A group of Buddhists announced recently that they were going to purchase 534 lobsters to return them to the sea. A group of lobstermen from Gloucester reportedly read about the designated site of the ceremony and followed the Buddhists — laying traps and capturing the lobsters and bringing them to market. This was viewed as really funny by the captain of the fishing vessel Degelyse — according to published reports. However, in an update below, Joe Ciaramitaro insists it is satire and not meant to be disrespectful.
The lobstermen then brag about destroying the purpose of the ceremony on their local blog, Goodmorninggloucester.org. Joe Ciaramitaro, who runs the blog, insisted oddly that “It’s really not meant as a slight toward Buddhism at all. We’re just having fun.’’ I would really like to know what constitutes a slight in Gloucester. I can now see what constitutes fun on the Degelyse. Here are some of the pictures.
Whether you agree with the monks or their faith, it is incredibly nasty and disrespectful to pull this type of stunt. In the video on the blog, the lobsterman taunt the Buddhists. I do not understand how adults could work so hard to be disrespectful to people in a religious-based ceremony. If this story is and these pictures are true, it is not just disrespectful, it is disgraceful. Even if satire, it released a torrent of anti-Buddhist mocking across the blogoshere.
Update: I reached out to speak with Joe Ciaramitaro who insists that they were just engaging in satire. He also noted that he is a practicing Buddhist. It is an ironic twist given the anti-Buddhist sentiment shown after the posting on this and other blogs. However, Mr. Ciaramitaro insists that his site often uses such satire.
Source: Boston.com
What OS said!
Wow. Good point, Michealb.
I have a difficult time feeling compassionate to a luxury item industry that cries of hard times when they themselves go out of their way to be callous. “how odd is it a man that prays for mercy when he himself offers none”
Karma
AND they are deleting critical comments from their blog post.
Snide, rude, mean AND afraid of criticism.
These fishermen are bullies.
You know, the more I think about it, the more I can see that it is pretty damn rude to make a big deal about the recapture of the lobsters. To belittle what the buddhists were trying to do – even if we assume it was partially or wholly a PR move is rather disrespectful whether they were buddhists or any other group.
recapturing the lobsters is fine, but to brag about it is wrong. I can see that now. Even capturing the same number released seems rather tacky.
There is a bit of humor to the article and I suppose that is what I was thinking of instead of the rudeness generated by the fishermen. They could have caught their lobsters, helped the economy and their families without having to throw it in the face of the buddhists.
Confronting this story creates a problem: Was this a proper subject of ridicule? Were the lobstermen justified through economic necessity? Was this a holy spot that was desecrated or simply a fishing spot legally utilized? Rather than confront these problems, I prefer to think of a story about the Buddha. A man came to him and asked for help with his problems, relaying stories of a nagging wife, disrespectful kids, lack of success in work, etc. The Buddha said he couldn’t help with these problems. Protesting, the man replied, “But you’re a Buddha,” to which the Buddha responded, “We all have 83 problems, and if you try very hard you might solve a few of them but others will not go away” etc. When the man once again protested, the Buddha said that what he taught could help with the 84th problem. “What’s that?” the man asked. “The 84th problem is that you want not to have any problems,” said the one who woke up.
How about instead of throwing money it was people tossing flowers to remember a loved one & they came along, collected the flowers and sold them then made fun of the mourners?
I would not make fun of Christians blood thirsty cannibalism ritual where they pretend to eat flesh and drink blood (although some sects maintain it is not pretend they really are doing that) or Hindus belief in the sanctity of cows or any of they beliefs and behaviors I deem foolish in any of the worlds religions. I don’t do that because I believe the world would be a better place if we treated each other the way we want to be treated. A philosophy not much in favor in the world these days, particularly in the US,
While I think the release was pretty pointless it meant something to them and being needlessly abusive about catching them only makes the lobstermen look bad.
There is a difference between releasing doves at a wedding and what is obviously a publicity stunt. Tibetian monks coming to the US to release lobsters with wide press releases is less for religious purpose and more for publicity.
The publicity generated will turn into donations and more for the group. They knew exactly what they were doing.
It isn’t even like they fishermen definitely caught the same lobsters that were released.
What if it was Scientologist releasing the lobsters because they believed the lobsters were xenu’s minions.
Also, out of legitimate curiosity what if was PETA? Would it then be disrespectful? What if it was just a couple of college students acting from some youth-filled animal-are-people-too ideas?
And again, what if they were just throwing out cash. Would it be disrespectful to brag about getting the money?
Why is the fact that it was a religious group change anything at all?
I found the post. Here’s the link.
http://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/the-crew-of-the-degelyse-would-like-to-personally-thank-the-buddist-monks-who-released-lobsters-they-purchased-in-gloucester-back-to-the-ocean/
The post really is snide. These guys are assholes.
People seem to think if it’s legal, it must be “right.” It wasn’t right. It was a mean, shitty thing to do. If my kids acted like that, they would be punished.
Hey Turley, you said they bragged about it on their blog. Well, I went to their blog. No bragging that I could find. Care to post a link?
Lobster industry people don’t have it easy like everyone else. Here’s people giving away free lobsters at $$$/lb. in the name of Buddhism. OK. So if Hindus arranged for 500 head of Wagyu cattle (Kobe beef) released to roam the land in freedom in open Oklahoma land? Then the cattlemen round them up in orgasmic bliss. Wouldn’t they laugh and scoff at what they consider to be an act of stupidity, disrespectful or not? Humans can’t help ourselves when they perceive to be a jackpot reward from people who should know better. What, the Buddhists didn’t expect this? Phrase “living a sheltered life” comes to mind. Yes, the lobstermen (oh, lobster-people) could have just said something like … BINGO.
MASkeptic……I think you were right on point…I dont think anyone could have made a clearer statement..
Next time, maybe the Buddhists should release their lobsters in secret.
The lobstermen in this story come across as vicious freaks.
Sorry, Nal. I see quite a bit of difference. I am more in agreement with the analogy given by MASkeptic.
The lobstermen went out of their way to be provocative, then seemed to think it was funny. It wasn’t.
I don’t see the release of the lobsters by the Buddhists as being disrespectful to the lobstermen. Therefore, the lobstermen have no reason to be disrespectful to the Buddhists.
The Buddhists purchased the lobsters and can do with them what they want. The lobstermen are free to recapture the lobsters. No reason for any other behavior.
2manyusernames,
So if I stood outside someone’s wedding ceremony where they planned to release doves as a symbol of their love and then shot them down as soon as they were clear of the crowd you don’t think it would be wrong to laugh and tell the newlyweds how delicious the birds would be with the right sauce?
I don’t disagree with you that releasing delicious lobsters is an odd activity but to deliberately shit on someone else’s harmless ceremony and then brag about it is the stuff of bullies and sociopaths.
Buddhists believe in karma. The Buddha said:
The Christian version of this the admonition that, “As you sow, so shall you reap.”
One can only hope.
Disgraceful? No, not in the least. Those lobsters generated income for the families of the fishermen, the restaurants the lobsters were sold to, the staff, and more. Furthermore they fed a large number of people.
Of course they are going to brag, it is funny.
If the buddhists were throwing away diamonds and people gathered them up, laughing and taunting the buddhists would it be considered wrong? No, it wouldn’t or at least shouldn’t.
If it was PETA there probably wouldn’t be so much disdain towards the fishermen providing for their families. The fact that the group had a religious reason behind their actions should have no bearing whatsoever.