And yeah, of course factory farming is way worse, but that was never part of my point, and it doesn’t necessarily follow that because X practice(s) is/are worse than Y practice, then Y practice is therefore fine. Slavery is way worse than sweatshops, but that doesn’t mean that sweatshops are therefore ok.

And yeah, foie gras is delicious. It’s one of my very favorite foods, which I choose to no longer eat.

As long as people are informed, if they choose to consume foie gras, then it’s an indication that we as a society do not mind the practice. If we are outraged, then demand will go down, and then so will production.

Still, that argument would be attackable at many points. And yeah, so is mine: many (probably most) studies have indicated that it is bad for the animals, cruel, etc. Do you think it’s much worse for the animals than factory farming practices of pigs, cows, and chickens? Aside from the final period in their lives, those ducks destined for foie gras live really cushy, pampered lives compared to just about any other animals we’re planning to kill and eat.

In any case, I still would take the side that even if it is somewhat cruel to the animals, I’m okay with it. Foie gras is such fucking yummy stuff. It may be my favorite gourmet food.

The people who want to ban foie gras production don’t want to do it because of public health concerns (which is the reason given for smoking, trans fats, etc.), but because they believe it’s inhumane. So when all these people are hollering about a nanny-state micromanaging their behavior, it’s the wrong argument if they want to debate the reasons for passing and upholding such bans.

Like I said in the post, in a lot of cases the libertarian argument against smoking bans, etc. seem quite persuasive to me. But if we’re talking about an issue like this, if they want to argue in libertarian terms they need to augment their debate because the underlying factors are different than those for smoking/trans fat ban debates, since there’s another party involved. Are the ducks/geese harmed in the production of foie gras? If so, is this suffering acceptable given the benefit (delicious, but not “essential” food) we get from the harm we do them?

It’s still a debatable issue in large part because there are some people who don’t think the animals are harmed in the first place (while there are plenty of studies that have come to the exact opposite conclusion, however (see, for instance, the EU Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Welfare’s report on foie gras)), and some people also think that even if they do suffer, it’s ok to treat them that way, anyway.

So there are plenty of debatable issues on the subject, many of which I have yet to make up my mind about, and I think it’s worthwhile to debate these issues, but it was apparent that a lot of people haven’t really even thought about the core issue too much, because they’re making simplistic statements that completely miss the point of what’s actually at stake.

On the other hand, foie gras is about as unhealthy for you as food gets. Maybe you could justify a ban for that reason.