Shark Week

[Augustus]

Watching anything shark related, just makes me see how little we know about them. And at the same time infuriates me that this almost insatiable want in SE-Asia (and elsewhere with a large Chinese community) for sharkfinsoup has caused so many to be killed. It absolutely boggles the mind and I am Chinese. I've tried it as a child and grew an instant dislike for it, before even knowing what it was. It's seen as a sign of wealth and to not serve it at for instance a wedding reception, is like against some custom of some sorts.

Well, I'll be damned if I ever serve that vile excuse of a soup, simply because it is expected by the community. And my resolve has only gotten stronger ever since seeing footage of how some fishermen "collect" fins.

/end rant.

[kore]

Augustus, I have to agree with you about my dislike on how the fins are collected.

I was always curious on how shark tastes, but after all these years of Shark Week and before that, National Geographic, I have come to see how amazing these creatures are. I don't think I could eat shark now if offered.

I was crying last night after I saw one too many sharks getting killed on purpose.

For your wedding, maybe you can have a cake in the shape/frosted like a shark? I would do it.

[Augustus]

kore said:

Augustus, I have to agree with you about my dislike on how the fins are collected.

I was always curious on how shark tastes, but after all these years of Shark Week and before that, National Geographic, I have come to see how amazing these creatures are. I don't think I could eat shark now if offered.

I was crying last night after I saw one too many sharks getting killed on purpose.

For your wedding, maybe you can have a cake in the shape/frosted like a shark? I would do it.

The funny thing is that the soup is quite tasteless. It's nothing spectacular, but it just acts like a symbol. Lobster tastes far better.

Heeee! That weddingcake design would actually be quite awesome, not to mention ensures your party will be remembered.

[Casino Bride]

kore said:

I was crying last night after I saw one too many sharks getting killed on purpose.

Has anyone seen "Sharks 3D" at IMAX? I was crying my eyes out when I saw it in Vancouver.

(Especially after seeing adorable tiny little baby sharks at the Stanley Park Aquarium the day before.)

[Deleted]

I can't watch Shark Week because I would be crying and hating the world.

augustus said:

Well, I'll be damned if I ever serve that vile excuse of a soup, simply because it is expected by the community. And my resolve has only gotten stronger ever since seeing footage of how some fishermen "collect" fins.

/end rant.

Thank you so much for taking such an active stance. For years I have been a shark advocate and whenever I can , try to educate people about their plight and endangered status. Sharks are so misunderstood.Movies like Jaws did not help. I remember when that came out, my seashore town started a yearly "Shark Hunt". Groups of drunk men looking to prove their manhood by bagging sharks went out in boats. When you watch people like that, you scratch your head and wonder how evolved is the human really?

But for many people, appealing to their conscience or their hearts is hitting a wall, so you have to shame them with public disapproval to get them to stop such behaviors and buying such things. Because yes unfortunately, people are that shallow.

Anyway...whatever Greecie came up with the name "Chompie" gets a cookie, because we use it all the time in my house now.

[bloo]

Make it oatmeal raisin. I took it from a Simpson's episode where Bart wins an elephant and names it Stompy.

[magazinewhore]

Hey, been sitting here watching Shark Week all week before I realized there was a thread! I'm a big anti-cruelty to animals person, but some of the most disturbing footage I've ever seen has been fisherman cutting off shark fins and then dropping their still alive bodies back in the water to die. It sickens me.

And so I've been watching about shark attacks all week, and you know what? I don't feel bad for those people. Yes, I'm a misanthropic animal lover but a boatful of fisherman will kill as many sharks in an afternoon as people are killed in a year from shark attacks. I don't know. You go in the ocean, you're in their territory, that's the inherent risk. I hate the way the media demonizes sharks (and everything else). I'm sorry your family member died, but that's the risk you take when you go in the ocean. And the human damage is infintismal compared to how we as humans have cleared out the oceans. Blaming sharks is stupid, and the media coverage just makes it that much worse.

I don't know. It just makes me mad. I don't want anyone to die, but I wish people would wake up and realize that's what happens when you go in a predator's environment. You don't like it, stay out.

All right, this is going to make me really unpopular, and probably doesn't belong in this thread, but why is a human life inherently more valuable than an animal's? I understand we, as humans, develop bonds and relationships, but we're discovering more and more that animals do too. Why is a shark attack a tragedy and killing sharks for their fins just fishing?

I'll show myself to the door now.

[Deleted]

Topher, the name is perfect for a shark. heh Good job. *golf clap*

Magazinewhore, open the door and step into my mind. I happen to be one of those people that just doesn't understand how the human mind can pick and choose what to feel compassion for and show kindness to. Why can't people shed tears for both?
Why do you have to choose one or the other?
It doesn't make much sense to me that we must have separate hearts, compassion, feelings, etc. One for man, the other for other living things. That concept is completely alien to me.
Have compassion and feelings for all. I'll never get it. Personally, I don't think a heart can be divided and be truly compassionate. A truly compassionate heart makes no distinction about what is worthy of their compassion and what isn't.

A teacher of mine said to me, and I agree completely ( I told Joan Rivers this and she said she would embroider it on a pillow :-p):
" I believe a wise and truly loving and compassionate human heart does not have a separate heart. One for just humans or one for just animals, but one for both.."

A good one from Herbert Spencer is:

"The behavior of men to lower animals, and their behavior to each other, bear a constant relationship."

[kore]

Awesome quote Leenerbumps!


Casino Bride! No I never saw the 3-D movie. I remember making plans to see it, but the movie theater that was showing it, changed their IMAX movies without letting the public know.

Ooh! I love the baby sharks!

ETA: Looks like no one posted since my last post yesterday. I think you people don't really care about Shark Week! Maybe you people with shark avatars need to change them.

*grumble, grumble, they don't love the sharks, grumble, grumble, they just say they do*

Ok, I watched a really good episode of a man who would dive to try and give sharks "tonic". It is achieved by touching them in the nose area (which is really sensitive on sharks). The shark would go into a trance. It was really cool!! He manage to do it to a Great White for a few seconds! Did anyone see this?

[magazinewhore]

I didn't see that one, Kore. But I did manage to see most of Ocean of Fear, which was fascinating. Shark Week is over. I'm sad. I want more sharks.