Put your morals where your mouth is

I am a vegetarian, if you have read all my posts then you might not have known that, because I don't make a big deal about it.  Well there were a few posts that I did talk about it, but not many.  I don't make a big deal about it, even though I am sure that not eating meat is the correct way to live, because it IS still a choice and not a necessity, yet.  But I strongly disagree with people who act like hypocrites when they call for a ban on one type of meat.

What am I talking about?  I just heard that there is a call for Americans to boycott Canadian seafood, to stop the hunting of seals.  Really?  Come off it. No really.  They are calling for a boycott because of seals?  If this was really about seals, why not a boycott on seals?  

There is no boycott on seals because most people don't eat seals, but maybe they should.  Most people identify with seals as the animal that lives in zoos or plays with balls and do tricks at circuses and marine parks, but why not as an entree at McDonalds?  Maybe it is because we see that they can do tricks and that they must be intelligent.  Cows don't do tricks, they are not in zoos and they are not in display but that does not mean they are not intelligent, right?  Nor does it mean that they are any less intelligent than seals.  But we eat cows and we would not want to find out that they are intelligent because of that.  

Fish don't count, because they are fish and not like us.  They are not cute and they are not mammals.  Lobsters are not fish either, they are more closely related to insects.  Why not boycott Canadian oil that would actually cause Canada to ban the hunting of seals in a heart beat.  Boycotting Canadian Seafood just causes Canadian fisher folk financial difficulties, they might have to do something else, like find other markets, like Europe or China.  

I wonder what motivates these people?  I think what they are thinking is that seals are covered with white fur and have big black eyes and are new born pups and that they are destined to be fur coats.  They are not.  They are big and heavy, hundreds of kilos and are not so cute.  

Perhaps it is because they think that slaughtering seals is inhumane.  I think all killing is inhumane, but perhaps maybe we should call it humanlike.  If a seal is pulled onto a boat and has its throat slit, is that really so bad?  Cattle are shipped to distant locals by truck and by train, confined to close quarters and then off to be slaughtered, shot in the head and their throats slit.  That is more humanlike than what the seals get, they die quickly after capture.  The unlucky cow or hog most likely spent its days in a tiny cell and never smells fresh air until it gets it's trip to the slaughterhouse.  How humanlike.  Fish, dragged up in huge nets and dropped into large holds where they slowly suffocate. How humanlike.  Actually the fishing is still better than the cows and the pigs.

This boycott is just stupid.  Unless it turns out that they are actually trying to drive up the price of American Seafood by cutting out other players, but that would just be dishonest.  I have more respect for PETA, who in the very least suggest that all animal products should be banned and whose members only eat plants.