Pigs and Lobsters

While in Mexico visiting family a couple of summers ago, I was taken to many interesting places. We didn’t go to classic tourists areas like Cancun or Acapulco. Instead we stayed in Morelia, the capital of Michoacán, and later the quiet town of Nocupetaro. Here, life was very different from what I was use to. I met many relatives whose way of life was completely different from mine. One of the events that stick out from this trip happened in this town. They decided to cook pork that night, and in order to get they had to kill one of their pigs. It was a young pig, and in order to do this they chase it and hold it down while some one drives a knife through its armpit into its chest. Then it’s cleaned with boiling water, skinned and butchered. As I was watching this I was amazed at how none of this seemed out of the ordinary for them. I realized that this is their way of life, and if they want to eat, this is what they have to do. In relation to Consider the Lobster, I feel as if critics of lobster eating or boiling should realize that people don’t boil them simply to boil them and watch them squirm. It is simply a means to an end. And while I personally couldn’t stand to watch it, I understand that it is essentially a necessary evil. We must eat, and in order for us to eat animals must die. The logic can’t be denied or called barbaric because it is the basis of nature.