Conspicuous consumption goes differently in different cultures.

Conspicuous consumption goes differently in different cultures. One aspect of the Chinese variety is the serving of shark's fin soup at wedding banquets and other celebrations. The soup tastes of next to nothing, but the fins are expensive, and that is apparently recommendation enough to Chinese diners. Also to the Disney company, which is planning to serve the delicacy at wedding banquets held in Hong Kong Disneyland when that facility opens in the territory this September. That decision has, however, put Disney in the soup with the world's environmentalist busybodies. Since not much else of a shark's body is tableworthy, the extracting of the fins involves some cruelty. (U.S. law forbids a ship's having a shark's fin onboard in U.S. waters unless the rest of the shark's carcass is also present.) So far Disney is standing firm, but the environmentalists may yet snatch victory from ... well, you know. It would be easier to feel some sympathy for the sharks, though, if they didn't have that habit of eating us every chance they get.