David Foster Wallace in defining preference uses the Maine Lobster Festival to point out how the different tourists attending the festival would have their lobster served, what delicacies accompany a plate of lobsters, and how such dishes range in prices depending on how they are served, and where they are served. One could have an expensive plate of lobsters with a rich, and an exotic glass of wine served in a tranquil environment at a relatively higher fee, thereby terming the lobster dish expensive. Similarly, one could enjoy their lobster at the Main Eating Tent served with soft drinks, or coffee in plastic disposable utensils in such a setting, the festival attendee is not given enough napkins, and are crammed onto the beaches alongside children which makes the experience a cheap one. Concerning human pain, David Wallace argues that the standard by which human beings feel pain and suffer is customarily ignored when the preference of the pain is given much weight to determine the standard of the pain itself.
David Wallace defines the process of preference as being uninfluenced by the question of how and whether different animals feel pain, or why and whether it might be justifiable to inflict pain on these animals to eat them. In other words, the author defines preference as the ability to decide one form of suffering over another based on the amount and the nature of pain the subject will feel when the pain itself is inflicted onto the animal. He uses the example of frying alive lobsters versus cooking already dead lobsters (Wallace, 2004). In the former scenario, the experience adds more color and zeal to the whole festival experience, giving it the "fresh" and lively vibe, while the latter is a conventional boring way of cooking lobsters which negatively affects the experience of the festival.
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In other words, preference lies in the ability to balance the degree of pain versus the desired outcome of the pain being inflicted in the animal, the lobster being used as the main delicacy. The lobster is used metaphorically to present the individuals convicted of murder when analyzing Edward Koch's analogy of murder rates being equal to cancer rates. In this analogy, Koch argues that a punishment's ability to inflict pain on the murderer is directly proportional to the affirmation of life, especially for the victim's family. In this case, Koch argues and is supported strongly by Wallace' idea of pain preference, that opposed to the concept of merely passing a sentence or judgment (killing a lobster for the festival). The manner in which the penalty is done (how the lobster would be killed and cooked in the festival) carries more weight in defining pain and its effect, whether or not it meets the desired outcome.
Wallace points out that some cooks would prefer to place the lobsters in ovens and cook them while observing the plastic oven timers, where they would sit in other room and wait till the entire process is over and the lobsters have been coked to the desired effect. The lobsters, in this case, could either be dead or alive. If they are to be alive, then they get to experience more pain than the dead lobsters. Alternatively, the cook could place the lobsters in a frying pan, and colorfully fry them in an open buffet while the guests watch. This act adds more color to the experience of the festival, more so if the lobsters are grilled while they are alive (Wallace, 2004). As can be seen from the four possibilities, while the effect may be the same; the preparation of a lobster dish, the manner in which it is prepared gives it more speck and adds up to the price of the experience.
The manner in which the lobsters are cooked is what would be equated to preference. None of the lobsters prepared in the festival would prefer to die and be consumed in the celebration, more so none of them would prefer to go the hard way; being fried while alive. Using this analogy to relate to human experience, it can also be argued that preference is the ability to pick one of the two or more available less painful experiences. Wallace points out that in the festival, the fresh-caught lobsters are seen piling over one another in a corner, frantically and impotently hobbling their claws back and forth. They know what danger they are in, and what fate awaits them. This is made worse by the fact that they are placed near the buffet stand, and can experience the heat rising from the fires around.
If the lobsters had an option of picking a form of death, they would prefer to die or be killed before being fried, but this would deny the festival the zeal and the fun watching these lobsters being grilled alive gives the guests. In a more or less similar, if humans, more particularly, offenders like murderers in the case of Koch's argument had the opportunity to pick a form of punishment for themselves, they would go for the most painless of the penalties, in which case Koch argues the effect of their actions, especially towards potential perpetrators would not be realized. In other words, the power of preference denies a particular system the opportunity to accomplish its full goal, in as much as the preference would be an excellent avenue for the victim to pick a more dignified and less painful punishment for themselves. Generally speaking, such an act would deny the legal system enough room to realize the impact of the sentence itself.
References
Wallace, D. F. (2004). Consider the lobster. Gourmet Magazine , 50-64.
