Blog Post #6
“Consider the Lobster” was without a doubt a research paper. While, it was unconventional and unprofessional during numerous parts of the dialogue, it presented evidence for a specific issue at hand, the treatment of lobsters. The part of lobster consumption that seems to set it apart from the consumption of cows, pigs, or chickens is the fact that there is no delay between their death and devouring of their carcass. In my opinion, the questioning of this treatment and the information provided to prove that lobsters can, to some degree, experience pain or at least have preferences allows this article to be classified as a research paper. Although, I will say that the persuasive perception that I received from this article caused it to stray from the normal medical or technological research paper that a person may encounter. On top of this, “Consider the Lobster” used language such as “like” and “stuff” which seems to be prohibited in a convention research paper. This language gave it a more personal feeling than a normal research paper. It allows for the reader to feel more connected to the author and keeps the reader from feeling as though they are reading off line after line of statistics.
On a personal level, I felt an intimate connection to “Consider the Lobster”. Towards the end of the article the author started to refer to his own ethical issues on how he feels about the inhumane way animals are slaughtered, yet he continues to eat them just because of his selfish reasons. I feel as if many people who consume animal protein feel the same way, including myself. Considering that I have two dogs and would never even contemplate the possibility of eating a dog, I can still inhale a well-seasoned plate of chicken wings. This raises the question of do dogs have a higher moral value than chickens? In this country at least, it seems to be just that. Americans tend to look at events such as the Yulin Dog Festival with disgust, but would walk through a mile of broken glass covered in lemon juice barefooted just for a family sized bucket of chicken from KFC. On top of this, these chickens have their beaks cut from their face and baby chickens are tossed through giant grinders alive to make chicken nuggets. Despite this, there seems to be a never ending, almost mesmerizing line at McDonald’s. Almost every culture seems to value certain animals over others though. For example, in India where Hinduism reigns over most of the nation, cows are sacred and should never be eaten. In the face of this, American fast food restaurant grills have enough fat dripping off them from brutally killed cows to fill five-gallon paint buckets by the hour. These comparisons are essential in understanding that as human we are all instinctually selfish. Yes, even vegans. None of us need more than one pair of socks or more than one shirt. The money spent on our wardrobes could be donated to charity, or even used to buy a composting toilet to make our own manure. We are all selfish and self-pleasing in our own ways. Whether it be protein preferences or the number of socks that we own. Our selfishness is the reason for our treatment of animals, and unfortunately for the defenseless lobster.