Meat Eaters

I live In Maine. Lobsters are part and parcel of our identity as a state. Mention Maine and often lobsters are the first thing many people conjure up. In the over all scheme of what keeps us a viable economic part of the national economy, lobsters play their part. But they hardly deserve as much credit as the legend would indicate. As a matter of fact, Maine is not just a rocky coastline inhabited by crusty fish smellin one eyed boat skippers with pipes hangin out their mouths. We have crusty swamp smellin one eyed lumberjacks also. But straightening out that myth is not the thrust of tonight's post.

Tonight I would like to discuss food. I spotted this cartoon and it struck me how judgemental people are about almost every facet of other peoples lives. Everything we do, say, support will be analyzed and found wanting by other people who are sure they know a better way. Pray to God and someone will say you are an idiot. Say something political and watch out. There is always someone waiting to tell you you are not only wrong but a traitor also. Everything is criticized. Even the food we stuff in our mouth.

I have no problem with folks not wanting to eat meat. My daughter went through four years or so of skipping meat for the most part. My wife is not a huge fan of red meat, so we don't get it as often as I would like. But mention lobster in front of my wife or daughter and they starting salivating. Their eyes cross and their minds find some pleasure place to dwell in for awhile. My two ladies love their lobster.

Me, well I like lobster well enough. I can take it or leave it. As shellfish goes in my heiarchy, lobster would fall behind Steamers, Oysters, and Crabs. I would never turn it down. But I am getting sidetracked here. Imagine that?

The Vegans and the other less strict non meat eaters have a tendency to go overboard with their condemnation of the grub the rest of us consume. The cartoon is a prime example. The protests up in Rockland, Maine when the lobster feast happens is another. These boneheads try to play to our compassionate side and say that it must be painful to be boiled alive and it is abuse to throw live lobsters in boiling water.

Well duh. I would imagine it is quite painful to be boiled alive. But I am not the one boiling, my dinner is. I try to be compassionate and concerned over the plight of most animals. I am sorry, but as an avowed omnivore (read-will eat anything not nailed down), and also a card carrying member of the group at the top of the food chain, I consider some animals food and other animals pets. There is no way around this. Every living thing consumes something less fortunate than itself.

Do you think a lobster concerns itself over the "life" of it's prey? Of course not. They see food, they eat it. Being scavengers, most of the time what they eat is already dead, but that doesn't get them off the hook. Their biological imperiative has no room for the feelings of what they are consuming. Just because I have the ability to bring some kind of ethical judgement to the things I do does not mean I am any different. I see food, I eat it.

So I would say that when it comes to condemning me for the food I eat, someone might have a better chance of getting my attention if they focused on how much food I eat instead. The same goal might be had. If I eat less food, then maybe another lobster lives.

Keep It 'Tween The Ditches..............
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