This Week's Whaling Story

Polls Don't Lie, Do They?



I've been resisting writing about the whole whaling thing in the last couple of months but it's getting beyond the pale so here it is. Me with my two cents. I would normally reserve my media-watching to the IWC season, but this year's hunt is garnering front-page news day after day in the Australian media. Most of it is pretty infuriating. Bottom line? Whaling-Outrage sells papers.

Apparently, two-thirds of the Japanese polled by Asahi Shimbun support whaling. The support is stronger in men over 40 and less so in women in their 20s.

Japan's government says whaling is part of the national culture and it has fought bitterly with Western nations over its annual hunt of some 1,000 whales in the Antarctic Ocean.

The Asahi Shimbun said 65 per cent of Japanese support continuing the whaling programme and that 56 per cent of people backed eating whale meat.

Support for whaling was strong among older men, with close to 80 per cent of men between 40 and 70 favouring eating whale meat.

But the the figure was nearly reversed among Japanese women in their 20s, among whom 58 per cent opposed eating whale.

The Asahi survey comes despite other statistics, often cited by environmentalists, pointing out that most Japanese do not eat whale meat, which is rarely found outside of speciality restaurants and stores.

Consumption of whale meat has decreased to 30 grams per person a year - equivalent to a slice of sashimi - compared with 2.5 kilograms in the early 1980s.

It amazes me that the Australian media wants to indulge in a kind of identity politics over whaling, but I guess if two thirds of the Japanese support whaling, there is cause for it: It's getting to the point you have to say that the Japanese are supporting the right to do it, even if they don't necessarily want to eat it themselves. That's pretty bloody-minded, but so has been the rest of western media on the subject.

The whole media circus is getting very sticky for the Federal Government. On the one hand you have the likes of ministers Bob Debus and Peter Garrett pushing for legal action, the Foreign Minister Stephen Smith doesn't want to go to that point.

The Home Affairs Minister, Bob Debus, said the images showed the reality of the slaughter, and would help back Australia's argument against whaling in any international court case.

For the first time, the Government now has its own evidence, should it choose to take whaling to a court such as the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

"There is still time for an 11th-hour effort on the part of the Australian Government to use international law to halt Japan's 'scientific' whaling program," said Tim Stephens of Sydney University's law faculty. "The tribunal could issue an injunction in as little as 14 days."

However, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith, said he would consult Japan before any legal action was taken, and Mr Garrett described it as a "potential" component of the anti-whaling campaign.

"You have to consider the options in legal action, because it's a big step to be taking," Mr Garrett said.

Almost two months after saying the Government would appoint a special envoy on whale conservation to deal with Japan, a spokesman for Mr Smith said the process was under way.

Here's a thought. Maybe one should reassess one's own values. Naah, that'd be too hard.
Here's another thought. Maybe the recent spate of media hysteria over whaling has convinced Mitsubishi to pull the plug on the car plant in Adelaide? After all, they don't have to keep losing money in Australia and be told they're horrible people for eating whale. You don't think it's possible? Try explaining that to the people who just lot their jobs in Adelaide.
The questions I've been asking recently are, just how far do the media want to drive a wedge between Tokyo and Canberra? And Just how far does Canberra want this to go? At the moment, I feel the Federal Government's been busy dowsing petrol on the flame. Happy Hunting Mr. Rudd. If you thought this was bad, wait until this year's IWC jamboree in May.

Eat Meat?
The strategy of appealing to people's sensitivities regarding cruelty is also getting to the next stage as lamb is targeted as the cruel meat.

Blood in the water, other whales loitering in mournful respect or in suicidal compassion; it's a scene that captures the breathtaking damage and suffering modern humanity can inflict on the landscape and those beings within it.

Take the scene to Japan and many would be in denial. Whale meat is not hard to find in the trendy nosheries in Shinjuku or Roppongi, but few who partake of a whale sashimi would be willing to trace the violent trail of their evening meal.

But many Japanese are horrified that in Australia roast lamb is a favourite meal. While the Japanese Government has somewhat desperately played the kangaroo meat card, with limited effect because few humans eat it and most kangaroos are allowed at least a normal life before their generally quick demise, the horror at the willingness of Australians to send tiny, trembling lambs to the 24/7 industrial death machines known as abattoirs seems to even run deeper in Japan.

There is no doubt there is a similar denial here too. If many lamb eaters were obliged to consider and confront the awful reality of their culinary choices, they would spurn the dish. Yet here denial rears its ugly head again and roast lamb and vegies remains among the most popular meals in this country. Leave your conscience under the napkin.

There is also, of course, the line that if livestock were not reared for meat, various breeds would die out. This angle is odd as it ties species' extinction and the destruction of biodiversity with human consumerism, somehow in an attempt to support the latter. This posits that there is nothing troubling about an animal species dying out because we have no commercial need for them. This also assumes a great deal as there is no compelling evidence that this scenario would eventuate anyway.

It raises a compelling conundrum: if you're a meat eater, are you in a position to criticise Japanese whalers?

Guys, I love lamb. Would I give it up just because it's cruel? I don't know that I would. The rest of this article had this section which goes:

But, the more common arguments on whaling are that it is a) inhumane, b) the whales are endangered or c) whales are highly intelligent beings with a spiritual connection to humans. Other forms of slaughter for meat would be acceptable for many who make such arguments because the last two beliefs do not apply and the first belief is tangled denial.

But, what right do we have to make this judgement? Who are we to decide that one species is worthy of the worst form of abuse and mass slaughter, even extending to its young, simply to express our culinary leanings and/or support an industry, while another species should be saved, at risk of human life if need be?

Either we abhor violence in all forms against creatures with whom we share the planet, or we don't. There is no middle ground. There is no reasonable position that allows mass murder for one species and spirited protection for another. No one can plunge a knife into our planet's ecological and spiritual being with one hand and then apply a massage with the other. Doing so is pathological in the action and hypocritical in the intention.

Those many armchair ecologists and animal welfare people who chow down on their steaks, roast lamb or pork snags while they raise shrill cries in sympathy for the minke and fin whales being helplessly massacred in the Southern Ocean, are lacking the piquant condiment of reality.

So it you aren't exactly willing to give up eating meat for the whale-saving argument, then what are you but a ... hypocrite? *Gong* Okay, the thing is, is being a hypocrite such a bad sin/crime? Our society is filled with unspeakable hypocrisies, and most of us either grin and bear it or just walk on by without batting an eye-lid.
Just the other day, my boss' 7-year old rfeused to talk to me because I allegedly "eat whale".
What kind of hell kind of teacher is teaching THAT!? Thanks 'Straya. You do me proud.