# Sympathy for Lobsters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 10, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046 "2012-01-10T13:58:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/21 "2012-01-10T19:54:05Z")
Yeah, WhyNot linked to the study which appears to show they do feel pain. Frankly, anyone who accepts evolution shouldn’t be surprised that something as useful as the ability to sense pain and react evolved fairly early in the development of life. It’s not like we’d assume it sprang fully-blown into existence when the first Cro-Magnon reached Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/22 "2012-01-10T20:17:08Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > I oppose this. They’ll just vote in their own best interests. No vaporization without representation? ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/23 "2012-01-10T20:46:10Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I don’t have a dog in this fight because I’m a vegetarian and wouldn’t eat them anyway, but it seems to me there is some reason to believe the lobsters are trying to stay alive. Most vegetables are trying to stay alive, too. Many plants have quite an arsenal of self-defense. [Brussels sprouts want to live](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/science/22angi.html) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/24 "2012-01-10T21:04:16Z")
> [@Terraplane](#): > > I do feel bad for them and avoid eating them even though they’re delicious. If it were possible to prove that they don’t feel pain I would eat them, but I don’t think that it is and I’m not going to roll the dice and hope that I’m not torturing something to death. The article Marley linked to says it takes them 30-45 seconds to die in a pot of boiling water. That’s a lot of potential agony. ☹ But pain makes them _tastier!_ Studies have shown the the yummiest, juiciest steaks come from cows that have been slapped around and teased before being slowly strangled with a silk stocking. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/25 "2012-01-12T03:10:37Z")
I was watching Martha Stewart ages and ages ago and she instructed us to add a cup of vodka to the water because (it’s been so long I forget - something like it relaxes their muscles so they don’t curl up?) Then as an aside she added “Besides, if you were going to be boiled alive you’d want a drink first too.” ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/26 "2012-01-12T05:36:13Z")
Has PETA issued an encyclical on this? Seriously, you are talking about a large insect that happens to taste delicious (with butter and lemon)-I don’t concern myself much with lobster’s feelings. Besides, in the wild, they are likely to be eaten by…another lobster! ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/27 "2012-01-12T06:05:15Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > But pain makes them _tastier!_ Studies have shown the the yummiest, juiciest steaks come from cows that have been slapped around and teased before being slowly strangled with a silk stocking. That sounds a lot like the plot of a porno I watched once. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/28 "2012-01-12T08:47:17Z")
Just so long as you cut the rubber bands off them so it’s more of a fair fight. ---
**Author:** ![Theophane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@Theophane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theophane)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/29 "2012-01-12T09:32:49Z")
What would Dr. Zoidberg say? ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/30 "2012-01-12T12:32:02Z")
He’d say WOOP WOOP WOOP WOOP WOOP **(V)( ;,; )(V)** MY MOTHER WAS A SAINT!! ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/31 "2012-01-12T14:58:12Z")
I have a personal policy of not considering the feelings of anything with mouth tendrils. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/32 "2012-01-12T15:20:48Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I’m an omnivore, but I’m eagerly awaiting the day when they develop vat meat that has no relation to living animals except for being delicious. You have heard of Spam, right? Oh wait, you said delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Theophane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@Theophane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theophane)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/33 "2012-01-12T17:40:06Z")
Vat meat doesn’t sound very appetizing. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/34 "2012-01-12T17:50:40Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > I have a personal policy of not considering the feelings of anything with mouth tendrils. Cthulhu, it’s what’s for dinner. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/35 "2012-01-12T18:09:52Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Cthulhu, it’s what’s for dinner. In R’lyeh, dinner eats you We’re gonna need a bigger pot i’m here all week ☹ ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/36 "2012-01-13T00:52:29Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > You have heard of Spam, right? > > Oh wait, you said delicious. Soylent Spam is made of pig people! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/37 "2012-01-13T00:54:17Z")
> [@Theophane](#): > > Vat meat doesn’t sound very appetizing. It’s got a few bugs to work out still. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/38 "2012-01-13T16:06:24Z")
Boomtown, outside Reno, has an “All You Can Eat” Lobster buffet. I mowed down about 8 of those critters one night. Didn’t bother me one bit! Who I felt sorry for was the poor woman they have dressed in the Lobster costume. Jeez, that must be embarrassing! ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/39 "2012-01-13T16:34:48Z")
Boiled alive is nothin’. Soft-shell crabs have their faces sliced off, then their lungs (gills) ripped out, _then_ they’re cooked, alive. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046/40 "2012-01-13T23:01:22Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Boiled alive is nothin’. > > Soft-shell crabs have their faces sliced off, then their lungs (gills) ripped out, _then_ they’re cooked, alive. Although, really, is that so different than the end they’d meet if they were caught by a seagull, or an otter, or an octopus, or any of the other zillions of things that will rip a crab apart to eat it? Well … except for the boiling part, but at that point, do they even really care? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sympathy-for-lobsters/609046.md?page=3)