Draft 1
Tanner McDougal
Gurgle. Gurgle. Gurgle. The bubbling and screeching of boiling water combined with the crashing of waves off the rocky coast is backed with the giggles and screams of children and the noise of constant cracking of the chitinous exoskeletons that were once free-living beings of the bottom of the ocean can be heard from miles away. The pungent odor of poorly maintained porta potties lingered in the air, just enough for one to pick up every now and then right in time for another bite of freshly caught lobster straight out of the pot. These noises and scents flooded David Foster Wallace’s mind and nose when he visited the 2003 Maine Lobster Festival.
At the festival, Wallace witnessed the traditions and festivities that take place every summer in the old fishing town commonly known as Rockland, Maine. In his essay “Consider the Lobster”, Wallace explains his experience at the Maine Lobster Festival and gives and unbiased opinion regarding whether or not it is ethically acceptable to hold such an event and brings into question whether it is ethical to consume any animal. Along with Wallace, Michael Pollan’s essay “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch” and Hal Herzog’s essay Animals Like Us” give many examples that make one question whether or not it is morally just to use animals for our benefit and or consumption. Through the process of reading essays from Wallace, Pollan, and Herzog, I have been forced to reconsider my own views on what it means to be considerate to animals and whether or not it is morally or ethically just to use another living being for my consumption and gustatory pleasure.
Project 3 Draft 2
Tanner McDougal
Gurgle. Gurgle. Gurgle. The bubbling and screeching of boiling water combined with the crashing of waves off the rocky coast is backed with the giggles and screams of children and the noise of constant cracking of the chitinous exoskeletons that were once free-living beings of the bottom of the ocean can be heard from miles away. The pungent odor of poorly maintained porta potties lingered in the air, just enough for one to pick up every now and then right in time for another bite of freshly caught lobster straight out of the pot. These noises and scents flooded David Foster Wallace’s mind and nose when he visited the 2003 Maine Lobster Festival.
At the festival, Wallace witnessed the traditions and festivities that take place every summer in the old fishing town commonly known as Rockland, Maine. In his essay “Consider the Lobster”, Wallace explains his experience at the Maine Lobster Festival and gives unbiased examples regarding whether or not it is ethically acceptable to hold such an event and brings into question whether it is ethical to consume any animal. Along with Wallace, Michael Pollan’s essay “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch” and Hal Herzog’s essay Animals Like Us” give many examples that make one question whether or not it is morally just to use animals for our benefit and or consumption. Through the process of reading essays from Wallace, Pollan, and Herzog, I have been forced to reconsider my own views on what it means to be considerate to animals and whether or not it is morally or ethically just to use another living being for my consumption and gustatory pleasure.
In Wallace’s essay, he provides unbiased information about examples regarding different opinions about boiling lobsters alive. Wallace discusses the ethics of this practice from many viewpoints and with multiple examples. One example that Wallace gives comes from the final paragraph of page 505 and extends onto the next page. Wallace urges the reader to “Try to imagine a Nebraska Beef Festival at which part of the festivities is watching trucks pull up and the cattle get driven down the ramp and slaughtered right there on the World’s Largest Killing Floor or something – there’s no way.” In this quote, Wallace gives an analogy where the lobsters are replaced with cattle, and how the public outlook on the festival would most likely be much different. One example that shows a similar ethical analogy comes from Hal Herzog’s essay. In the first paragraph of the first page of his essay, Herzog explains a possibly hypocritical way to think of animals. Herzog shows the reader how “While it is obvious that dogs and cats and cows and pigs are animals, it was equally clear to Judith that fish were not… Judith, who was a PhD in anthropology, to think of herself as a vegetarian, yet still experience the joys of smoke Copper River Salmon…” In this quote, Herzog shows how Judith does not hold fish to the same ethical standard as animals such as dogs, cats, cows, or even pigs.
The combination of these two quotes is very interesting to me for two reasons. The first being how so many of us are able to classify some animals as more desirable than others, and subsequently treating them differently. The second reason being the pure hypocrisy one witnesses when diving into these examples. I feel this way because of how many people are willing to partake in the mass killing of lobsters due to the fact that they may not seem as close to human beings as mammals would; and Judith somehow believes that eating fish does not count as eating meat because the fish somehow are not as worthy of being saved as dogs, cats, cows, or pigs. One can clearly see how these two examples agree with each other in that many people express hypocritical opinions toward animals, which is evident in their actions.
Project 3 Draft 3
Tanner McDougal
Gurgle. Gurgle. Gurgle. The bubbling and screeching of boiling water combined with the crashing of waves off the rocky coast is backed with the giggles and screams of children and the noise of constant cracking of the chitinous exoskeletons that were once free-living beings of the bottom of the ocean can be heard from miles away. The pungent odor of poorly maintained porta potties lingered in the air, just enough for one to pick up every now and then right in time for another bite of freshly caught lobster straight out of the pot. These noises and scents flooded David Foster Wallace’s mind and nose when he visited the 2003 Maine Lobster Festival.
