Summer
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OK to eat Fish?
Aug 20, 2000, 16:52
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"It's OK to eat fish, cos they don't have any feelings"
Don't know how many of you have seen the recent articles about over-fishing and the devestating effects this can have on the balance of all sea life and the Earth. So not eating fish becomes a far greater statement than not eating it because we don't wish to put food in our bodies that has been poisoned by polluted seas.
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Buzzard of Morfe
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Re: OK to eat Fish?
Aug 21, 2000, 00:32
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I agree with your argument, yet it is further complivated by a point I have tried to make several times, the issue of 'should we eat this' is blurred massively by the 'where did it come from'!!! I refuse to buy most all things that have caused cruelty (as far is is possible), and I won't eat eggs unless they are from the field down the road, I can SEE the hens that are laying them, and they are not mis-treated. Fish is a different issue, and to eat a fish that you have caught yourself is a straightfoward personal/ethical debate. Eating (for example) fish that is caught along with dolphins, seals whatever, far more abhorrent.
The issue of not eating any flesh whatsoever is one that causes me problems, where is the cut-off point, like I said, is it 'blood and eyes'? ie if it has blood and eyes it is cruel to eat it? What about shrimp (the invertebrates, not our friend!)? they have eyes, so should we not eat them? I do, for the record. What about plankton, that strange microscopic protein rich lifeform? What about plants? It is a well known fact that oak trees send chemical signals to neighbouring trees when they are being munched on by caterpillars, the trees respond quickly by producing tannin, which the caterpillar can't stand, so they support each other in a 'social' fashion. Does this mean plants are more sentient than low-count celled animals who don't have this mutual support in their social structures?? I guess we all have a cut off point, the one I'm trying to make is the often overlooked fact that the PROCESS by which we obtain our food is EQUALLY important to what we eat, often moreso.
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Buzzard of Morfe
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Re: OK to eat Fish?
Aug 21, 2000, 11:43
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I forgot to mention nervous systems, a high factor in deciding if something is an ethical dinner or not. If it looks like it says 'ouch', back off!
A disturbing fact to the super-sensitive of you out there, is evidence of plants reacting (when monitored) to a person entering the room. Tests were done to monitor the response of a gruop of plants when a person who had recently killed one of the plants entered the room. The results were staggeringly high compared to the response to other (innocent) people entering.
You can see the identity parade now, all those guys lined up in fron of a Cannabis Sativa, while it gesticulates wildly with it's recently amputated stalks!
Joking apart, does anyone have a criteria that makes sense?
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