Originally posted by: SP33Demon
Originally posted by: kogase
Originally posted by: SP33Demon
The discussion has to do with whether the specific example of boiling a lobster alive is considered "torture". Not hanging it by a string for your little cousins to play live lobster pinata (i.e. clear cut). Not putting it in the microwave and watching it explode (clear cut).
I don't think boiling is torture (it's called cooking my dinner), PETA activists do. It can't be proven either way so it's a moot point. Your analogy to humans, when we're discussing animals has no relevance to the specific example. We don't need definitions of what clear cut torture is (or maybe you had to look it up lol).
Yes, the overall discussion has to do with that, but your post clearly is dismissing the very idea that an animal could be tortured, because in your mind there's no difference between torture and a quick kill. My analogy to murder is apt, as it has little to do with humans and animals and more to do with the fact that society recognizes there is a difference between torture and a quick kill. The fact that animal cruelty laws exist (and have actually existed in one form or another for thousands of years) is another testament to this fact.
Yes, I acknowledge that there is a difference between torture and a quick kill (pinata, microwave). However, the point is that death by boiling is a grey area and purely subjective. I don't see how you can apply any human laws related to torture considering that we don't eat humans and pets for food, and we cannot prove if lobsters feel pain like our pets.
I think since it dies quickly by boiling, it's not torture, and don't see the difference between that and gutting it with a knife. Pain will be inflicted either way, and to debate which is less cruel is moot IMO. Again, considering the fact that I'm eating it (essential for my survival i.e. food) and not just killing for fun (which I do with wasps).
If you think death by boiling is torture, then you should be an advocate for banning deer hunting, where a deer will definitely feel more pain than a lobster in a pot (unless deer is hit with a kill shot but that's rare). Many times the deer will still be alive and on the ground after the shot, and usually it's killed with knife at that point. But remember, society will never consider this torture because most of the time the deer is consumed for food. I see nothing inhumane about either method.