Chicago Bans Foie Grois, Rich People Cry

[Ming]

Here's an article from the Chicago Tribune...

I'm not sure if you all care or even know what Foie Grois is. Personally, I woulddn't have cared up until about 3 months ago, when I was looking up exactly what foie grois is, and was shocked at what I found.

What I found was a video from PETA, and while I don't agree with most of what they say, I do agree with them on this subject. I'm not sure where the video is anymore, but I know I looked up the information from a non-PETA source just to confirm that they weren't skewing their information to benefit their own cause, and what I found confirmed what PETA had said.

Foie grois is the fatty liver of a goose or duck. The problem, however, that makes it such a controversial item is the means in which it is prepared. In order to get the liver to enlarge to about 10 times its size, metal tubes are forced into the animals throat, and it is force-fed until it is on the verge of explosion. This is done CONSTANTLY until the liver can no longer process the extreme amounts of food being forced into the animal, and it becomes diseased. In the process, it enlarges to its large size. This goes on for a period of months, until the liver is to the correct size, then the animal is hung upside down and its throat is slit. In the whole force-feeding process, should the animal try to bite to fight back, it's beak is cut off.

It lives an agonizing short life, and dies an agonizing death. Why? So that rich people can enjoy a French delicacy.

But what really floors me about the whole thing is how no one seems to really care about the well-being of the animal. There is major opposition to the law because people don't believe that the government should be able to tell you what you can and can't eat. And while I agree with that (and to keep this from getting political), where is the morality in the whole situation? Just because you believe that you should be able to eat what you want, and because foie grois apparently tastes REALLY good (although I can't imagine how good diseased liver tastes), does that really give you the right to torture an animal in order to obtain it? Just because something is legal doesn't mean it is the morally correct thing to do.

Moreover, where does this all stop? If we're allowed to cruelly harvest the liver of geese and duck because they are a "delicacy" and because it's legal to do so, then why not throw dog or cat onto that menu? How about bottle-nosed dolphin? Or for that matter, why don't we just start eating people?

I'm not against eating animals. I enjoy a nice steak just as much as the next guy, but I believe that there are certain humane ways of dispatching the animals so that we can eat. But where does that line get drawn?

Thanks for reading.

~Ming

[Legend]

But it's just an -animal-, Ming, why should anybody care about -that-? I mean, it's not like they're stuffing tubes down -human- throats. Nobody gives a damn about it if it's not their kids that are being tortured and killed for a luxury item.

Sick fucks, all of them. *fumes* This drives me -crazy-. Animals are just as important as human beings. But noooo.

If it were a practice against humans, people would be up in arms.

How about we start taking -your- babies and stuffing food down their throats 'til their livers get diseased so we can eat them, eh?

[ScrumYummy]

Very good point, Legend. Maybe you should re-write "A modest proposal" but for animals =D

[Legend]

HOMG "A Modest Proposal" puts me in stitches every time I read it. It's so beautiful.

[Blackmage]

That's just as bad as how they get kosher beef... the slit the cows throat so that it suffocates on its own blood and dies.

[Ming]

[Cheshire]

[Blackmage]

[Shino]

have you ever seen it happen. It doesn't look too humane when what seems to be gallons of blood just flow to the floor instantly.

[Doot]