I mentioned these three little words in the previous post: shark fin soup. Probably the single most environmentally damaging dish available (you could argue bird nest soup, but not too the same extent). Shark fin soup. Shark fin soup. What to say about this soup. These three words bring to mind, unimaginable animal cruelty, human stubbornness, human callousness, and just plain unreasonable explanations.
Perhaps -probably not- if there was a half-way decent explanation for why shark fin soup has been allowed to exist, I'd be a little more understanding. But, the only thing I get in term of an explanation is, "it's tradition". As if that even begins to exonerate this barbaric practice. TRADITION. What a word. My family has a tradition, we have turkey at Christmas. You want to know the difference between our tradition and shark fin soup? Our tradition doesn't threaten to topple the entire ecosystem!!! Alright, perhaps we have to be a little more considerate, as it is part of Chinese culture. It's been part of their way of living for thousands of years. Well... No... It originally came about during the Ming Dynasty -a long time ago, but not overwhelming so- the key fact is, shark fin soup was a dish, exclusive to the elite, such as the Emperor. Let me repeat that again, the EMPEROR. The King of Mali had coffers filled to the brim with gold, he handed it out to the point, that he devalued the stuff. Does that mean that everyone in Mali (today) should have coffers field with gold, because their king did. This logic, is just... Not logic. It's only been in the last couple hundred, yes hundred, of years, that a large number of the population has been able to afford the delicacy. Thus, arguing that it is part of Chinese culture, is simply misleading. They've managed to sustain culture for 199,500 thousand years without shark fin soup, I'm quite certain it's not too much to ask for them to do it again.
I've argued against the point of tradition, largely by arguing that it isn't really a tradition. Nonetheless, even if this truly was a tradition, that had been going on for thousands of years (for more people, than just the emperor), it is still not even close to a reasonable argument.
Supporters: "Don't mind us we're just going to threaten the entire ecosystem."
Everyone else: "What?!? Are you crazy?"
Supporters: "Well it's a tradition of ours..."
Everyone else: "Oh! It's a tradition, well that's alright then. Go ahead."
No. Just no. Tradition is not a valid excuse to drive an entire species to extinction. Perhaps, in the past, when fewer people could afford this "delicacy" this practice was sustainable-ish, but today with hundreds of millions of people consuming it, it is simply an unfeasible notion.
The immorality of this practice hits home, when you watch a video of how the fins are obtained. Oh, right. Only the fins are used. The rest of the shark is chucked back into the ocean- alive. To float helplessly, whilst being picked at by scavengers, until it chokes to death (recall that sharks need to keep swimming to breath). 5-10% of the shark is used. 5-10%. This figure is what really riles many activists, this practice is not only unsustainable and pointless, it is completely inefficient. 90% of the shark is thrown back into the ocean and it's not like that shark can keep on living: it will live in agony for a few minutes: the king of the seas, scavenged alive.
The fact that eating shark fin soup isn't even necessary for survival makes the whole practice barbaric: this is not a staple food supply, such as beluga for the Inuits (also controversial, but this is at least necessary for their survival). Shark fin soup, today, is used to celebrate, and mostly show other people that they can afford it. This is why the noble shark is being driven to extinction: people want to show off to their friends. For goodness sake, show off like the rest of the population, and buy a new phone.
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