I have an idea...Let's not eat at all!

Those leftist animal rights activists are up to their eyebrows in their extreme ideologies again. Their beef this time? Lobsters suffer when they are boiled alive!

Oh, no! Larry Lobster is suffering because we want to eat him! I suppose they will now want us to not eat any crustacean or shellfish at all!

Now, don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't care about animals and their treatment. On the contrary, I do want animals/pets to be properly cared for, to be treated humanely and to be as happy as we are in a household. I wouldn't want a dog to be trained to be an attack dog and then have it go and maim or kill a child, for roosters to be engaged in cockfighting only to be tossed aside like so much detritus, or fish to live in an unclean aquarium. But, we're talking about FOOD here, people!

While I wouldn't want to eat beef from a cow with mad cow disease or fish that are polluted with dioxins, mercury and other heavy metals and such, I still reserve the right to eat what is available and that I am not IDEOLOGICALLY opposed to.

It's one thing to not eat foods that are unhealthy for you because you either have an allergic reaction to them or you just aren't able to eat it at all, but it's another to IMPOSE one's ideological values on others all because it doesn't "jive with their lifestyle."

The leftist animal rights people who are opposed to eating crustaceans, the vegetarians who would have you only eat veggies are entitled to eat the way they feel that fits them best - but leave the rest of us out of it! You do not have a right to dictate how I or my family should eat because of your views!

If my son decided that he really did not like the taste of something that I served to him, that's fine. If he later on decides that being vegetarian is healthiest for him, that's fine. At least he came to that conclusion ON HIS OWN and not because SOMEBODY FORCE FED IT DOWN HIS THROAT AND BRAINWASHED HIS MIND! The same applies to my wife and her extended family - if they decided they didn't want to eat something because they aren't comfortable eating it, it gives them health problems or for whatever reason, then that is their right. I will not hold their feet to the fire for that.

For example, I cannot eat clams, crabs, lobster or shrimp because if I do I will have an allergic reaction. I used to enjoy eating them before I developed my food allergy. My in-laws have chosen to be inclusive of me by trying to not order too many items from a menu that include shrimp in it. I am appreciative of their concerns for my inability to eat such foods, but I do tell them that if that particular dish is something they desire to eat that it's okay to order that. I'll just eat whever else is available at the table.

Before, I used to feel indignant and somewhat left-out, but then I chose to do something about it: Instead of whining and pouting, I communicated my needs to them. I asked if it would be okay to order something different. My wife, bless her heart, has also stood up for me in the past and that led to an increased awareness of food allergies. With the birth of my son and their second grandchild, they became even more concerned with food allergies because infants can't eat certain items until they reach a certain age.

Do you see how this has worked well without imposing any value judgments on others to change their eating habits? I think the animal rights activists and the vegetarians could use a lesson in this. And, since they are such leftists and they are so big on inclusion and non-discrimination, how about stopping the hate-mongering, the scare ad campaigns and the eco-terrorism that they are trying to ram down the throats of others because they feel that it's immoral and amoral to want to eat meat, seafood and other foods?

How about this for using their ideology on them? Since they feel so strongly about how animals may think and feel, how about the plants and vegetables that they all so love to eat? They have feelings too! After all, some of them like to sing and talk to their plants, play music for them, and exercise all manner of earth-friendly practices. Hey, I'm all for that! When I was living at an apartment with my wife that had a compost bin provided by the garbage company, I composted the same way I recycle - to a fault. It drove my wife nuts when I separated out all the organic stuff to compost and all of the recyclables into piles to be placed in their respective bins downstairs. But, I digress.

While listening to KSFO (560 AM in the San Francisco Bay Area), they were talking about this very issue - how the animal rights activists feel that the boiling of lobsters is inhumane because of the pain inflicted upon them.

Now, if you ask me, that's a rather huge stretch because, when was the last time they actually asked a lobster how they felt about being boiled? Did they do any research of their own? If they have, I haven't heard about it! But, I doubt that they'd even show it to me because they, like most leftist liberals, like to use emotions, rather than logic, to get their point across. And, if you dare to oppose them, they will try to talk you down and intimidate you into seeing their perspective instead of actually having an intelligent discussion. Do you know why it's hard to have an intelligent discussion with a leftist liberal? It's because they aren't intelligent and they are highly illogical. They like things the easy way and they don't like it if they have to work for it. In this case, it means that they prefer you shut up and accept their ideology as gospel because "it makes the most sense" even when it doesn't.

Let's try using their ideology on them: They seem to feel that plants have feelings, so how would the animal rights activists feel if they learned that plants screamed in pain silently (because we can't hear them or understand them) and also felt pain when we pull them out by their roots or cut them up into our salads? Hmm? What do we do then? We can't eat animals because it's inhumane, seafood because they are sensitive to pain, plants because they have feelings...I know, let's JUST NOT EAT AT ALL!

There, that would solve everything for everyone! Nothing has to suffer because of our selfish human desire to give ourselves sustenance, no, there would be no more suffering at all! Or would there?

Just a little sidenote: The guys on Mythbusters (seen on the Discovery Channel, check your local cable/satellite directory for showtimes) busted the myth that plants do better or worse because of music or having somebody say good or bad things to them. I found that segment particularly interesting and amusing. And, since they conclusively proved it through their controlled experiments, I think that the leftists will be hard-pressed to sustain their arguments.

So, leave us alone on our eating habits and don't go imposing your (meaning the leftist extremists) values on others all because we don't see things your way.