Will Not Ordering The Octopus Lead To Reconsidering How I View & Eat Animals?
A few days back I had lunch at a Mexican seafood restaurant here in Houston. I looked at the menu and saw that I could order octopus. In the past I would have of ordered the octopus. I’ve had octopus many times.
However, since I last had octopus I’ve seen some nature programs showing just how smart these creatures are. I saw an octopus in a lab leave its tank and slither over to another tank where some food was kept. Apparently the octopus is a curious creature. It will investigate and, seemingly, ponder things it encounters in the ocean.
I looked at the menu and felt a measure of revulsion at the thought of this smart creature being captured and killed.
I’ve been reading Writings on an Ethical Life by Peter Singer. Singer, a professor at Princeton, has written about globalization, euthanasia and animal rights. His book about globalization ,called One World, is excellent and stresses the equal value of all persons wherever they may live on the Earth.
In a chapter from Writings on an Ethical Life, Singer says the issue is not the intelligence of the animal, as I considered about the octopus, but simply the fact that the animal has a capacity to suffer.
Animal rights issues or becoming a vegetarian are not things at the top of my list at the moment. However, I was surprised at the intensity of my reaction to the octopus on the menu. Who knows where this line of thought may lead? We always have the capacity to see issues in a new light as we acquire new information.
7 Comments »
Leave a comment
Welcome To Texas Liberal
Texas Liberal is a blog of politics and political history.
My name is Neil Aquino. Here is my profile.
I can be reached at naa618@att.net.
Additional focuses of the blog are books, art, poetry, personal relationships and, also, sea life and marine mammals.
( The picture above is of the Houston Ship Channel. A narrow channel can lead to a wide sea.)
The signature post of this blog is the Martin Luther King Reading & Reference List. This list is the best of it’s kind on the web.
Another good post is my reciting the words to the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts on Galveston Island, Texas as a ship passes behind.
I live in Houston, Texas and I do sometimes write about political issues in Houston and in Texas.
I also often write about my former hometown of Cincinnati, and about the great beach city of Galveston, Texas.
I define liberalism as a role for government in the economy to help make life more fair, and a broad acceptance of people regardless of who they are.
This is why it says “All People Matter” at the top of the blog.
A blog grows one reader at a time. If you like what you read here, please consider forwarding the link.
Texas Liberal began regular posting on July 25, 2006.
I also blog at the Houston Chronicle as one of eight featured political bloggers, and on Where’s The Outrage? which posts out of North Carolina.
Thanks for reading Texas Liberal.
Recent Comments
Tim Murphy on Mel Gibson & Siouxsie… Sof on Mel Gibson & Siouxsie… Bill Shirley (@bshir… on “Houston” Sculptur… JD on Black Man Drives Car With Conf… Blessthismess on Mel Gibson & Siouxsie…
Global Voices- Wild horses return to their historic natural habitat in Kazakhstan
- President Zelenskyy’s first interview with Central Asian journalists warns of dangers of being in Russia’s orbit
- The jury from Moldova gave highest points to Ukraine during Eurovision 2024
- An activist translates Minecraft, manga, and Harry Potter from Russian into the Chuvash language
- How Mongolia became a 3×3 basketball powerhouse
- Kyrgyzstan’s unsung heroes get recognition through street art
- Central Asia’s unique tradition of singing during Ramadan keeps evolving
- Teenager with Muslim background saved over 100 people in Moscow concert hall terrorist attack
- In Azerbaijan authorities remain silent over the murder of a trans woman
- Kyrgyzstan’s blockbuster film is a moving tale of the bond between a mother and son
Texas Liberal 
That reminds me of the run a way cow that hid at mount storm in cincinnati. I will still eat cows I find them quite good. I am sure when I was in hong kong I ate some sort of cat at some point as well as snake soup.
When the octopus starts talking to you and asking you not to eat it maybe then i would stop eating them? Maybe not
A talking octopus would make an excellent blog post. If the octopus talked to me I would engage it in conversation and see if it was more clever than people.
meat is murder! at least that’s morrisey says. i’d probably be dead if i had to kill my own food.
how do you feel about squid? like say at a punk show in the 80’s. maybe dri?
A few years ago a collegue made a comment I wasn’t supposed to (but did) hear about a jacket I purchased that contained animal product. She thought I was being hypocritical because I am a vegetarian. However, I have never once told anyone that they should become a vegetarian or not to buy animal products. I have pointed out to people that the production of animal products often has a very negative impact on the environment. Although animal rights are not my only reason for not eating meat, I generally find the idea of eating an animal uncomfortable, which I guess is what you experienced with the octopus. There is definitely a struggle between animal intelligence/ability to suffer versus human preservation. I have yet to find a clear answer. It is very difficult to live in America and avoid all food and other consumer products that have any animal component to them. Many drugs have animal components to them. Those of us who have an affinity for animals have been known to kill a spider or two. What about mosquitos that carry disease to so many people? I guess we all have to decide where we drawn our own lines as consumers and humans. However, there are so many things we could be doing in this country to preserve animal well-being that perhaps we should focus on the big things, like habit preservation, and do our best to reduce our individual impact on the animal world.
Hey! Glad that you didnt eat the Octopus. I also eat meat, but stay away from those that seem the most harmful or crual (octopus, veal, tuna). Not sure how I justify, but I do.
Sort of like my dilema yesterday (Memorial Day). I took the girls to the Cemetary to leave flowers for the Unknown and all the while felt out of place because I hate this war, Administration, and a majority of the Soliders. However, I needed to set a “positive” example.
Any views on this? Really could use your council.
D from the 7th Grade.
Barb–Thank you for your well-thought out comment. Few problems have a clear cut solution and navigating things as best we can is often the best one could do.
This is what I’d say to Diane. All I’ve ever been able to do is navigate as best I can. When on vacation I will often go a military cemetary if possible. I did so in San Diego a few months back and visited the big military cemetary in an old volcano in Honolulu a few years back. It’s got nothing to do with what I think of any war.
i LOVE the future is wild, and as a safeguard, i am allergic to calamari. anybody else know about the future is wild?