Whale meat
By Tornknee
@Tornknee (72)
Australia
January 6, 2013 1:05pm CST
I recently went to Japan and wandering around shibuya my friend and I stumbled onto a whale meat restaurant so we went in for a meal. Now I'll start by saying I am against whaling. I have done plenty of research on the topic, I saw the cove and was horrified, I understand that the industry is largely driven by tourism, I know all the reasons I shouldn't have done it. I am planning to move to japan and I won't eat it again but my curiosity overrides my social conscience and I couldn't not try it, we both agreed that if we didn't try it, just to find out, we would regret it forever. Now since I got back to Australia I have encountered exactly 0 people who agree with my stance on conscience vs curiosity and I'm beginning to wonder if its just me and my friend who have it. All I'm saying is I would eat a panda, a tiger, anything just once just so I would know, I just have to know. Now I'm prepared for people to hate on me for it, that's all I've gotten since I got back home but I just wanted to put the question out there, does nobody else feel this all consuming curiosity?(pun whole heatedly intended)
1 person likes this
6 responses
@whitneysquirrel (224)
• Philippines
20 Mar 13
I sort of understand. I wouldn't eat a whale or panda or tiger or anything just once due to curiosity. At least, I don't think so. When I was young, a friend offered us some turtle. I knew it was turtle and it was delicious. It was only later that I found out it was endangered and supposedly banned. And I am relieved that I found out later because I feel guilty about it. But truth is, I am glad that I know how it tastes. And I don't know if I will have the conscience to refuse if, for the second or nth time, it is right in front of me. Conscience vs curiosity vs it was delicious, I don't know.
1 person likes this
@LovingMyBabies (85288)
• Valdosta, Georgia
6 Jan 13
Had to mess with you on this one... 
The OP gave me the perfect time when he started this discussion...Couldn't help myself!
The OP gave me the perfect time when he started this discussion...Couldn't help myself!@Tornknee (72)
• Australia
6 Jan 13
Haha pretty extreme position just to get back at the bleeding hearts but I totally do get annoyed by being berated by it, that's why I prefaced my post by saying that I've researched everything and I've heard every argument against it cause I knew that otherwise I would just be inundated by responses regurgitating the same anti whaling sentiments I've heard again and again.
@peavey (16936)
• United States
11 Mar 13
I agree with you. What is the sense of having principals and ideals if we're so stiff with them that we don't have any connection to reality about them? If I'm curious about something, I'll find out whatever I can. What I find out might even influence my prior decisions about it, but it might not. If we're afraid to try things, we have a very narrow existence and really have no basis from which to make any sensible decisions.
@marguicha (223001)
• Chile
11 Mar 13
I ate whale when I was little and didn`t like it. It seems that then whale meat was cheaper than beef where I lived (I am talking about almost 60 years ago). I didn`t like it at all. It looked like beef, but tasted like fish. YUCK! I have a list of things I`m against, but I cannot change the whole world. What angers me most is the amount of money and human effort spent in saving animals while there are 2 billion human beings undernourished or just dying of hunger. Our planet has enough food for everyone. But it is best to burn the food so the producers keep their prices high. I would not eat a tiger though. Not for ethical reasons but because I imagine it must be tough. How about just born kitten
? Joking.
? Joking.@marguicha (223001)
• Chile
20 Apr 13
In my country, a long one bathed by the Pacific Ocean, big companies depleted our coasts of fish while fishermen have serious problems to make ends meet as they fish in small boats
@whitneysquirrel (224)
• Philippines
20 Mar 13
I think human effort is also needed to save endangered species and protect animals when essential to maintain the balance in an ecosystem. But I agree with you that it has become ridiculous when it contributes to or neglects people who are dying of hunger. These marine protected areas for example, supposedly established so that fish species can recover, but it does not take into account local communities who desperately rely on the sea for basic sustenance and livelihood while it is actually businesses and companies who deplete resources.
1 person likes this
@rog0322 (2829)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
1 Apr 13
Hi,
Whale slaughter is banned in our country, when one gets to shore too weak to go back to the sea, some government agency is bound to order to have it buried immediately. Even if I was a beachcomber all my life, I haven't tasted whale meat yet, not that I may dislike it, I am used to eat anything that crawl, swim or fly, raw or cooked, but it was forbidden here to eat whale meat. I think, it carries a prison sentence with a corresponding penalty to top it off.
@elsino91 (440)
• Poland
6 Jan 13
Well no offence but I think that anybody who is against eating whale or any other animal/food for that matter, expects others to refrain from it and goes into a restaurant serving it and eats it themselves is a bit of a hypocrite. I mean, what's the point of morality if the slightest curiosity is able to override it? Of course this is just my opinion. I myself would eat the whale because I don't feel guilty about it, just as I don't feel guilty about eating chickens from KFC despite the disgusting videos I've seen. To me this more of a matter of conscious vs curiosity, I don't believe that curiosity should dominate a person.
@Tornknee (72)
• Australia
6 Jan 13
I would never condemn anyone for eating it, when I say I am against whaling I'm more just against unsustainable practices, hunting stuff to extinction, if there were a sustainable way of procuring whale meat I would have absolutely no qualms. I agree on the chicken front, I'm really not phased by the cruelty at all but again I think this is largely attributable to the fact that chickens aren't goin anywhere, the idea of chickens going extinct is laughable so I really don't care. I guess what I was getting at is that I felt a little bit guilty but for my own selfish reasons I was happy to accept the persecution of my peers. My question was more about social pressure
