Faroese Whaling Controversy

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Absolutely. Anyone who ever finds fault with the actions of his parents and grandparents and tries to stop others from repeating those same mistakes is a hypocrite. I totally agree. The children of murderers, for example, should never become homicide investigators. Too hypocritical.

 

damedog, how can it be hypocrisy to not want to see the mistakes of the past repeated?

 

To kill for no other reason than killing disgusts me. If you are going to eat the food, great. If you want a trophy, that's pretty pathetic, but at least it's SOME use of the beast. Just because it's a tradition? Repugnant.

 

That is a pretty curious thing about what we decide to hunt/kill. The intelligence (or at least perceived intelligence) of an animal goes a long way into whether or not we'll kill it. Things like cows, most birds, and most fish (and yes, I know whales aren't fish), are considered dumb, so it's OK to kill and eat them. Buffalo were so dumb (standing in a circle and not attempting to run away when threatened) that they were nearly hunted to extinction. Other animals, like cats and dogs are considered smart, so we don't kill them.

 

That and cat's and dogs aren't tasty ... or so I've heard.

 

From what I've been told, the meat is quite tender and juicy -- not gamey like venison or grass fed cattle. Not that I can really remember what meat tastes like anymore...

 

Sadly, these aren't past mistakes in our society. They're present atrocities. As far as I know, and correct me if i'm wrong, the Faorese do not do enough whaling to make it unsustainable. If not, then I do not believe they should be punished before the real eco-criminals are. There's a big difference to me between hunting for tradition or necessity and hunting in an *unsustainable manner* for profit. As long as the whales themselves are not in serious decline or threatened, and they are not held in factory farms or cages where they could not live their natural life, I see no problem.

Imo, the fundamental problem is that our economic system, which is the primary focus of our society, doesn't place any intrinsic value on the natural world the way other, more environmentally conscious societies have. Forests only have value as paper. Fish only have value as food. Wolves threaten parts of the economy and thus should be dead. Eskimo curlew bring value to the economy and thus should be dead. It's all very sick in its consequences and not at all in line with a normal way of thinking, if you ask me.

 

We don't legalize buying puppies for the purpose of brutally slaughtering them and leaving them in the street. A whale is a lot smarter than a puppy. Just like slaughtering a litter of puppies without reason is an arrestable offense, as should brutally slaughtering a whale that will not even be eaten.

 

I think AnimuX made excellent points on the thread, and all the counterarguments were only obfuscating the issue. It's something we can and should stop, there is no justification for the killings. Who cares if our ancestors did worse? It doesn't change that it's wrong, and we can still stop this before it leads to worse in the future.

From what I've experienced of culture, the most prominent aspects are usually harmful, inefficient, repetitive, downright idiotic or morally objectionable to others. More normal aspects are often not even acknowledged as culture. I say eradicate all those 'interesting quirks' from every culture - let's even things out.

If the Faroese are banned from slaughtering whales, it won't change much:
- They'll still hang their washing out to dry when it doesn't rain.
- MacDonalds, KFC etc. will not suddenly become luxury restaurants on the islands (if there are any)
- Their views on politics will hardly change. There will still be elections, they will still vote.
- English will remain the most important foreign language on the islands.
- There will be no changes to the school curriculum, except perhaps the whale-slaughter-storytelling hour.
- Mustard will still come in jars.
- The police will not turn into a mafia mob overnight.
- Dinnertime won't change.
- No changes in inheritance tax or mortgage terms.
- Fishermen will not go hungry, and none will be out of a job.

Culture is a tremendously wide subject, and we often don't realize a fraction of what constitutes our own culture. This killing of whales is just a tiny aspect of a tiny island group's culture, and even from a historic-cultural viewpoint, there is very little merit to preserving it.

BTW, if you want to read up on your own culture, check out this link:
http://www.zompist.com/amercult.html
Links to cultures other than American are found on the page.

 

We eat pigs and they are at least as intelligent as dogs.

 

Well, intelligence is not a factor in determining if someone is prosecutable for animal cruelty. Cuddliness does seem to be more of a factor: Some Dutch boys got arrested for tying a hamster they bought onto fireworks, causing it unnecessary suffering before it died. The funny thing was, they bought the hamster as snake food, which is hardly devoid of suffering, but since it's food it's not *unnecessary* suffering. I doubt anyone would have said a thing if they tied an entire ant colony to some fireworks, though.

Killing animals from slow-reproducing wild populations is an entirely different aspect, which adds a level of seriousness to the story.

As far as eating meat is concerned: I'd be quite happy to go entirely vegetarian myself, but most others wouldn't be open to giving up 'delicious' meat. The only reason I eat it, is basically the culture. It's affordable and widely available in the shops, more so than a lot of specialist vegetarian food.