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The ethics of eating sentient-shaped confectionaries

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A post in The "I met a famous person" thread featured a picture of an edible gummy fetus, which seemed to raise some people's hackles.  My question is: what are people's thoughts on the consumption of confectionaries that bear a likeness to living and/or sentient things?

Is it okay to eat things in the likeness of animals?

Is it okay to eat things in the likeness of people as long as they're fictitious?

Or does it depend entirely on how realistic the baby-shaped candy in question is?

Or, should it not matter at all?  To paraphrase Freud, sometimes a gummy candy is just a gummy candy.

“It’s a lot of fun… it’s a lot of fun to watch Star Wars.” – Bill Moyers

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So... about that gummy fetus thing. It looks really weird, but I would eat it. I honestly don't care what something is shaped like when I eat it. You say a fetus is the same as a dead corpse? Well I've eaten many candies that have been shaped like skeletons. 

I'm pro-choice by the way but I would like to note that has nothing to do with me being okay eating a fetus gummy.

 

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I'll repeat it here: it's not the candy itself, but the seeming message that accompanies it, which to me is a subtle condoning of abortion, something I abhor in the majority of cases.  I don't know Frink's reasoning, but I find it to be pretty low class.

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darth_ender said:

I'll repeat it here: it's not the candy itself, but the seeming message that accompanies it, which to me is a subtle condoning of abortion, something I abhor in the majority of cases.  I don't know Frink's reasoning, but I find it to be pretty low class.

I understand where you're coming from, though the first time I saw it I didn't think about abortion. I thought about 2001: A Space Odyssey (which actually made me want to eat it more).

Anyways what I'm trying to say in a strange way here is that the people who made this might not have been thinking about abortion (and they probably weren't thinking about 2001 either, I'm just throwing that out to say the image of a fetus can bring up more thoughts than just abortion).

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it is ok to eat the likeness of an animal?  sure, considering that it is perfectly ok with most people and legal to eat actual animals.  

It is ok to eat the likeness of fictional people?  sure why not?

as of the think the Sean posted a picture of,  that just looks way to close to a real dead fetus.   I wouldn't eat it that's for sure.    Darth_ender, I know you don't like the message of condoning abortion, but please remember no matter how much you are against it,  abortion is legal right now.  Even if abortion weren't legal, I think the message accompanying the candy would be protected under the first amendment.   As for Frink, I know why he is upset over this, and if I were in his place, I'd be pissed as well.  

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 (Edited)

DominicCobb said:

darth_ender said:

I'll repeat it here: it's not the candy itself, but the seeming message that accompanies it, which to me is a subtle condoning of abortion, something I abhor in the majority of cases.  I don't know Frink's reasoning, but I find it to be pretty low class.

I understand where you're coming from, though the first time I saw it I didn't think about abortion. I thought about 2001: A Space Odyssey (which actually made me want to eat it more).

Anyways what I'm trying to say in a strange way here is that the people who made this might not have been thinking about abortion (and they probably weren't thinking about 2001 either, I'm just throwing that out to say the image of a fetus can bring up more thoughts than just abortion).

While what you say is possible,  I think it highly unlikely.   Can the image of a fetus bring up more thoughts than just abortion? Sure.  But I don't know how anyone could take a look at that candy that looks so much like a real fetus and not think abortion.   

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First of all Wayne is a weird guy, and the fetus has nothing to do with abortion. It is supposed to represent life. He had a gummy skull to represent death.

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I've heard a fair amount of Flaming Lips music over the years because one of the guys I ride with is a big fan.  Short of one song, I've always found their work to be weak.  They're a popular underground\fringe band.  To me, there's a reason for that. 

Part of their allure - and certainly why my friend likes them so much - is the fact that they are unconventional. Only the cool people get them.  Their music, to me, doesn't live up to the cult following.  They augment their image with gimmicks - headphone concerts, cassette player shows, boombox\parking lot deal, etc.  This gummy fetus with a flash drive embedded is just the latest.

Personally, I find the fetus stunt to be in extremely poor taste.  Some things should be sacred. They should be used (if they must be used as advertisement at all) to send a  plea for help and compassion - not a band's advertising of their latest pop music offerings. 

