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Japan's ‘dancing zombie squid’

bbc.com

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Re: Japan's ‘dancing zombie squid’

#21

Post by JeremyBanks »

driven20 wrote: post #20
JeremyBanks wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can any moral issue be ignored by calling it a "cultural thing"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalopod_intelligence

I mean if you eat chickens...You're supporting the practice of throwing male chicks into the blender.

Yes, and that's not even the tip of the iceberg.

I do still eat chicken, but I recognize it as a personal moral failing and point of shame. The fact that I come from a culture where it is normalized explains my behaviour, but doesn't absolve my responsibility.

Making a show of torturing the animal in front of the customer is particularly abhorrent.

Re: Japan's ‘dancing zombie squid’

#22

Post by true_religion »

JeremyBanks wrote: post #21
driven20 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean if you eat chickens...You're supporting the practice of throwing male chicks into the blender.

Yes, and that's not even the tip of the iceberg. I do still eat chicken, but I recognize it as a personal moral failing and point of shame. The fact that I come from a culture where it is normalized explains my behaviour, but doesn't absolve my responsibility. Making a show of torturing the animal in front of the customer is particularly abhorrent.

I am not sure why this is a show of torture. The squid is quite dead before it reaches the table. It's basically being used as a marionette by chemical signals, but still quite dead---hence calling it a "zombie".

Re: Japan's ‘dancing zombie squid’

#23

Post by AareyBaba »

crocodiletears wrote: post #17
zepearl wrote: post #6

Japan is probably the only country that keeps suprising me and is often (in my eyes) absolutely contradictory - I love many of their animes, some of their movies (e.g. the old samurai classics, "I am a hero", etc) some of their music (I listen from time to time to "J1 radio"), but at the same time e.g. some other animes really go over my thresholds, they have the problem with child prostitution, keep fishing anything…

I think a lot of the confusion around Japan's culture often stems from the fact that from the outside, to casual observers, they seem so culturally integrated with the rest of the world; yet don't seem to have assimilated many (if any) of its social norms. The reality is, Japan is a net cultural exporter, and seems to have gone out of its way to prevent contaminating its social identity with foreign imports. Needless…

That a convoluted way of saying: "The Japanese have a unique culture and have adapted western ideas without giving up their Japanese identity".

The same could be said about Indians, Thai or Nigerians.

Re: Japan's ‘dancing zombie squid’

#24

Post by crocodiletears »

AareyBaba wrote: post #23
crocodiletears wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of the confusion around Japan's culture often stems from the fact that from the outside, to casual observers, they seem so culturally integrated with the rest of the world; yet don't seem to have assimilated many (if any) of its social norms. The reality is, Japan is a net cultural exporter, and seems to have gone out of its way to prevent contaminating its social identity with foreign imports. Needless…

That a convoluted way of saying: "The Japanese have a unique culture and have adapted western ideas without giving up their Japanese identity". The same could be said about Indians, Thai or Nigerians.

True, but I like to qualify my assertions when making statements like that. People often unpack complex claims in such a way that they make the wrong assumptions about the reasoning behind them.

I believe that the assertion is Moreso true for Japan than it is for just about any other culture on earth, given their heavy cultural influence and integration into the global economy. I also believe their practices are far more hygenic than those in other non-western States.

It's much harder to pick out the western footprint in Japanese culture because western influences are so heavilly mutated during their transition to Japanese society, and more of them just don't map onto it. The same is harder to say for many other countries that more often emulate than dissect and adapt. Western elements in other societies tend to stick out like sore thumbs, and remain relatively unchanged from their sources.

India is also a good example.

Re: Japan's ‘dancing zombie squid’

#25

Post by peteretep »

AareyBaba wrote: post #23
crocodiletears wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of the confusion around Japan's culture often stems from the fact that from the outside, to casual observers, they seem so culturally integrated with the rest of the world; yet don't seem to have assimilated many (if any) of its social norms. The reality is, Japan is a net cultural exporter, and seems to have gone out of its way to prevent contaminating its social identity with foreign imports. Needless…

That a convoluted way of saying: "The Japanese have a unique culture and have adapted western ideas without giving up their Japanese identity". The same could be said about Indians, Thai or Nigerians.

> Thai

If you include Thailand in countries that have maintained their unique culture free of Western ideas, I think you have to include virtually all countries. I’ve lived around half my life in Thailand, and like any country it has its specialties, but particular resistance to Western ideas is not one of them. It’s a country that has previously prided itself on integration of Western ideals (cf Rama V), and continues to wholeheartedly embrace fusion with certain cultures (Chinese, Western, Japanese) while strongly pushing back on others (Indian, for example).

Re: Japan's ‘dancing zombie squid’

#26

Post by thatsnotmyusern »

ppseafield wrote: post #3

One of the reasons I went back to being a vegetarian (and then became vegan) was a video of something like this. I was so creeped out. I haven't gone back.

It may have been this:

"Adding salt to freshly cut muscle causes it to spasm." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCeA72UFg3Q

Re: Japan's ‘dancing zombie squid’

#29

Post by kijin »

chrischen wrote: post #12
foobiekr wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a vegetarian but needless cruelty is repellent.

If you watched the video they explain that the animal’s brain has already been removed, so anything after that is not felt by the squid.

I can see why it messes with our intuitions, though. Most of the other animals we eat don't flop around like that unless they're still alive and in distress. Except the occasional headless chicken. Chickens are weird.

Re: Japan's ‘dancing zombie squid’

#30

Post by eloisant »

crocodiletears wrote: post #17
zepearl wrote: post #6

Japan is probably the only country that keeps suprising me and is often (in my eyes) absolutely contradictory - I love many of their animes, some of their movies (e.g. the old samurai classics, "I am a hero", etc) some of their music (I listen from time to time to "J1 radio"), but at the same time e.g. some other animes really go over my thresholds, they have the problem with child prostitution, keep fishing anything…

I think a lot of the confusion around Japan's culture often stems from the fact that from the outside, to casual observers, they seem so culturally integrated with the rest of the world; yet don't seem to have assimilated many (if any) of its social norms. The reality is, Japan is a net cultural exporter, and seems to have gone out of its way to prevent contaminating its social identity with foreign imports. Needless…

As someone who lived in Japan for about 5 years, most of the confusion comes from taking an isolated phenomenon from Japan and assuming it's something common that most Japanese people do every day.

Imagine a "Florida man" news making the buzz in Japan, and them assuming most Americans wrestle a gator every day before breakfast.

Now back to the zombie squid, it certainly exists but I'm sure most Japanese have never eat that dish, probably even never hears about it. Just like most French people have never eaten an ortolan (something I consider much more shocking than the squid video - and I'm French.)

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