Post by chabelis on Nov 22, 2013 23:18:53 GMT -5
I've only just found this board, the reason I searched for somewhere voice my opinion is because my own sister is frustrating me by spewing out political SS nonsense over Facebook. I've also had deep discussions with her in person, but she refuses to see the other side of the story.
It's frustrating because so many people are just like her. Whaling is one of those things that tugs at people's heart strings. Because people see whales, dolphins, dogs and cats as intelligent and "cute", they're something that should be protected even if they aren't on the endangered list.
You never see people or other conservationists lobbying against restaurants that serve calamari or octopus, but really I don't see that as being much different to other beings of higher intelligence.
Just because octopus and squid aren't endangered, cute or even something we can relate to due to the fact they aren't mammals they become something that's okay to kill and eat, yet it has been proven that they are just as if not more intelligent as some other creatures we are willing to protect.
Don't get me wrong, I do love animals... But I'm also a realist that can't stand hypocrites.
Humans are so oblivious to where our meat comes from they forget that a life must be taken to get meat, leather or other various "products".
Vegetarians and vegans are equally oblivious to the fact that in order for their farmed non-animal products to get to them thousands of acres of land is taken from the creatures that once inhabited it, often resulting in thousands of deaths of various creatures. Because these deaths are less direct and they don't have to ingest the flesh of another being, this somehow gives them the right to have a "holier than thou" attitude.
It's a fact of life. In order for humans to live in this thing we call "society", we must create death. Even unnecessary deaths. The only way of not creating an impact on the planet is if we revert back to being nomad hunter/gatherers, but that can't happen due to the number of humans there are.
It's also unrealistic to say that we should be protecting any species from extinction. It's been estimated that over 99% of species that ever lived are now extinct, not even 1% of those extinctions are due to humans.. Hell not even 1/100 of a percent. Regardless of what humans do, life will go on.
What humanity should remember is if we don't be careful we will add ourselves to that list. The best we can hope for is that don't make enough impact on the planet that we make it inhospitable for ourselves, killing off apex predators could add to this.
Humans need to live with the fact that they are indeed "human". If we didn't hunt, didn't kill then we wouldn't have evolved into the creatures we are now. Fortunately and unfortunately with our intelligence we also evolved a conscience, which lead us to compassion for those that we effect.
I think it's fine if conservationists are doing their job in the world by trying to keep populations in check of all species, as I said earlier, the more we effect the planet the more we effect our own existence. But really, what the SS's do is outright wrong. They are lying to people and making them believe their money is going towards a noble cause.
Paul Watson and his crew are not only endangering the lives of his crew and the people they're trying to stop, but if their ships or any other ships went down while they were "protecting" these creatures, then many marine creatures would be effected including the whales and dolphins they claim to be helping.
SS really are the devil in disguise, the sooner people wake up to this fact the sooner the "real" conservationists can do their job the better off we'll be.
Apologies for the essay, and apologies if it's a bit all over the place. I just felt like I needed to get that off my chest. And please remember these are my opinions, if yours are different you're just as free to express them as I am. Thanks for reading!
It's frustrating because so many people are just like her. Whaling is one of those things that tugs at people's heart strings. Because people see whales, dolphins, dogs and cats as intelligent and "cute", they're something that should be protected even if they aren't on the endangered list.
You never see people or other conservationists lobbying against restaurants that serve calamari or octopus, but really I don't see that as being much different to other beings of higher intelligence.
Just because octopus and squid aren't endangered, cute or even something we can relate to due to the fact they aren't mammals they become something that's okay to kill and eat, yet it has been proven that they are just as if not more intelligent as some other creatures we are willing to protect.
Don't get me wrong, I do love animals... But I'm also a realist that can't stand hypocrites.
Humans are so oblivious to where our meat comes from they forget that a life must be taken to get meat, leather or other various "products".
Vegetarians and vegans are equally oblivious to the fact that in order for their farmed non-animal products to get to them thousands of acres of land is taken from the creatures that once inhabited it, often resulting in thousands of deaths of various creatures. Because these deaths are less direct and they don't have to ingest the flesh of another being, this somehow gives them the right to have a "holier than thou" attitude.
It's a fact of life. In order for humans to live in this thing we call "society", we must create death. Even unnecessary deaths. The only way of not creating an impact on the planet is if we revert back to being nomad hunter/gatherers, but that can't happen due to the number of humans there are.
It's also unrealistic to say that we should be protecting any species from extinction. It's been estimated that over 99% of species that ever lived are now extinct, not even 1% of those extinctions are due to humans.. Hell not even 1/100 of a percent. Regardless of what humans do, life will go on.
What humanity should remember is if we don't be careful we will add ourselves to that list. The best we can hope for is that don't make enough impact on the planet that we make it inhospitable for ourselves, killing off apex predators could add to this.
Humans need to live with the fact that they are indeed "human". If we didn't hunt, didn't kill then we wouldn't have evolved into the creatures we are now. Fortunately and unfortunately with our intelligence we also evolved a conscience, which lead us to compassion for those that we effect.
I think it's fine if conservationists are doing their job in the world by trying to keep populations in check of all species, as I said earlier, the more we effect the planet the more we effect our own existence. But really, what the SS's do is outright wrong. They are lying to people and making them believe their money is going towards a noble cause.
Paul Watson and his crew are not only endangering the lives of his crew and the people they're trying to stop, but if their ships or any other ships went down while they were "protecting" these creatures, then many marine creatures would be effected including the whales and dolphins they claim to be helping.
SS really are the devil in disguise, the sooner people wake up to this fact the sooner the "real" conservationists can do their job the better off we'll be.
Apologies for the essay, and apologies if it's a bit all over the place. I just felt like I needed to get that off my chest. And please remember these are my opinions, if yours are different you're just as free to express them as I am. Thanks for reading!
