Whaling and the Japanese

The Japanese continue to get into trouble with environmentalists over whaling. Recently there have been more conflicts in the Antarctica between Japanese whaling ships and environmentalist activists who the Japanese consider to be eco-terrorists.

The Japanese have been catching whales under an international law that allows for the taking of whales for research. Now while the Japanese claim this is for research, it's obvious they are catching whales only for food. Eating whale meat in Japan is a venerable tradition; it is an element of Japanese cuisine that is bound up with Japanese culture and highly prized by the Japanese people.

These environmentalists, much like extreme activists the world over, have long since abandoned reason and logic in favor of law breaking, vandalism and terror. Japanese fisherman, having the temerity to kill large sea animals without the permission of Green Peace, are now the targets of "green pirates."

Extreme environmentalists now pursue Japanese whalers as if they were Somali pirates: ramming ships, climbing on board and in the recent attacks, tossing rancid butter and cans of paint at the Japanese whalers. Some one might ask: is this really something that the world needs to worry about right now? Is Japan whaling this important?

It's a sure bet that many of the environmentalists who are attacking Japan for whaling, are the very same folks who are real vocal about protecting native rights, traditions and cultural practices of non-white persons. Well how about Japanese cultural rights? The Japanese have been on those islands for thousands of years and whaling is part of their native tradition.

It seems that western environmentalists only support "diverse" "cultural" practices that they approve of; which doesn't seem to be an honest effort at authentic diversity. And typical of totalitarian impulses the world over, the environmentalists use violence and force to get what they want.

For the Japanese part, they should not claim they are doing research when they are not; if the Japanese want to catch a number of whales for food, they should make the case on cultural and traditional grounds. This would help them retain the moral high ground, because their opposition understands this as some kind of "whale genocide," and they are prepared to get real violent.

As one environmentalist extremist said regarding the Japanese whaling ships:
“I will not allow them to kill a whale while we’re here, and they know that,” he said. “I’ll literally rip their harpoon off their deck if I have to.”

It seems that Captain Ahab has jumped ship and now is clicking his peg leg around the stern of a Green Peace clipper.