Two interesting episodes in Adams\u2019 classic scifi comedy. The first, involving a sentient cow-like animal offering parts of its own body for dinner in a restaurant:<\/p>\n
\n\nA large dairy animal approached Zaphod Beeblebrox\u2019s table, a large fat meaty quadruped of the bovine type with large watery eyes, small horns and what might almost have been an ingratiating smile on its lips. \u201cGood evening,\u201d it lowed and sat back heavily on its haunches, \u201cI am the main Dish of the Day. May I interest you in parts of my body?\u201d It harrumphed and gurgled a bit, wriggled its hind quarters into a more comfortable position and gazed peacefully at them.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou mean this animal actually wants us to eat it?\u201d whispered Trillian to Ford. \u201cMe?\u201d said Ford, with a glazed look in his eyes. \u201cI don\u2019t mean anything.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s absolutely horrible,\u201d exclaimed Arthur, \u201cthe most revolting thing I\u2019ve ever heard.\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s the problem, Earthman?\u201d said Zaphod, now transferring his attention to the animal\u2019s enormous rump. \u201cI just don\u2019t want to eat an animal that\u2019s standing there inviting me to,\u201d said Arthur. \u201cIt\u2019s heartless.\u201d \u201cBetter than eating an animal that doesn\u2019t want to be eaten,\u201d said Zaphod. \u201cThat\u2019s not the point,\u201d Arthur protested. Then he thought about it for a moment. \u201cAll right,\u201d he said, \u201cmaybe it is the point. I don\u2019t care, I\u2019m not going to think about it now. I\u2019ll just \u2026 er \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLook,\u201d said Zaphod, \u201cwe want to eat, we don\u2019t want to make a meal of the issues. Four rare steaks please, and hurry. We haven\u2019t eaten in five hundred and seventy-six thousand million years.\u201d The animal staggered to its feet. It gave a mellow gurgle. \u201cA very wise choice, sir, if I may say so. Very good,\u201d it said. \u201cI\u2019ll just nip off and shoot myself.\u201d He turned and gave a friendly wink to Arthur. \u201cDon\u2019t worry, sir,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019ll be very humane.\u201d It waddled unhurriedly off to the kitchen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The second, towards the end of the last book, involves liberating zoo animals, foie gras and ethical laziness:<\/p>\n
\n\nThey checked into a large two-bedroom suite at the Langham. Mysteriously, Ford\u2019s Dine-O-Charge card, issued on a planet over five thousand light years away, seemed to present the hotel\u2019s computer with no problems. Ford hit the phones straight away while Arthur attempted to locate the television. \u201cOkay,\u201d said Ford. \u201cI want to order up some margaritas, please. Couple of pitchers. Couple of chef\u2019s salads. And as much foie gras as you\u2019ve got. And also London Zoo.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I said,\u201d said Ford into the phone. \u201cLondon Zoo. Just charge it to the room.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you having difficulty understanding the English language?\u201d continued Ford. \u201cIt\u2019s the zoo just up the road from here. I don\u2019t care if it\u2019s closed this evening. I don\u2019t want to buy a ticket, I just want to buy the zoo. I don\u2019t care if you\u2019re busy. This is room service, I\u2019m in a room and I want some service. Got a piece of paper? Okay. Here\u2019s what I want you to do.\u00a0All the animals that can be safely returned to the wild, return them. Set up some good teams of people to monitor their progress in the wild, see that they\u2019re doing okay.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJust a second,\u201d Ford shouted, and returned to his negotiations with room service. \u201cThen we\u2019ll need some natural reserves for the animals that can\u2019t hack it in the wild,\u201d he said. \u201cSet up a team to work out the best places to do that. We might need to buy somewhere like Zaire and maybe some islands. Madagascar. Baffin. Sumatra. Those kind of places. We\u2019ll need a wide variety of habitats. Look, I don\u2019t see why you\u2019re seeing this as a problem. Learn to delegate. Hire whoever you want. Get onto it. I think you\u2019ll find my credit is good. And blue cheese dressing on the salad. Thank you.\u201d He put the phone down and went through to Arthur, who was sitting on the edge of his bed watching television.<\/p>\n
\u201cI ordered us some foie gras,\u201d said Ford. \u201cWhat?\u201d said Arthur, whose attention was entirely focused on the television. \u201cI said I ordered us some foie gras.\u201d \u201cOh,\u201d said Arthur, vaguely. \u201cUm, I always feel a bit bad about foie gras. Bit cruel to the geese, isn\u2019t it?\u201d \u201cFuck \u2019em,\u201d said Ford, slumping on the bed. \u201cYou can\u2019t care about every damn thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, that\u2019s all very well for you to say, but\u2014\u201d \u201cDrop it!\u201d said Ford. \u201cIf you don\u2019t like it I\u2019ll have yours.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two interesting episodes in Adams\u2019 classic scifi comedy. The first, involving a sentient cow-like animal offering parts of its own body for dinner in a restaurant: A large dairy animal approached Zaphod Beeblebrox\u2019s table, a large fat meaty quadruped of the bovine type with large watery eyes, small horns and what might almost have been … Continue reading Animal Ethics in the Hitchhiker’s Guide<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[983],"tags":[925],"class_list":["post-2316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tumblr","tag-animals"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2316"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2573,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2316\/revisions\/2573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}