I was wrong to assume that because I predominantly write our hyperlocal blog for our Cape Ann residents that people would understand how preposterous the notion that you could have time to move all the lobster gear even if they knew where the lobsters were released and to set it and for those lobsters which were probably miles away from that location would ever get caught.
I was obviously wrong and people did not understand with the outlandishness of it all that it was a joke.
It’s on me.
What I am happy for is that the releasing of the lobster story which would have been a simple story largely forgotten by now has gotten huge legs and all the positives of Buddhism are highlighted. For that I am grateful.
For those of you who would like to learn more about Chokhor Duchen click to find out.
You know the craziest part? So many people think I’m hatin on Buddhism, but I download a Buddhhism podcast from this guy that Lindsay Crouse recommended that I listen to- Lama Marut.
Check him out, the guy makes a lot of sense.
http://www.lamamarut.org/
also sign up for the upcoming Summer Retreat, here are our interviews talking about the upcoming 2011 Summer Retreat-
For More Info-
For more info-
http://www.thesummerretreat.com/
By the way I totally blew it.
Diana Perez, a super nice reporter from WBZ called this morning and wanted to talk about the story. I explained to her how it was a joke and suggested she go and speak with Tuffy about it. but I totally blew a tremendous opportunity to create a brilliant masterpiece.
It would have been great if we had Tuffy dressed in a Buddhist robe and have incense burning at his house when she came to interview him. He could have pushed back the beaded entryway, invited her in and explain about his new-found enlightenment and then ask her if she would like to practice some of the stuff in the Kama Sutra.
Dammnit, I’m losing my touch. It must have been the no doubt bad karma induced headache I’ve had all day which clouded my thinking.
Missed opportunities!
Anyway, seriously I highly highly suggest anyone to listen to some of the teachings of Lama Marut. the guy is a real like lama but he speaks to you using western Principles. The dude is seriously brilliant.
Happy Day! Namaste!
Good Morning Gloucester 
“Forgive all who have offended you, not for them, but for yourself.”
~Harriet Nelson~
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Thanks, dude. This was nice to read. You’re a good guy for posting this.
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Thanks for reminding me why I have taken a vow to never eat meat again, including any lobster or seafood, and hope that one day others will follow such that all the people who make their living from harvesting and murdering these creatures of our planet will go find something else to do that will ideally not involve murder.
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I suggest we take it a step further and try to convince all of the animals to stop eating animals as well. Murder is murder. Look at me! I’m stopping murder! Everyone should do what I do…
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Thanks for this note…
As one of the organizers of the Lobster Liberation event, I will say that, from our side, there is no anger or frustration at the lobstermen involved, be it a joke or even had it been real. Bluntly, they are doing their job–catching lobsters–and we are doing ours. It is not our place to tell them how to do theirs or to place any judgment on them.
Buddhists have beliefs about hunting as a profession, and those tie in to beliefs about karma and the like, but none of those are matters of judgment. We all do the best with what we are given. And while the joke may have been a bit crass and at our expense, there are no hard feelings. There has been a lot of feedback, from Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike, calling the lobstermen involved names and expressing negative emotions toward them. This really is of no benefit, though, and we are sorry it has happened. Buddhist language might refer to them as acting out of ignorance or self-cherishing, but this also isn’t an insult… as humans we spend the predominant amount of our time acting from these things. We are feeling unhappy so we go out and buy a new car, some new clothes, a piece of cake—“This will make me happy!” Well, sure, it does, for a while…. but not ultimately, not real happiness. That deluded belief, that is ignorance. It is a statement about the human condition, not a judgment.
As you mentioned, the article about our lobster liberation had been picked up by a number of news agencies… Reuters, who came with us on the boat, Washington Post, Daily Mail UK, NPR, MS-NBC, and so forth… but now the event is getting even more exposure. Two different news stations came to our Center today to do interviews with some of the people involved in organizing and leading the event (NECN and WBZ-TV). This is wonderful, and I rejoice!
The long story short is, we are all doing the best we can do. Whether in good taste or not, there is no offense on our part from the joke the Degelyse crew members and others put out there with the YouTube video. We urge everyone to maintain hearts of compassion and love, and not harbor any ill will toward each other. Anger and similar negative minds are destructive, and don’t ever accomplish anything substantial or lasting. We offered the ceremony last week not just for the benefit of the lobsters involved, but also for the benefit of all beings. There is always a ripple effect to our actions, and when the intention is pure and good, small actions of putting kindness and love out into the world affect more than just those immediately involved. We want everyone to realize happiness, true, unending happiness… the lobsters and the lobstermen!