I feel that having an edible, fetus-shaped candy as a vehicle to deliver your latest songs reeks of a "hey, look how weird I am" attention grab.  They can say it's all about love and birth all they want, but there is no way in the world they overlooked the fact that it has a weird abortion look and feel to it.  Probably the single most polarizing behavior in the human experience.

They'll get their next 15 minutes of underground cool factor for sure.  I disagree strongly with how they're going about it.  However;  Like I said before, to me their music has never been strong enough to carry them, so behavior like this is how they've made up for it. 

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This, on the other hand, is a message I can get behind.  ;-)

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sean wookie said:

First of all Wayne is a weird guy, and the fetus has nothing to do with abortion.

yeah, sure.

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Warbler said:

sean wookie said:

First of all Wayne is a weird guy, and the fetus has nothing to do with abortion.

yeah, sure.

Are you just making an assumption, or do you know for sure?

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I really don't mean to raise a big stink about anything, especially if the intent really was life.  However, as I mentioned before, I feel very strongly pro-life, with less internal ambiguity than any other topic.  Regardless of its legality, I still find it immoral, just as I find adultery, lying, and Nazism immoral, though legal.  It's an issue I will never change my mind on I'm afraid, and I completely despise the argument that a fetus is not a person.

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I think it's all to do with realism. Eating something like a jelly baby is fine because it looks cartoony enough to not offend anyone, but that gummy fetus looks realistic and thus eating it would look creepy as hell...

 

But that's my two cents pence

<span style=“font-weight: bold;”>The Most Handsomest Guy on OT.com</span>

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asterisk8 said:

Warbler said:

sean wookie said:

First of all Wayne is a weird guy, and the fetus has nothing to do with abortion.

yeah, sure.

Are you just making an assumption, or do you know for sure?

I am saying I don't know how one could look at that gummy of a fetus and not think abortion.  

darth_ender said:

I really don't mean to raise a big stink about anything, especially if the intent really was life.  However, as I mentioned before, I feel very strongly pro-life, with less internal ambiguity than any other topic.  Regardless of its legality, I still find it immoral, just as I find adultery, lying, and Nazism immoral, though legal.  It's an issue I will never change my mind on I'm afraid, and I completely despise the argument that a fetus is not a person.

and you have every right to despise that argument, just as they have every right to make the argument.

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Anyone who doesn't find this offensive, just try to imagine your first child was stillborn

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Warbler said:

darth_ender said:

I really don't mean to raise a big stink about anything, especially if the intent really was life.  However, as I mentioned before, I feel very strongly pro-life, with less internal ambiguity than any other topic.  Regardless of its legality, I still find it immoral, just as I find adultery, lying, and Nazism immoral, though legal.  It's an issue I will never change my mind on I'm afraid, and I completely despise the argument that a fetus is not a person.

and you have every right to despise that argument, just as they have every right to make the argument.

I don't see how this furthers the discourse at all.  I could use this response in any debate and make absolutely no progress.  You brought up that it's illegal.  I'm telling you that even so, I still hate it and will oppose it.  First amendment rights are fine and I'm happy to protect anyone's right to say whatever is idiotic.  If you called a black man the N word, you would have every right to do so, just as I'd have every right to find your choice of words and racism immoral.

I frankly don't really care so much about the candy, which I have stated many times to one and all.  I hate the message I perceived to be behind it.  And I can see how someone in Frink's shoes would be even more offended by it.  I just find all life precious and get angry at my sons for needlessly stepping on ants.  When people treat unborn children as less deserving of life than animals, I find it offensive.  To see my argument when I first became really involved on this site, see here

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The more I thought about it on the way home, the more offensive I found it (there wasn't much more to go anyway).  Like I said, never was a fan, so - as of about 3 minutes ago;

Thank you guys for bringing this to my attention.

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Pro-choice as well.  My feelings about the fetus candy are common decency-driven, not belief-driven.

For the record, I'm a Mackerel Snapper, so I have thoughts on the subject.  However, they didn't enter into my views of the fetus, and they are beyond the scope of this thread.

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Anchorhead said:


Mackerel Snapper
Totally had never heard this before, and had to look it up.