Why did they even broadcast THAT?!!...*mad*...

this is a total rant... (please beware... it´s really nasty, and graphic, not pics but literally graphic. issue: rats being used for human consumption)

I was watching a few days ago some stuff about olympics and Beijing... the thing addressed here was that mostly everyone "knew" they served rat as a food in many places, but apparently because of the Olympic games they were now non-existant...

so the "reporter" was on the search to see if they could reveal the truth.. so she went to a clandestine market to see if they would seel her a rat... in this place they sold many exotic animals (for food :(, alligators, cats, chicken, ducks, I even thought I spotted a beaver) anyway she got some guy to sell her a rat..

mission accomplish I said to myself...now she´ll set it free somewhere... but no... she wanted to show people there were places that actually served rat as food... ok, so I said to myself she´ll go to find a place that would "cook" the rat for her just to show people that in China they do eat rat and not as they have been trying to hide it...

so she foudn a place and I was like ok.... now it´s really mission accomplished... my bad once again... this is where I went into rage...

they were "processing" the rat (removing hair and all prior to cook) and it was in a sort of machine that spin and had like metal spikes (not pointy but still)... and you could se the rat tumbling around (I really regret watching that, but I was so mad at that point)... and then she dares saying now after all that then they kill the rat.......

WHAT??!!.... it was still alive during all that??!!!!!... :mad: I literraly bursted into flames, I could not believe they even broadcast that... who are these people that allow it... it was plain torture.... the "story" could have ended when she found a place that accepted to do it, but not actually go through with it...

I can´t believe I witnessed that and plenty other millions people too... what has come to this "broadcaster" that was ok with it airing like it was nothing...

I´m sooooo writting a claim about it.... I´m beyond furious...:mad:

That really sucks.

There is some kind of stupid atmosphere in TV reporting these days.

Now, If you watch the Travel Channel you see the chef, Zimmern, who goes and eats all kinds of nasty stuff.....O.K. you signed up for that one.

There was a segment where Mary Carrillo went to a road side eatery and brought back some scorpions on a skewer for Bob Costas. He picked up the skewer and twirled it around before he went to commercial...

It's like the dog, boll weevils and all the other stuff they eat. plus it goes back to how we view what they eat.

How does an Indian look at us when we do a nice fat hamburger?
How does a Korean look at us when we walk a dog?
A Peruvian when we treat a guinea pig as a pet?

I can's see eating anything like a scorpion or rat. I do -not very fondly -accept their choices of food,
But I do agree with you that taking a televised culinary trek into the back alleys of China/Beijing, in search of some not-so-common meal is not what they were there for.

To so graphically show the process, when all you and I want is some diving, swimming or table tennis is really stupid and shows how television execs and the people who direct and produce segments of a sporting event like the Olympics will stoop to tossing in a good Fear Factor moment.

Just to make sure you are paying attention.:confused::rolleyes:

Eating an animal or insect for food is one thing. It has to die to be cooked and eaten. It's how that animal is killed, did it suffer, did it need to suffer?? There is no reason to torture any living thing. To enjoy giving an animal pain is sick, sick, sick.

I had to reread the story to get one thing straight.

The idiot went thru with doing all that to the poor animal and didn't even eat it?

I mentioned Andrew Zimmern going to different countries and eating some weird things.....I kinda admire him for following through when he dines. He does take steps to honor the meals, country and people who prepare them.


But going throught the motions just to prove it's done, especially the way it's done, is pretty fricking stupid. Like, why not take it back on a skewer for Bob Costas to twirl like a cheerleader?:rolleyes:

People on the set will OOH and AAH, and when the cameras go off, some sound guy will eat it on a dare....Just to say he ate a rat in Beijing.:rolleyes:

I am not a fan of eating little mammals, unless I really have to.

But then again, One man's road kill is another man's Filet Mignon.:confused:

I guess I 'sort of' understand. If they don't get the word out that this happens, how can anyone address it and improve the situation? In some ways, similar to th puppy mill horrors, which are only just getting publicized.

And in covering a war, I believe the reporters often witness horrible things, but rarely does it get broadcast, just film clips leading up to . . . and then the aftermath.

It serves to educate the public, which is part of what journalism is about.

Sorry you had to witness it, Isabel!