Sound Politics: No Ducking The Issue

April 04, 2005

No Ducking The Issue

Could it be? The beginnings of a groundswell against Seattle-area restaurants serving foie gras? Not quite yet, but a leading national anti-foie gras group (yes, there is such a thing) has a thousand Puget Sounders on its mailing list, and Maximilien in the Market is refusing activist requests to remove foie gras from the menu. More on the controversy from today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

I figured it was only a matter of time before the foie gras furor worked its way up the left coast to Seattle. Let's hope no chef's home is vandalized, or family threatened, as near San Francisco.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at April 04, 2005 02:31 PM | Email This

Comments

1. As soon as I see where these folks are as fightin' mad about how Terry Schiavo was handled, or how many unborn children are treated, then I'll take them seriously about a duck's liver.

Posted by: dkpcowboy on April 4, 2005 02:45 PM

2. I was just trying to decide where to take a friend to dinner in the Market on Thursday. I guess it is decided now...Maximillians.

Posted by: iconoclast on April 4, 2005 02:50 PM

3. Chinook salmon tasted much better after it was listed as "endangered".

Posted by: swatter on April 4, 2005 02:58 PM

4. Another example of the extreme left's assault on man. In all of these "animal rights" cases, what we see is basically an attempt to equate and animal with a human and thus assign the animal rights that humans have. But, animals are not humans. They have no capacity to reason, argue, etc. and as such, they have no rights.

I'll admit I've never tried Foie Gras, but I'm definitely going to be eating it on a regular basis in support of the Foie Gras industry and as a direct counter to these wacko animal rights activists.

Posted by: Jeff B. on April 4, 2005 03:19 PM

5. I don't quite see how this is an "assault on man." I do agree that there are...uh...bigger fish to fry.

I've never felt an overpowering urge to differentiate humans from animals in order to grant humans exclusive rights. Infants have no ability to reason or argue. I don't see how moral or humane practices need only be applied to other humans.

I've been a vegetarian for about 14 years, but I do respect hunters and small family farms. Most of what bothers me about meat industries are the "factory" style practices that prioritize profit above all else. And some practices--veal farming, for example--simply can't be done humanely.

Posted by: ChrisW on April 4, 2005 03:44 PM

6. Jeff--

I understand and support your position most vociferously, and I can see eating foie gras as making a statement to the animal rights Nazis similar to the suggestions that Dick Cheney made to Sen. Pat Leahy.

However, I would avoid eating it on a "regular basis" for the simple reason that it is among the worst things you can possibly eat. It's loaded with LDL cholesterol and other bad stuff.

Posted by: Howard Hirsch on April 4, 2005 04:11 PM

7. ...not to mention it's very expensive and looks disgusting...

Posted by: ChrisW on April 4, 2005 04:21 PM

8. It's also an amazingly cruel practice. I don't think being interested in treating animals humanely and being a conservative are mutually exclusive, they certainly shouldn't be anyway.
And as one person already pointed out, not only is it really unhealthy for the ducks and geese, but for the people[?] who eat it as well.
Leave it to the cheese eating surrender monkeys to come up with force-feeding an animal to death so it will be "extra delicious". YUCK.....

Posted by: christmasghost on April 4, 2005 04:55 PM

9. Don't like it? Don't eat it. Pretty simple.

But don't tell me what I can and cannot eat. And don't try to guilt me into conforming to some agenda. That's the rub, and that's the point where the so-called animal rights activists can stick it.

Keep the government out of our bedrooms? OK. Then stay the hell out of my kitchen and away from my plate.

Posted by: jimg on April 4, 2005 05:11 PM

10. jimg......Do you really want the government out of what you eat? How about how it is raised, fed and processed? You should really be glad that we have the FDA........

Posted by: christmasghost on April 4, 2005 05:24 PM

11. "Don't like it? Don't eat it. Pretty simple."

I don't think it's that simple. The comparison with the stay-outta-my-bedroom philosophy doesn't hold here. There's a difference between the government trying to regulate the actions of consenting adults and the government trying to regulate inhumane treatment of animals.

Posted by: ChrisW on April 4, 2005 06:20 PM

12. ChrisW......absolutely right. I can't believe how many people really seem to think that it is somehow alright for anyone to ever be cruel.Or that you have to make a choice between being cruel to other people or being cruel to animals. Decent people don't ever do [or support others doing] either.
It seems it's the same people that wanted our 'government' out of a so called private decision to starve a woman to death...well, news flash folks. The Judiciary IS part of our government.
You don't have to make a choice....you don't have to buy into the scarcity thinking. There is only a shortage of compassion for all living things if we buy into it.
Cruel is cruel...no matter who is on the receiving end of it.

Posted by: christmasghost on April 4, 2005 07:01 PM

13. I'm not a member of those groups, but I wouldn't eat it anyway. Yech!!!

Posted by: Michele on April 4, 2005 11:17 PM

14. You called it Matt! I remember that you made that prediction. But, guessing that Seattle would follow the latest silly progressive trend is sort of like predicting rain in April.

Actually, I had my first foie gras last Thursday night. I have to say it was quick delicious. I am thinking about getting some of my own ducks and stuffing them with corn. I'd like an unlimited supply of the stuff!

Posted by: DeadManVoting (aka Iguana) on April 5, 2005 12:28 AM