Fishy Friday Thoughts - All Kidding Of Course

I'm Catholic, and the season of Lent started a few weeks ago. It lasts 40 days and leads up to Easter the second biggest (but some would say the most important) holiday in the Catholic calendar.

It's traditionally a time of reflection, and most Catholics are obliged to give something up for the full 40 days (I gave up chocolate - a big sacrifice!). In addition, adults are supposed to abstain from meat on Fridays, allowing us only to eat fish. (Ever wonder why McDonald's always makes Filet O'Fish the special on Fridays?)

Anyway, so I'm eating my fish and chips at lunch today, and I'm thinking to myself that today I'm eating like most vegetarians do everyday. Apparently, today I had a weird train of thought to ride.

So, I start thinking about how vegetarians that eat fish are still eating an animal, just one that was killed in a "humane" way, essentially by drowning in air. I've never gotten why it doesn't count as meat.

So then THAT got me thinking, if someone is a vegetarian because they think it's unethical to eat animals that are killed inhumanely, and they still eat fish, would they eat beef if the cow were drowned in water? Probably not, but what would be the justification then? Essentially it's the same way we kill fish, just fish drown in air, not water.

Then I thought, if you're a vegetarian that eats fish (and doesn't eat other meat on the basis of cruelty to animals) , would you eat lobster? Because I think of all the ways to kill something - boiling them while they are still alive is among the least humane ways to do it. You wouldn't catch someone flash-frying a chicken would you? There'd be an uproar about that, there would be a coalition, a www.savethefriedchicken.com complete with petitions.

So, why are fish different? Does PETA have a fish preservation committee? Why is it we can catch and kill them en masse and there's no fight about it? They only argue that some fishermen kill too many at one time. It's volume that they worry about!

You don't see Pamela Anderson calling on Americans to boycott StarKist Tuna do you? Oh no! But she will ask Kentucky to take Colonel Sanders' bust from the Kentucky Legislature!

I say - Save the FISH! Throw them back! Say NO to fish! Call StarKist before a grand jury for cruelty! Do something!

Ok, really now, I think I'm gonna go back to eating meat. Lack of meat is obviously doing something to my brain. That and, well... Crack kills! People, stay away from crack!