In reply to John Wood:
> (In reply to David Hooper)
> [...]
>
> [...]
> What the f*ck is wrong with your head?
Hi John
Im taking the trouble to answer your post as you seem to have a genuine interest and position on this whole thread, unlike some of the idiotic postings on here.
Firstly - I am not a veggie or a tree hugger - Ive eaten whale meat (didnt like the taste) and I shoot and fish as I believe that taking wild game is one of the most ethical and ecofriendly ways to get your food(if God had meant us to be veggies - then why did he make animals taste so nice?)
I also believe that
some people who get involved in politics/environmental movement-direct action/animal libbers/etc are sad f*ck inadequates with no social life and I certainly believe that somer of the animal liberation people have stepped over the line with their direct actions.
Regarding the Sea Shepherd debate - AFAIK - SS is always careful to operate within the letter of the law - I dont believe that they have had any law suits bought against them. Indeed at the moment they are entering into partnership with certain governments as kind of environmental law enforcement police. They work in partnership with the Ecuadorian navy to prevent illegal fishing practices etc in Ecuadorian waters and the Galapagos.
Please contrast this with the activites of the japanese whalers - illegally whaling in a sanctuary, assaulting peacefrul Greenpeace protesters with water cannon etc.
I guess if you think there is something wrong with my head then we have fundamentally different world views and philosophies. I certaoinly dont subscribe to the Christian notion that man holds dominion over the animals - I think we are just another species - lucky to share this beautiful planet we have found ourselves on with such a wonderful diversity of other species. If anything I guess I lean towards James Lovelocks "Gaia Hypothesis" in that the earth is a kind of single complex organism that is self regulating. If we humans become too damaging to the wellbeing of Gaia - if we become too much of a toxic virus - then Gaia's immune system will react to slap us back down.
Mankind can be a brute or we can celebrate the very best of our "humanity" and raise ourselves up.
The largest living creature (mammel - not fish like some f*cking idiots on this thread have stated) navigates and swims to the warm food rich tropics where she calves (the whales were calving off the coast of Costa Rica when I was working there) and then slowly undertakes the long journey back to the krill rich waters of the Antarctic. What do we really know about whales - what can we learn fromn them? And then the thought that someone could blast a barbed harpoon with an explosive charge into this beautiful animal and watch it thrash in agony screaming and turning the ocean red with its blood in its death throws - for what - for profit? -for a cheap meal?
F*CK OFF!!! If I had the opportunity to prtevent one whale suffering this, by ramming an illegal whaler - then I hope that I would have the courage to do it.
Lets change the context for a minute John. Badger baiting - have you ever seen that John? Not pretty - dig a pit - dig the badger out of its set ,or for maximum fun - release one that you caught easrlier from a sack, smash it round the head with a shovel so that it doesnt fight back too hard, then set your dogs on it and bet on the "sport. If you was in the woods and saw some scum doing this and you had a handgun in your pocket John - what would you do? Walk away?
What about dog fighting - 2 poor bastard pit bulls ripping each other apart in a ring while the onlookers goad them on - is violence on these people justifiable if it stops the dogs suffering?
To me - the life of a whale is worth more than the life of the whaler - that whaler has made a moral choice to do what they have done - as has the badger baiter - as has the dog fighter - as has the rapist, the torturer and the concentration camp guard. All human but are their lives really worth more than those of an animal?
Killing creatures such as the whale takes something away from us - it brutalises us and diminuishes our humanity. That is not the world I want to live in and a world devoid of the whale, the snow leopard and the tiger is not one i wish to leave to my grandchildren.
There is a place for diplomatic gentle campaigning a la Greenpeace - but in the meantime whales - a highly intelligent mammal continue to suffer and die a horrific and agonising death. I totally support Sea Shepherds actions if they even stop just one whale dieing.
And before people have a pop at Patagonia and their support for environmental activism, please take the trouble to read Yvon Choinards "Let My People Surf" a really uplifting read that we can sometimes "do the right thing".
So to conclude John, thanks for your post - its not often that I am goaded by a post to write a passionate and heartfelt reply (especially when I could have been ogling Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell on Jonathan Ross).
Im very happy with "where the f*ck my head is at", its taken me a long journey to get here.
Peace and love
David