"People believe in their hearts that a piece of raw fish is worth $600." [View All]

[phantom power]

I think it's actually a bit different. It's more like "I even know it's not really worth it, but the fact that I'm paying it anyway proves even better how rich I am."

BTW, where are these people paying that kind of coin for bluefin? I had some bluefin sushi a few weeks ago, and the entire plate only cost me $20. Which I'm probably still going to hell for.

"People believe in their hearts that a piece of raw fish is worth $600. And one of the main reasons that it's worth $600 is because you can't afford it and I can't, but they can. That makes it very special, and it makes people who eat it special.

"Any kind of luxury goods largely come from that sort of statement: I can afford it, and you can't. I'll drive a Maserati, even if I can't drive it faster than 65 miles per hour in most of the United States. I can afford a $280,000 car, and you're stuck with a Dodge Neon. I can fly private jet, drive a Maserati, do anything I bloody well please, including having a $600 piece of fish. And you can't."

And this is the brutal truth: bluefin, which beyond their intrinsic value as living creatures happen to be one of the universe's more majestic species, a Platonic ideal of oceanic speed and grace, aren't being extinguished by our greed. They're being sacrificed to our vanity, pretension, and ostentation — the most pathetic of our vices.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/07/destroying_beauty_because_you.php