Thank you for your kindness and humility. I hope that those involved from your side do not get demonized or any more abuse in the press. In fact, next time we’re in Gloucester we would love to take the crew out for a cup of coffee!
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Great reply! thank you! Off to learn more of the buddist philosophy!
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I agree with Paul, great reply!
And good for you, Joey, for posting this!
Namaste,
Jenn
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thanks for this. i think lots of people were left reeling from that
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Fair enough. Most of the people that thought it was a dick thing to do (myself included) don’t know enough about lobster fishing to know the practicality of moving all the equipment so it seemed serious rather than being a piece of satire like it actually was.
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Just for my reference. How many subscribers did we lose because of this?! 🙂
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In the past 3 days we lost 2 and added 36 subscribers
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Thanks for your gracious mea culpa!
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never apologize
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I am grateful, Joey, for all that you do. Thank you for this post. Civility is an old idea that will never go out of style.
I think fishermen need to survive, and I have absolutely no quarrel with them, It’s all okay – may they feed their kids.
A challenging part of the Buddhist practice I’ve done for the last 20 years is ‘acts of aimless generosity’: just giving, without ‘winning’ anything. You might not save the lobster’s life, or win a Nobel prize, or get any attention at all, but the act of simply giving with no expectation of return is a discipline many religions and philosophies could embrace. I feel that it’s easy to see the absurdity of these acts, because, as we all saw, the lobsters will just get caught the next day. But I hope through all this that observers will be encouraged to give senselessly to another person they encounter in their day, without fear of ridicule, by these monks’ example. Your work in the GMG project here is full of that same generous spirit. Thanks again.
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After being part of this GMG THING, WE ALL LEARN. THE CREW OF THE LOBSTER BOAT IS A PART OF OF US ALL! IF YOU NEVER WORKED A REPETITIVE JOB YOU DON’T KNOW HOW IT AFFECTS YOUR BODY. i’m a printer by trade. my arms and knees are “gone” after 34 years of repteitive movement AND Standing all day! I’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO CLIMB THE ROCKS OF LOBLOLLY COVE AND FISH AGAIN! i’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO CLIMB IN A DORY AND ENJOY A RELAXING ROW WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT BEING ABLE TO CLIMB OUT OF IT.I HAVE BEEN RECENTLY LAID OFF! I consider that a good thing. hopefully all my affected body parts will heal for a few months until i get called back to work. Have fun! work hard! “F” EVERYBODY WHO DOES’NT KNOW HARD WORK!
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“So many people think I’m hatin on Buddhism, but I download a Buddhhism podcast from this guy that Lindsay Crouse recommended that I listen to- Lama Marut.”
That’s like saying, “I’m not racist because I have black friends.”
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Have you ever made fun of yourself? Have you ever watched Saturday Night Live and laughed at any of the jokes on the show?
I’m bald fat and stupid. See I feel better about myself. It’s a joke, relax.
And check out Lama Marut, seriously he’s great.
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Never underestimate the stupidity of the public. Well, I guess I mean me. I’m balder than you, not sure about the fat part, though I’ll never be accused of being underweight. Joke was a little too sophisticated for some. Just goes to show how influential this blog has become. Pardon me, but I need to go boil a lobster for supper, though it pains me to do so. I’m profoundly indebted to the creatures and plants I eat. Really.
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I thought it was a great tongue in cheek piece. Also enjoyed the Lama Marut piece. Thanks for posting both, Joey
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I can’t tell you how much this hoax upset me. It’s not the one act, but it came on top of our government being completely dysfunctional, the economy melting down, the riots in London, etc etc.
That some douchebag lobstermen would go out and profit from a selfless act made me think very negative thoughts.
I’m glad that this was just a hoax.
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Ron,
Unfortunately your days of being ‘upset’ are far from over. That is your cross to bear. Being ‘upset’ plays a very large role in being as enlightened as yourself. Might want to be careful who you call a douche, douche.
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Doug, you don’t know me. You don’t know how I live my life. But if this story were true of some jerks trying to undo the good karma of these buddhists, apparently with a profit motive, then I think I can look down on that. It’s a bad thing to do. A horrible thing, really, something that makes the world a nastier place.
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Ron when you write “if this story were true” I wonder if you read the blog post to which you are commenting on in which we spell out how it was a joke and how preposterous the whole notion of catching the same lobsters or being able to mobilize all that lobster gear to a certain location to even attempt to catch the lobsters.
I write the blog mainly for our coastal new England readership of which most folks get that this was impossible but I didn’t account for the potato farmers of the world (no offense to potato farmers) who most likely wouldn’t understand how implausible it would be to catch the same exact lobsters in the vast ocean even if one had the time or location of where the lobsters were released.