At the festival, Wallace witnessed the traditions and festivities that take place every summer in the old fishing town commonly known as Rockland, Maine. In his essay “Consider the Lobster”, Wallace explains his experience at the Maine Lobster Festival and gives unbiased examples regarding whether or not it is ethically acceptable to hold such an event and brings into question whether it is ethical to consume any animal. Along with Wallace, Michael Pollan’s essay “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch” and Hal Herzog’s essay “Animals Like Us” give many examples that make one question whether or not it is morally just to use animals for our benefit and or consumption. Through the process of reading essays from Wallace, Pollan, and Herzog, I have been forced to reconsider my own views on what it means to be considerate to animals and whether or not it is morally or ethically just to use another living being for my consumption and gustatory pleasure.
In Wallace’s essay, he provides unbiased information about examples regarding different opinions about boiling lobsters alive. Wallace discusses the ethics of this practice from many viewpoints and with multiple examples. One example that Wallace gives comes from the final paragraph of page 505 and extends onto the next page. Wallace urges the reader to “Try to imagine a Nebraska Beef Festival at which part of the festivities is watching trucks pull up and the cattle get driven down the ramp and slaughtered right there on the World’s Largest Killing Floor or something – there’s no way.” In this quote, Wallace gives an analogy where the lobsters are replaced with cattle, and how the public outlook on the festival would most likely be much different. One example that shows a similar ethical analogy comes from Hal Herzog’s essay. In the first paragraph of the first page of his essay, Herzog explains a possibly hypocritical way to think of animals. Herzog shows the reader how “While it is obvious that dogs and cats and cows and pigs are animals, it was equally clear to Judith that fish were not… Judith, who was a PhD in anthropology, to think of herself as a vegetarian, yet still experience the joys of smoked Copper River Salmon…” In this quote, Herzog shows how Judith does not hold fish to the same ethical standard as animals such as dogs, cats, cows, or even pigs.
The combination of these two quotes is very interesting to me for two reasons. The first being how so many of us are able to classify some animals as more desirable than others, and subsequently treat them differently. The second reason being the pure hypocrisy one witnesses when diving into these examples. I feel this way because of how many people are willing to partake in the mass killing of lobsters due to the fact that they may not seem as close to human beings as mammals would; and Judith somehow believes that eating fish does not count as eating meat because the fish somehow are not as worthy of being saved as dogs, cats, cows, or pigs. One can clearly see how these two examples agree with each other in that many people express hypocritical opinions toward animals, which is evident in their actions.
While many people claim to care about animals and how they believe in the humane treatment of them, their actions prove to show an opinion much different. Many people do not like to think about the slaughtering or what some would get peace of mind in thinking of as the preparation of an animal to be fed to humans. In David Foster Wallace’s essay, Wallace urges the reader to consider how “the lobster will sometimes try to cling to the container’s sides or even to hook its claws over the kettle’s rim like a person trying to keep from going over the edge of a roof” (506). In the quote Wallace is explaining how lobsters try to avoid and escape the boiling hot water in a way similar to how a human might attempt to prevent falling off a roof. When preparing a lobster at home the way a large number of Americans do, it is obvious how the lobster tries to escape the pot. I have noticed this myself. However, almost everyone does nothing but wait until the lobster stops moving and is ready to be served. They may say things such as “the lobster does not know what is going on” or “that is what it is supposed to sound like”.
Along with lobsters, there are other examples that show how our actions speak much louder than words. In Michael Pollan’s essay, he states that “Today the average American spends a mere 27 minutes a day on food preparation another four minutes cleaning up); that’s less than half the time that we spent on cooking and cleaning up when Julia arrived on our television screens” (4). Here Pollan is explaining to the reader how the average American spends much less time cooking than a couple of decades ago. Now, many people rely on restaurants more often. Clearly this shows a change of culture, but it also reveals something very interesting about the way we think. In Wallace’s example it shows how many of us avoid what is truly happening with the lobster in the pot. In many cases, people point out the lobster that they want and will proceed to cook it later on. They pay money for this lobster, the way that many people will do at restaurants so that they can avoid cooking for themselves. This sounds fun right? Maybe, but every single person boiling that lobster is fully aware of what is happening. What I can pull from this is how many people like to look the other way on what is really happening. They pay money to be removed from the process of actually doing the killing. That piece of steak does not resemble a mutilated cow, so ultimately it must mean that no harm was done to anyone or anything in the process. I think that this is the true culture change that is being observed. The average person is so far removed from what is actually being done that it never crosses anyone’s mind what that animal could have gone through to be sitting under said person’s nose. And when given rock solid evidence of suffering as seen in Wallace’s example, people still play it off as that is what is supposed to be happening.
