I didn’t really want to get into a tit-for-tat debate about foie gras but someone called Sam has left a lengthy comment on my last blog post which I am responding to in the hope it clarifies my point of view.
This is what Sam has to say:
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As a share holder of course you are going to side with the restaurant and the practice of force feeding geese , despite not having any real evidence to back up your assertions that this is humane and the geese are all good with it. I dont care how much you gloss it over it is still cruelty and by the way sow stalls will be illegal from 2015 in NZ . |
This is my response:
Dear Sam,
Firstly I don’t say that all foie gras farming is humane and I certainly don’t “gloss over” the appalling treatment of birds in some factory farms. I have in fact, directed people towards YouTube and clips that document what I call the shameful side of foie gras. However, I also know from my own experience (and that is evidence enough for me) that this is not the norm. All the foie-gras farms I’ve seen are tidy humane places where the birds free-range on pasture until the gavage period at which stage they’re penned in groups with lots of room to move. The force-feeding is quick and the birds are not at all upset by it. Ducks and geese are not humans, they are designed to take big lumps of food straight down their necks – have you ever watched a water bird swallow a whole fish?
My point is that there are good and bad farmers. The anti-foie gras brigade choose to back up their view by focusing on the worst-case factory farms that treat their birds badly. This is like condemning all beef farming because some operators confine cattle on feedlots, or saying people shouldn’t eat pork because some pig farmers keep pigs in horrible conditions. Why do you think foie gras is any different? Don’t you think that a better response is for restaurants and consumers to support good producers by buying animal products from farms with good welfare and environmental standards – whether it be pork, eggs, beef or foie-gras? This is the policy at Le Canard.
However, the main point of my blog post was to object to the bullying behaviour of the people who have been protesting outside Le Canard restaurant every weekend for the last six months. You object to my use of the term ‘bullying’. What else do you call the behaviour of people who will not respect the opinions of others and who use intimidating tactics to make the object of their protest behave in the way they see fit? Six months of leafleting customers and waving placards outside the restaurant – not to mention the xenophobic phone calls, and demands that the chef alter his menu – certainly fits my definition of bullying.
Anna
I’m French and I do agree with all what Anna wrote. All is said and well said, Thank you Anna for having been clear in your post mostly because you are well informed about the way Foie gras is made in France.
It seems that certain people in NZ do respect more the ducks and the geese than the customers and the chef of the restaurant …
I agree that the word Bully is controversial. Let’s look at the definition for a moment:
Wikipedia:
Bullying is a form of aggressive behavior manifested by the use of force or coercion to affect others, particularly when the behavior is habitual and involves an imbalance of power. It can include verbal harassment, physical assault or coercion and may be directed repeatedly towards particular victims, perhaps on grounds of race, religion, gender, sexuality, or ability.[2][3] The “imbalance of power” may be social power and/or physical power. The victim of bullying is sometimes referred to as a “target”.
Bullying consists of three basic types of abuse – emotional, verbal, and physical. It typically involves subtle methods of coercion such as intimidation.
The Free Dictionary:
bul·ly 1 (bl)
n. pl. bul·lies
1. A person who is habitually cruel or overbearing, especially to smaller or weaker people.
Now let’s stop and think. Who is bullying who? Could you really characterize the volunteers speaking up for the ducks and geese as being the stronger party? How do they have the “power” as the definition suggests?
The protestors action certainly fits your definition of verbal and emotional abuse, just as some of the phone calls, which have been recorded, constitute racial abuse. But I think you should also consider that bullying is also defined by the affect (mental or physical) it has on the victim The fact that the chef feels intimidated by this group is further evidence that he is indeed being bullied.
However, I don’t expect the protestors will ever admit to this, when did a bully ever admit to being a bully?
It’s seems I’ve struck a nerve with my accusation. Interesting.
Tania, I think you should be upfront about being one of the activists. It’s not honest to make comments without stating your affiliations, especially when it is entirely relevant to this discussion.
This debate now closed. If activists want to make further comments I suggest they do it through other outlets and refrain from personal or slanderous remarks.
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wait to take a look when I get home. I’m surprised at how quick your blog loaded on my phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .
. Anyways, good blog!
Hi there would you mind stating which blog platform you’re using? I’m going
to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a hard time choosing between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your design seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something
completely unique. P.S Apologies for being off-topic but I
had to ask!
I’m using WordPress. I think the theme is Misty. I wanted something that was really simple but I do remember faffing around alot trying to customise the photo banner across the top. Hope that helps.
When I initially commented I clicked the
“Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get three
e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you
can remove me from that service? Thanks!
I’m not sure how that can be happening. I review every comment that comes through and trash all the computer generated spam so it doesn’t get on to my site. It doesn’t make sense that comments can come through to you when they’re not approved by me first. It must be a WordPress problem and I have no idea how to fix it. Let me know if it keeps happening, and how often, and if it’s all spam.
J’ai trouvée votre blog par mégarde et je ne le regrette pas
!
On peut vous dire que ce n’est nullement erroné !