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Joey, I did read the post. In the newspaper article I read the lobsterman weren’t portrayed as having caught the exact same lobsters, they were portrayed as having caught the exact same number of lobsters from the general area where the ‘Buddhist lobsters’ were released. It seemed like an especially nasty thing to do, and as I wrote above, I’m glad it’s not true.
I grew up in Falmouth, incidentally.
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Hey Joey,
Hate to dump it on, but eh Kama Sutra is Hindu, not Buddhist.
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Damnit!
Can’t you just let me have that one Marty? For the sake of the story? God knows 99% of other news sources wrote whatever they felt like writing about it to make it sound like more of a story than what it was. So let me have the Kama sutra and Buddhism. Just for tonight. I promise to return it to the Hindus when this post ends up on the second page.
I can appreciate that as a blogger
😉
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Wow, some people are really uptight today…..! It was a “gotcha”, and it was great.
Joey, the world would be a better place if all bald, fat, and stupid men were just like you.
You’re none of the above – those who are quick to dope slap you certainly don’t read this blog.
To know you is to love and appreciate all that you do for Gloucester.
Thanks.
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meant to post my comment in reply to this ^^^ above. redo 🙂
Well said Anonymous.
+1 for Lama Marut!
I believe there is laughter in the Middle Way.
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When I saw this the other day it really upset me, made me very sad. I was going to stay away from this blog and not read it again. I didn’t watch the video, just reading the headline was enough. I happened to hear something on TV on a preview to the news about the lobster story, and I missed it, so have been searching for the story and finally came back here and saw it was a joke and am very relieved. I have been thinking about this since I read the headline. Now that I know it is a joke, I can see the humor and creativity in it. What a relief.
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Don’t you just love Good Morning Gloucester and all the amazing discussions it brings to the table. Awesome stuff.
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OK, you get 2 points off for acceptance of responsibility. if you don’t understand, ask around.
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let me guess ….your’e republican….right?
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For nearly four years GoodMorningGloucester’s been a place where people can laugh at ourselves, celebrate the great things about living in Gloucester and not take ourselves too seriously. Thanks for this nice post, Joey, and for the important role that GMG plays in our little corner.
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wow! For a few minutes I thought I was on Cape Ann online!
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Next time I hear about a Gloucester lobsterman dying at sea in a storm (or because he’s too dim to know how to sail), I’ll make a point of stopping by his grave site and taking the flowers — if anybody cares enough to leave any.
Get it?
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I know you won’t say anything Joey. But Can I? to all these anonymous downers.
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Well said Anonymous. 🙂
+1 for Lama Marut!
I believe there is laughter in the Middle Way.
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There is true irony here. From what I understand about Buddhism, the ultimate goal is to attain personal happiness, and that happiness is based on one’s personal views and outlook. That being said, the satire created by Joey and his notorious ‘salty’ gang bring them true happiness, just as releasing the lobsters to the sea brought true happiness to the Buddhist monks.
I’ve known Joey for a good part of my life, much longer than any of the people posting negative things about him here and elsewhere, and I truly believe that his actions make him more Buddhist than a lot of practicing Buddhists out there. Joey lives Buddhism, he doesn’t practice it. He helps his fellow person individually, he gives without receiving, he honors his traditions & he contributes a great deal to his community solely to make himself and others happy. In doing so, Joey is a lot closer to the ultimate goal of true happiness than most of us. So don’t apologize Joey for creating satire that is too sophisticated for the rest to understand – Voltaire never did!
Every depiction of Buddha I have ever seen, always shows a being with a warm smile, so maybe we should all follow that example.
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The TV News pieces:
NECN: http://www.necn.com/pages/video?PID=mrLtEcOue4BNEdtB3sBe5_teHnys9_RS
WBZ: http://boston.cbslocal.com/video-on-demand?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=6135206
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I’m moving to Massachusetts! I love you guys!! 😉
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Joey… you blow my mind…. om mani padme hung..
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in a good way
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wow,
I enjoyed reading this entire post!
I actually fell for the initial post about the buddhists setting the lobsters free and my immediate thought was, lobstermen do what they have to do for a living and buddhists have to do what they believe is right, end of story.
I’ve been a subscriber to this blog since shortly after its inception, and I have not felt any offense to anything that’s been posted so far. For me, it’s an escape – a few moments of enjoyment living vicariously through these real every day people, the fun events around Cape Ann, the interesting things I never knew if I hadn’t been a subscriber – it’s a plesant distraction from:
“our government being completely dysfunctional, the economy melting down, the riots in London, etc etc.”
Keep up the good work Joey C. and all the other wonderful contributors to the blog.
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