I love living in Norway and I respect virtually all aspects of the culture, even though some of them are a bit odd. However there is one thing which really gets my goat! That is the belief that it is ok to massacre and eat whales. Despite global opinion and scientific evidence, the most rational and reasonable people will often argue the issue very aggressively with you, it’s just so sad and tedious when such outdated cultures and traditions are so ingrained.
Arguments normally follows one or several of the following lines
1. It's part of the culture.
So fuckin what? It was part of white American culture to keep slaves in the 1800’s – that doesn’t make it ok; it's part of certain modern cultures to genitally mutilate and circumcise women – it doesn’t make it acceptable. Culture is a bullshit excuse for brutality.
2. Certain whales, such as Minkes are not endangered.
This statement puts the people who make it at odds with the entire scientific community. That includes CITES, (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and the IUCN ( the International Union for Conservation of Nature) who place Minkes on their red list. Furthermore the wankers who go out hunting have repeatedly failed to catch their self imposed quotes – maybe there are not as many whales out there as they would have us believe.
3. If you eat cows then why shouldn’t you eat whales, it's just another animal ?
Well first up, I don’t eat cows, or any form of meat, but secondly there is a significant difference between eating a cow that was bred to be eaten and an endangered, intelligent, communal mammal that is fully aware of it's circumstance.
4. It tastes good.
How totally pathetic is that? Lots of things taste good but that doesn’t make it ok to eat them. Maybe people taste good but that isn’t a justification for cannibalism!
5. It’s an essential part of the economy for certain communities.
Bullshit – this is Norway, the richest country in the world. These communities are heavily subsidised by the extremely wealthy government whether they massacre marine mammals or not. In fact there is far more money to be made from tourism than whaling. Intelligent, perceptive and aware people from all over the World pay lots of money to go whale watching. That is a far more effective and humane revenue stream than some pathetic tosser with a grenade tipped harpoon trying to make up for his own very small penis by killing things. These arseholes were stupid enough to slaughter whales in front of a boat load of whale watching tourists last year.
6. It's humane.
How exactly is firing a grenade tipped harpoon into an intelligent mammal and then hauling it through the sea with a crane humane?
7. It’s brave and heroic.
Err no. A group of Eskimos in seal skin kayaks hearding a whale into an ice pool then killing it with hand thrown spears so their family can survive the winter, that could be described as heroic, its certainly very brave. Some fat, mustached, high-school drop-out, standing on the bridge of a huge steel ship with a harpoon cannon is not brave. It's just pathetic. Get a proper job and make a proper contribution to society.
8. The global moratorium on whaling is wrong, so we’ll just ignore it.
Yes and various other leaders have made their own minds up about what is acceptable and ignored global opinion (Hitler, Stalin, Pol-Pot, Milosovich etc). Were they right?
Basically these people are sad, pathetic dinosaurs, who can’t come to terms with a changing World. They want the advantages that a rich industrialised society brings but can’t face up to the responsibility.
There is no excuse,
There is no justification,
Its just wrong
http://www.seashepherd.org/
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