Re: Statement from Morrissey: It isn't nice and you shouldn't do it - TTY, 22 May 20
As always, your posts stand out like a shiny penny on the ground.
In this case, Morrissey's very simple argument "It isn't nice and you shouldn't do it" trumps Anthony Bourdain's entire video.
I like Bourdain - he's a smart, sophisticated, funny guy, but like most foodies, he has a blind spot a mile wide. It's clear that what Bourdain (and so many foodies) lack is empathy - the ability to feel the pain of others. I can understand that: if Bourdain were able to suddenly "connect" with the animals he's eating, his entire world would crumble. So, he attempts to rationalize his appetites and practices.
I think you are onto something here. He wants to be LOVED and respected by his chef peers--not just foodie bloggers and TV gazers. By supporting foie gras production, he comes off as supporting chefs' rights/interests. And he
so badly wants to fit into that world, be a member in that
club. As you know, he was a struggling chef for 25 years in NYC, working at a mediocre bistro, suffering through heroin addiction, until he got his big break with the publication of
Kitchen Confidential. His career in the TV world took off from there. And he finally got the attention that he desired. Now he is beloved by many, including the top chefs in the world. But he
has seemingly taken on some honorary spokesperson role for the chef causes out there, whether it be foie gras production, eating local, or supporting small farms, etc.
I do wonder at the end of the day, does he really believe a bite of duck liver--the pleasure derived from it--trumps the pain and suffering these ducks must endure to produce it? It is hard to really believe such an educated person can, I agree.
What interests me about the video is Bourdain's attacks on "fanatical, stealth vegan extremists" who want to "take your foie gras away." Yes, there are irritating, angry, unreasonable animal activists out there (Morrissey usually doesn't do the movement any favors), but what does he think they're fighting for? They don't want to take anyone's pleasure away, they're fighting for more humane, compassionate treatment of animals. Bourdain's argument that activists want to ban something that they've "never even tried" really shows his hand: foie gras may be delicious, but that doesn't make it ethical - pleasure does not trump morality.
Some of the loveliest, most generous and moral people I know eat meat, and we often get into this recurring discussion (usually over a meal); it all comes down to the fact that plenty of moral, ethical, kind people at some point choose pleasure over compassion. It happens every day. That doesn't make fois gras an ethical product, and it doesn't make turning a blind eye exemplary. It all boils down to what you can live with, and how far your compassion extends.
This whole argument is rooted in Utilitarianism, and Jeremy Bentham's basic tenant regarding animals: "The question is not, Can they reason? Nor, Can they talk? but Can they suffer?" The answer is yes, and every one of us has to base our ethical standards and actions on this simple, unassailable fact. Morrissey often shows a stunning general disregard for his fellow humans (rooted, I suspect, in our ability to reign down industrial death without batting an eyelash), but his complete empathy towards animals speaks well for his inner nature. He should be a vegan.
This is why I believe the wearing of fur is abominable. Vanity and greed are not sound reasons to justify the suffering of animals raised and killed in the fur industry. Leather, as a byproduct of food production, is different from this, imo.
I agree that Morrissey SHOULD be vegan. That he is NOT, is a contradiction that is very hard to accept. It weakens his argument and puts a crack in the foundation of his position. If you are gonna do something right, go the extra mile. Go 100 %. The milk/cheese industry is
at least as barbaric and cruel as the meat industry. He seems to conveniently gloss over this fact. Much in the same way that Bourdain glosses over the cruelty of foie gras production. They both want to conveniently rationalize their choices.
Morrissey obviously feels that the pleasure he derives from eating yogurt and cheese trumps the pain of dairy cows who suffer from non-stop pregnancies, infected, painfully swollen pus filled udders, and years of confinement while being hooked up to milking machines so that their milk can be sold to humans rather than be given to their offspring, who are taken from them after birth to be raised for veal--if male--or to become dairy cows like themselves, if female (longest sentence I have written on Solo, btw).
