Sea Sheperd: are they right or wrong?

[Henkie36]

I watched an episode of Whale Wars the other day, and it involved a small rubberboat dragging a rope in front of a Japanese whaling boat, jamming its propellor and leaving it useless. This got me thinking: Is this the right way to stop the Japanese from killing whales by the dozens?
I'm against the whaling industry, because we were lucky that they survived the sixties, and we won't be that lucky again. Tribes killing one whale a year can't harm the ecological system, but what the Japanese are doing can't be good either. With modern harpoon guns, it's not more difficult then shooting a rabbit on a hunt.
So yeah, I do agree that something has to be done, but I don't think Sea Sheperd is doing the right thing either. I mean, look at it from the Japanese point of view: there are just men on those ships, like the one which was put out of work for several days or more with the rope in the propellor, who are trying to earn an honest living. No whales means no money, so they are not only stopping the killing of whales, they are also putting people out of a job.
So what do you think? Are the Japanese well with in their rights to kill the whales? Should Sea Sheperd do whatever they can to stop them? Or do you have a better solution?

 

[Something Amyss]

They've done worse. Far worse. And no, this isn't the right way.

 

[Optiluiz]

No one is right here. Especially the men hunting whales. Whale meat is not special in any way, there are many other creatures in the ocean, they should hunt the ones who are NOT endangered. The men knew the risk when they took the job though.

 

[Vuxul]

After what they did in Iceland, i could never support them. Iceland only engages in responsible whaling. Whaling should be allowed as long as it is sustainable.

 

[Rasmus Emilsson]

Well, the asian countries whose economies are soaring upwards right now are becoming such fucking dumbheads it's not even fun. Killing rhinos for their horn because apparently you will get infinite erections from it etc. they are doing everything we in the west did, but then abolished because now we see how wrong it is. Why can't they learn from us?

 

[mb16]

it was wrong, it was sabotage. They are just vigilantes and last i checked that means that they aren't above the law

 

[MammothBlade]

I have nothing against whaling for food. The Sea Sheperds are the problem. Maybe they should try dealing with illegal poaching first, but wait, they don't, because poachers are potentially armed and the Sea Sheperds only attack defenceless fishermen.

 

[Casual Shinji]

All I've ever seen from Whale Wars is that fat moron lying about getting shot by the Japanse and trying to turn it into an international crisis.

I don't care if they're right or wrong, they're just pathetic.

 

[Reishadowen]

Er...am I seeing things, or are there two of these threads?

I watched an episode of Whale Wars the other day, and it involved a small rubberboat dragging a rope in front of a Japanese whaling boat, jamming its propellor and leaving it useless. This got me thinking: Is this the right way to stop the Japanese from killing whales by the dozens?

You know, I was under the impression this was wide-spread internationally illegal. (Note: I could be wrong, or there may be some loopholes or exceptions)

Now, if they need to kill creatures for food to eat them, I suppose from a fair standpoint, I can't argue that. Afterall, America slaughters millions of chickens and cows every year for food consumption.
However, two things about this:
1: If it's endangered, leave it alone unless you are TRYING to make sure it never comes back. Considering current circumstances the whales are in right now, I don't think that would be a very good thing to do. Especially if it pisses off other eco-friendly countries like the US.
2: Actually make efficient use of the animal if you're going to kill it. If you just slaughter something by the thousands and leave them to die on the beaches (like the dolphins they slaughter every year), you go beyond "dick-move" and go into "evil for the hell of it"

...who are trying to earn an honest living...

...So...killing endangered animals that are illegal to hunt because they were hunted almost to extinction less than a century ago, is an "honest living"?

...WTF?! LOGIC! I no sees it!

 

[Henkie36]

Er...am I seeing things, or are there two of these threads?

No, you are not seeing things, I accedentaly had a double post.

Especially if it pisses off other eco-friendly countries like the US.

This I don't get. You are calling the country which has led the number one most polluting
countries in the world-list for the past 30 odd years, only to have been moved to second place a few years back, eco-friendly? Just because there are more tree-huggers by percentage then somewhere else, doesn't mean it's eco-friendly.

 

[Illesdan]

I can't watch Whale Wars; after watching an episode I always want to personally go Australia and sink every single ship associated with the Sea Shepard cause.

Its all find and good to sit on a throne of judgment over another country and another races' beliefs; but it does no good to go out on the open ocean, put untold numbers of people in harms way just because you feel holier than thou.

How would that fat pig like me to keep chasing him away from his Big Macs all because I didn't believe a cow should have to suffer and die to feed his fat face?

The 'Captain' of the Sea Shepard is nothing short of an eco-terrorist wrapping himself in a cloak of good to justify terrorizing Asians on open waters. Don't be fooled by this idiot.

 

[RuralGamer]

Two words; nut. jobs. They ram government ships for enforcing their laws when the laws inconvenience them, yet keep claiming everyone else is illegal. They actually made whaling more popular in Japan by making themselves look like a bunch of glorified idiots.

Sure, I agree that drift-nets aren't very smart, but most of the stuff they want to change, well they really don't understand how to make people agree with them.

 

[LarenzoAOG]

Their hearts are in the right place, but they do more harm than good, in one episode they threw bottles of acid on whale bodies on the Japanese ship (who apparently had tags to catch whales for scientific purposes, and I believe they offered to show them the papers), which ruined the whales, they seemed pretty pleased with themselves though they seemed to forget that now the Japanese fleet would have to kill more whales to make up for those lost.

One episode they attacked a boat just hours after one of the whalers fell off the boat, possibly jumped to commit suicide, the fleet was mourning and not even whaling at the time of the attack which is just fucked up.

And the captain who was supposedly "shot" by a whaler seemed to be faked, in the footage he doesn't react at all when he was "shot", they was no gunshot to be heard, he claimed his little sherrif badge type thing stopped the bullet like he was in an old Western, and despite later showing he had sustained no damage to his person they spent half an episode providing medical care to him and drumming up a lot of drama for something that didn't do any damage.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is fuck the Sea Sheperd.

 

[LarenzoAOG]

How would that fat pig like me to keep chasing him away from his Big Macs all because I didn't believe a cow should have to suffer and die to feed his fat face?

The 'Captain' of the Sea Shepard is nothing short of an eco-terrorist wrapping himself in a cloak of good to justify terrorizing Asians on open waters. Don't be fooled by this idiot.

I've never luaghed so hard at a finely made point, good on you sir.

 

[CrystalShadow]

it was wrong, it was sabotage. They are just vigilantes and last i checked that means that they aren't above the law

Eh. Arguing about the law in cases like this is a bit meaningless.

The whalers are breaching international treaties against whale hunting. They do it through the use of legal loopholes, that their government fought quite hard to create, but even so, it's obvious they're abusing a technicality.

The vigilantes as you call it are mostly operating in international waters. Nobody has jurisdiction over international waters, so it's kind of difficult to talk about breaking any laws.

That said, if any countries decide to try and do something, they can. But that's not law. That's more or less military action.

 

[Savryc]

Attention whores the lot of them, can someone make their bullshit become reality and actually shoot the worthless excuses for human beings?

 

[evilneko]

I sometimes watch Whale Wars and root for the whalers. The Sea Sheperds are nothing more than terrorists. Not saying they don't have a legitimate grievance--they do--but their actions are all wrong.