JEAN PHILIP DE TENDER

‘Foie Gras, voer voor sadisten’ / ‘Foie Gras, fodder for sadists’ is the newest campaign by Gaia, the animal rights activist group. Xmas is tradionally the time of year when a lot of foie gras is sold. Both MIVB (Brussels public transport) and NMBS (national trains) refused this campaign. “We have a broad clientele and consider the message that those who eat foie gras are sadist not ethical”, says the spokeswoman of MIVB.

On top of that some representatives of the SM scene reacted because the goose is depicted with with a typical SM tool. They consider practicing SM not to be a sadist act.

To be clear : yes I eat foie gras about twice a year and yes …. No, what I do in bed is none of your business.

Has the public become too sensitive ? Gaia is trying to pass a message and wants this message to be strong to have any impact at all. I prefer this message than activists in front of my supermarket bullying me. They let me – and many other people with me – reflect about my choice. So the choice I make has been well considered.

I rarely take public transport and would never have seen this campaign, if MIVB and NMBS didn’t give Gaia this free publicity.

And for all those SM lovers. You softies, I’ll have to punish you for this bad behaviour !