries and the despicable things they do like skinning animals alive, cooking a donkey while it's alive, writhing in agony, and slowly eating it and cooking more. I have a problem with the French delicacy where you drown a bird in alcohol. I have a problem with force feeding geese/ducks in tiny cages where they can't move for foie gras. I have a problem with chicken that isn't free range, same with beef.

Remember that in nature things aren't always as humane as humans can make them. A pack of wolves or lions isn't going to care if it hurts what it kills to eat. They just want to eat it.

I'm a carnivore and damn proud to be. Mmm, gimme some of that bloody meat.

reply to post by Domo1

Thanks for pointing out that the wriggling could be a reflex after death.
I'd feel less strongly if I knew the octopus died quickly.
It actually wasn't entirely clear in the Bizarre Foods episode, because one moment it shows the live octopi, and the next scene shows the tentacles wriggling on the plate.
I'd hate to see the regional Asian custom of eating still living fish to become the new global fashion.

I cannot rant about every animal that dies on TV and I guess I am being selective (and it is a series on what is unfamiliar to Westerners).
However, the people who rant about hunters on social media are also selective.
We had one case in South Africa where a trophy photo of hunters who culled a rogue male elephant received death threats.
Such bullying is never OK, and it seems some species are more "worthy" of sympathy than others.
Octopi are known to be intelligent, and thus cruelty to them leaves me very uncomfortable.

I always thought boiling lobsters alive is disgusting. There is no other way to kill cook them?