Monday, November 26, 2007

sea shepherd

Great article that makes you really think about environmentalism and humanity's role therein in the New Yorker. Video content as well.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where do I sign up? Sometimes there is no other answer than to kick someone's ass. The Americans all but said it outright when it fought the Japanese in WWII. And the Japanese have a history of not quitting until they are beaten to within an inch of their lives. If that's what it takes, then so be it. It is a sham and it is a moral crime. They do not depend on whale meat for their survival. And precious few Japanese depend on it for their livelihoods. I say ram them and let them drown if they are stupid enough to claim they are hunting for scientific purposes. We tend to romanticize their culture, but on 'balance' their culture is predatory and ruthless and has been so as far back as written records exist. (We are all more or less guilty of this...but that's not the point and I'm not here to eqivocate.)

I am annoyed by the characterization of Watson by Khatchadourian at the end of the article. It seems to me that the author is trying to be "fair and balanced", when there is nothing fair or balanced about Japan's duplicity or the bloodletting they inflict on marine mammals and other classes of marine animals.

In fact, let me digress further and say that I think this is a broader issue in the media. In their facile definitions of what it means to be fair and balanced, they have lost their moral compass. They may be clever in their writing, but lack a fundamental sense of right and wrong and often become lost in jingoistic, legalistic technica that might resonate with a dead cat -- after the bounce, that is. I'm sick of it. As if the killing of whales isn't a loss of life? Oh, wait, we're talking about human lives...forgive me.

I say Watson is doing the right thing. What he is doing is courageous in the extreme -- and we all know that until the price becomes too high, nobody will stop eating the cake. So make the price too high -- sink their ships! Fucking brilliant. I just hope he can find guns big enough to defend his ships when the Japanese government send in their own to defend the whaling fleets. He needs to find somebody with deep pockets. Maybe TRH Ricky Branson?

11/28/2007 3:57 AM
Kristin Tieche said...

Cool. I'm glad you read the article. I love the New Yorker profiles. I really liked reading about Watson as a kid. He's a true environmentalist through and through!

As for your other points, I'm glad this story got you all riled up as we all should be about what's happening on our planet. We are merely one group of inhabitants. And ironically we've done the most damage, and we are also best equipped to undo what we've done and turn things around.

11/28/2007 10:49 AM

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