Yes, those who eat fish should call themselves “pesco-vegetarians” or better still, “pescetarians”…
Eating fish != vegetarian.
End of story. Some people call themselves vegetarians and still eat fish… much to the dismay of those of us who actually follow a vegetarian diet. It’s people like this who cause us to have to send back meals in restaurants because the waitperson assured us that the dish was vegetarian… even though it has anchovies or whatever in it. If these dimbulbs would stop giving the public the impression that fish are a vegetarian food, life for real vegetarians would be much easier.
If you want to eat fish but no other meat, go ahead. Just don’t call yourself a vegetarian.
FWIW, I don’t eat meat or buy leather/fur.
Says who? Someone who eats fish once a month before cutting out all other meat may very well still only eat fish once a month. It doesn’t mean they’re going to eat fish every time they would otherwise have had a hamburger. Why is that so hard to understand?
I’m just not even going to reply to Gorgon Heap as I don’t think I could do that and still be civil.
You asked for a clarification, and because I didn’t want to insult you I provided one. My warning meant only that I’m not much of the mind to debate the pros and cons of vegitarianism since what you eat is your own business.
The offending woman in the OP obvisoulsy is not so gracious, and I had as much right solicit my opinion of her being rude on this public message board as did you in identifying the possibility of a misunderstanding on the OP’s part.
Oh, and now I see Opal commented as well. I have no idea what may anger you there. As I said, it was a defense against some veggie folk who were doing their damndest to convert me.
The fact is, while I do not understand wanting to be a vegitarian, I don’t tell them they are wrong. I say as much and Opal says she’s mad. Why, because my point of view and opinion shouldn’t count? You’re confusing me here.
Some people can just get offended by a breeze blowing the wrong way. I wouldn’t worry about it, it’s not as if you personally insulted her or anything. I get the feeling living strictly on vegetables makes your skin get thin or something.
I’m an omnivore, not a carnivore, and I appreciate the larger number of veggies of all sorts in this country. There is increased pressure for a broader assortment of tasty and healthy plant-based foods at stores and restaurants and plenty of animals and animal products those people don’t eat left over for the rest of us. A win-win situation!
No, no, don’t worry about THAT. In fact, there was this one time where another friend was wearing a leather jacket (we actually didn’t know if it was REAL leather because she picked it up at a second hand store for $10) and the Carrot Muncher “accidently” brushed against it. Her reaction? “EW EW EW EW! I cannot believe I touched the skin of a dead animal!” Then proceeded to “wiper her hands clean” on said friend’s couch. Now, this could have been a joke. We were in a private place. But given the way she gives us dirty looks, I highly doubt it.
I’ll cut her some slack when she cuts the rest of us meat eaters some slack. I don’t see how much more “slack” I can give her when she’s the one who gives us dirty looks and we were just confused and questioning the fact that she was eating fish despite the fact that they have brains and reproduce. We were most definately less rude to her than she was to us.
The reason I posted this in the pit was so I could rant without confrontation. If I wanted to tell her off about this in the beginning, I would have. I don’t want to. Am I being a coward? Possibly. But this is what I like about the Pit. I can piss and moan about how horrible the people in my life are, and I don’t have to confront them. I can let off steam without any hurt feelings.
I realize that my OP could have been a little biased. After all, I’m only showing you one part of our relationship. I don’t deny that she’s a good friend. She’s great to shop with and we have fun most of the time. But when it comes to her views on killing animals, she stands firm on her position and won’t budge an inch. It’s not that her being a vegetarian annoys me, it’s her pushing her so called values onto me. And to make things even more complicated, she tells me she eats fish because they’re ugly. I just can’t fathom that concept.
All this being said, I would also like to point out that my brother calls himself a vegetarian. He doesn’t do it for the animals, but changed his diet to eat healthier. He does eat fish, and say, once in a while, we have chicken soup, but the chicken bits are all over the place and so tiny that he just shrugged and gulps it down regardless. He claims “A little meat won’t kill me.” I don’t have a problem with him doing this because a) His motivation wasn’t “for the animals” but for himself. b) He doesn’t give me dirty looks when I eat meat and c) He doesn’t try to make the excuse that he eats fish because they’re “ugly”. He eats them and that’s that. He doesn’t try to justify himself with moronic excuses. I realize that this might contradict his description of “vegetarian” of himself, but to me, as long as I can eat my own meal in peace, he can call himself a vegetarian-cannibal for all I care.
Eh… no. I just don’t want to get into a debate about it because it is something I feel very passionate about. I know that if I said what my opinion is about that line of thought, that is what would happen.
Nitpicky point: has it been settled in the scientific community whether fish feel pain or not? I always assumed they did, having nervous systems and all, but I think I read an article in New Scientist (a magazine I consider reliable source) that a recent study indicated they do not feel pain.
I’d be very surprised to learn that fish don’t feel pain. Pain is a response to injury that evolved to keep animals from killing themselves by bashing their heds against rocks or something. Fish might not experience pain in the same sense that we do. There’s probably not the emotional component of pain like we experience, but surely there’s some sensation when one is sliced open alive.
Some things I usually say in these kinds of threads:
Firstly, to get it out of the way, the woman described in the OP is an ass. There’s no excuse to comment on someone else’s food, and shoot glares at someone else like that. I don’t like it when people do it to me when I eat my “rabbit food,” so I sure as hell won’t do it to someone else.
Opal is right about the fish thing. People who eat fish are not generally considered vegetarian. I personally think it’s better for the fish-eaters to call themselves “pescatarians” (which specifically describes their diet and separates it from "vegetarian).
The lack of fish in vegetarian diets is noted in the biggest US vegetarian magazine, Vegetarian Times. You won’t find any fish mentioned in this magazine. You won’t find any fish in “vegetarian” frozen foods in the health food store, in the vast majority of vegetarian restaurants, and I think you’d be hard pressed to find fish in in vegetarian cook book recipes. There might be one out there that I don’t know about, but I doubt it would be considered “mainstream.” Bottom line: in the USA, fish in vegetarian diets is not “mainstream,” as reflected by the lack of fish in vegetarian magazines, restaurants, packaged vegetarian foods, and cookbooks.
Regarding the leather thing–I always remember an article I read years ago in Vegetarian Times, which included interviews with several “unconventional” vegetarians. One was a furrier, if memory serves. The point of the article was that vegetarianism is a diet, (meaning it pertains to what you eat, not what you wear) and that if a person is a vegetarian for reasons other than sparing animals, then they can wear leather or use other animal products and still be considered “vegetarian” (as long as they eat a vegetarian diet). However, if someone preaches sermons about “saving the animals” yet still wears leather, then maybe the hypocrite alert should go off. But if they don’t eat meat for an ambiguous reason or just because they don’t want to eat meat? It’s no one else’s business whether they wear leather or not.
