This Leviticus Nonsense...

A local operative has once again pointed out to me that IRRITATING passage in the Book of Leviticus disrespecting the majesty, AND EDIBILITY, of our hard-shelled sisters:

"WHATSOEVER HATH NO FINS OR SCALES IN THE WATERS, THAT SHALL BE AN ABOMINATION UNTO YOU."

(Leviticus 11)

This is just another typical example of how the Homo saps OVERGENERALIZE.  One frikkin' Jewish patriarch recognizes his erstwhile grandmother after her transformation -- and to set the rumors to rest, she turned into a Shrimp, not an Oyster or Mussel or whatever else you've heard -- AFTER he's put his fork into her; he freaks out; and the rest, as the Naked Apes say, is history.  Nobody in their whole civilization is ever allowed another Shrimp, Lobster, Crawdad, Clam or Conch. Several whole classes of recruiting operatives had to be redeployed to accommodate the new dietary restriction that came out of this accident, and we've needed to work around it for ALL THE MILLENNIA since.

One saving grace is that even though this pernicious NONSENSE leaked through the Vatican editorial staff to be read by Christians -- a much larger and more invasive group than the Jews, who offer us many more recruits -- hardly any Christian pays attention to this passage, even the literalists who want to believe for some reason I, personally, can't find in there, that the planet is only 9,000 years old.  They go right ahead and suck down the live, screaming, struggling Oysters like there's no tomorrow.  And the coconut Shrimp.  And the Mussels in wine.

But the object lesson is important.  Humans don't act the way they used to.  They do not feel honored, in this day and age, to be presented with the chance to eat an ancestor.  So, in a society of mostly strangers, your best option is to RECRUIT STRANGERS.  It's very awkward and unnatural, positively counter-intuitive, to ANY sort of fish, but there it is.