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Some vegetarians are queer fish


Sknydpr
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I thought some of you would enjoy this brief article, I know I did. My ex-fiancé, who knows firsthand how I can be when asked if I eat fish, sent it to me.

 

Some vegetarians are queer fish

August 4, 2005

 

Michael O'Reilly has a message for all you fish-eaters out there.

 

Most writers like to build up to the point they're trying to make, but what I've got to say is so important that I'm just going to bung it into the second paragraph so you don't miss it. Are you ready? Here goes.

 

Vegetarians don't eat fish.

 

There. I've said it. And most readers are now going, "what's the big deal, I knew that". But an annoying percentage of you are saying, "well, SOME vegetarians eat fish ..."

 

Sure, and some teetotallers drink beer and wine. Look it up in the Macquarie dictionary. The entry goes on about vegetable and farinaceous matter, before stating "refusing meat, fish, etc" - because, and I'll whisper it here, a fish is not a vegetable.

 

Now it's true that, by the dictionary's definition, the true vegetarian is a vegan, someone who eschews all animal products. Many vegos stray towards dairy or even eggs.

 

But a fish, which you catch with a hook, which fights to remain in its environment, and which then flaps and gasps its last in a layer of bloody water at the bottom of the boat? Not very vegetarian.

 

Nevertheless, vegetarians are always being asked if they eat fish. The word is becoming so debased that you can go to dinner at a friend's house, having warned them of your diet, to be told, "Oh, I made a tuna bake especially for you". It's pretty awkward having to decline, especially when your host says, in bafflement, "Well, a lot of vegetarians eat fish", as if you're just being unnecessarily unreasonable.

 

So who is to blame? Meat-eaters can be blamed for a lot of things (supporting animal cruelty and the destruction of Australia's fragile environment are two things that spring readily to mind), but they're in the clear on this one.

 

No, the fault lies with the wannabe vegetarians, the people who think it's something cool to claim, but who couldn't be bothered to go the whole hog, as it were, by forgoing the whole animal kingdom.

 

There are other words they can use to describe themselves. Vegaquarian is clever and catchy, or even pescatarian (peskies for short). "Dietary poseur" is perhaps too vague. Or how about just, "I don't eat meat"? Although it can be argued that fish is a meat, "meat" and "fish" are separate on most menus, so we can live with this differentiation.

 

But please, can we keep the fish out of vegetarian? The next thing we know, similar words and phrases will cease to have meaning.

 

"I'm a non-smoker, but I always puff on a cigar after dinner."

 

"I'm sedentary, but I go for a run every morning."

 

"I'm celibate, but I have sex now and again."

 

You see how annoying it can become? Seriously, I've had enough. Sooner or later, some waiter in a restaurant with nothing but animals on the carte is going to respond, as they so often do, to my query about vegetarian options by asking me if I eat fish, and it's going to be the last straw.

 

I'm a pacifist, but I might throw my menu at him.

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"A fish is not a vegetable" is something that I have said about a hundred times over the last two years.

 

 

Just the other day, somebody told me that they were vegetarian because they didnt eat red meat. Huuuuuullllloooooooooooooooooo?????!!!!!!!

 

This is another one of my pet peeves- vegetarians that eat fish, or vegetarians that eat chicken.

 

 

Pesco-vegetarian is an oxy moron people!!!!

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This is another one of my pet peeves- vegetarians that eat fish, or vegetarians that eat chicken.

 

vegetarians full stop for me really! you can apply the 'i dont support animal cruelty but eat certain animal products' to either vegetarians or pescatarians.

 

my dad has been a pescatarian for 35years (only eats it if it doesnt look like a fish) but wont drop it. so irratating!

 

jonathan

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Hey Jonathan, welcome back!!!

 

Ya I agree vegeterains FULL STOP. The reason I specified pesco veg or veg that eat chicken is because they are the only animal eaters I have met that claim to be vegetarian.

 

But of course it is true (and rather as plain as the nose on my face I might add) that if you are eating anything that once had a face and a mother, you are NOT vegetarian!!!

 

What exactly leads people to conclude otherwise has always perplexed me.

 

Hope you had a great time!

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Ya I agree vegeterains FULL STOP.

 

I don't think you understood him, he's putting non-vegan vegetarians in the same boat as everyone else, again.

 

Must be nice being perfect. I'm sure all the animals I didn't eat the six or seven years I was lacto- appreciated my efforts.

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Now that I re-read your introduction to the article, it sounds like you did initially agree with it and understand the author's frustration with fish eating vegetarians. But in the later post, you have a different take on it.

 

I dont understand what I said that you dont agree with in this thread. IT sounds like we are all on the same page, including the author - if one more person asks me if I eat fish, I am going to scream. so what's the problem here?

 

OOPS disregard this too - think i have misunderstood

Edited by compassionategirl
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I don't think you understood him, he's putting non-vegan vegetarians in the same boat as everyone else, again.

 

 

 

wait a second. Dan, who are you saying that I have misunderstood - Jonathan or the author of the article?

 

I have no idea who is criticizing whom or what here - this thread has gotten all mangled and confusing now.

 

After having typed the above posts, I realized that you prolly mean that i misunderstood jonathan, not the article, and maybe your comment about perfection was directed at him?

 

If that is the case - OOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPSSSSS sorry skinny dipper just disregard the previous posts. me bad girl maybe i should get off the crack (just kidding people, just kidding. ).

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I saw this posted somewhere in another forum and thought I could repost it here:

 

"veg[etari]an ....cut out the crap. go vegan."

 

that is excellent!

 

my attitude towards vegetarians is such because nearly all of them know why they are morally flawed, and almost all say that they would go vegan but....they cant live without cheese and they cant be bothered with all the hard work.

 

that is pretty much the same as many meat eaters who say ' i know that eating animals is cruel, and i would go veggie, but i couldnt live without meat and besides its hard work!'

 

neither stance is justifiable, and they both use the same argument.

 

also many veggies i have met substitute meat with dairy which ultimately causes just as much suffering because dairy cows have it so so much worse than meat cattle.

 

i am not perfect, nor do i pretend to be, but i think that it is not an unreasonable stance to take where you expect people who are not vegan to justify themselves (especially on a vegan board).

 

jonathan

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