Shark fin soup now illegal in Nevada

submitted by dcjogger from (rgj.com)

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[–]worm 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I have a theory about why people like moral legislation like the one above. Such legislation gets pushed through because people like to do the right thing at other people's expense.

Moral legislation, much like the wealth programmes for the poor, allows citizens of a jurisdiction to pretend to have made a moral stand without actually changing any of their own bad habits at all.

In the present case, suppose there existed a hypothetical Nevadan man who tosses a dozen bottlecaps into the ocean per year, but has never had and never intends to have shark fin soup. Having passed through this legislation, he can pat himself on the back and assure himself that he has taken part in a moral crusade to save the sharks, without any change in his behaviour at all.

In other words, he has done a moral deed at somebody else's expense, without any need to rectify his own behaviour.

I think this is why moral legislation is so popular. Or maybe I'm wrong.

[–]Troll 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Nevada has a lot of casinos which bring in Asian clientele that eat shark fin soup for social status.

[–]worm 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Well, then maybe it's less useless than I thought it would be.

But still, if you think about it, isn't it still true in a way?

By imposing their values on others, they can sacrifice nothing themselves while claiming also to have taken part in their moral crusade. Enforcing morality at someone else's expense, after all, is much easier than changing your own behaviour to follow your own moral aspirations.

[–]poestal 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

yeah it seems strange to impose a new legislation on fishery that has no purpose in a landlocked area. that to me seems as idiotic as banning polar bear meat in texas.