We are hooligans...er, not US, these other people...
As with a lot of cable channels, the Animal Planet channel ran a min-marathon called Whale Wars last night. Seeing that I am from New England and that whaling was a large part of our nautical history (my Dad was a commercial sport fisherman captain-owner), I decided to watch.
Tangent - back in the late 1800s, the concern was "what are we going to do when the whale oil runs out???" - the local populace used it to light their lanterns at night. Of course, humans being ingenuitive, they discovered other sources of energy other than whale blubber derived oil - natural gas and petroleum oil. Because we humans seem to not learn from history, when I hear cries of "oh what shall we do when oil runs out??", I just shrug my shoulders and think "been there, done that; there will be something to replace it".
Well, I expected to see a bunch of environmentalists trying to stop whalers from doing what they do with, perhaps, a little civil disobedience thrown in. What I saw instead was an egomaniac by the name of Paul Watson that was more concerned with "the mission" and using any means and anyone to achieve it.
Ignore established international law? No problem! Ignore long accepted laws and practices of the sea with respect to safety and piracy? Anything to further the mission! Manipulate and psychologically bully new volunteers to put their life on the line just to score media points? Sure, bring me more! Am I not your leader? You had better believe it! Not willing to die to save a whale, not willing to elevate the worth of a whale over that of your fellow humans? You scum...
I can only think of one other person who is as obsessed with "a mission" (name withheld to protect the stupid and inglorious) as this jerk. Ok, maybe not as obsessed, but well along the same road of always being in control.
Unlike the eco-terrorists on land that burn down expensive homes and SUV dealerships, this guy, who founded the radical Sea Shepherds group, seems to not care what the means utilized is as long as his ends are accomplished and he can make a media splash from it. I really wonder if he realizes how bad he comes off, along with his other sycophants, in this series? Frankly, he ranks right up there with the other eco-terrorists that put human lives at risk. As TMEW just said "He is willing to break the law and then cry foul".
Example?
First he hunts down one of the whaling ships which is fine all by itself. Then his crew launches a small "go fast" (dual outboard "rigid" boat) that approaches the whaler (all the time being filmed by a small helicopter flown off the deck of the Sea Shepherd) and all the while radioing the whaler that they were in voilation of international law (which the whalers are not and I am not in knowledge of any Letters of Mark (Marquee?) that would render any kind legal ability of the Sea Shepheds to enforce any such law). My first thought is that with the go-fast boat, they'd go 'round and round' the target to slow it down from hunting whales in trying to avoid this "go fast" boat. Well, it turns out that go-fast's crew started heaving butyric acid (think vomit smell that isn't going away for a long time) and then some very slippery liquid that would render it almost impossible to walk on a heaving deck. So much for civil civil-disobedience...
Now, bad smells is one thing but deliberately endangering the welfare of the other crew is another matter (trying walking around on a metal deck with lots of "hard things" sticking out all over with your ship bouncing around in 10 - 40 foot seas. So, would you allow that to happen to your house, or would you be calling 911 if someone was doing that to you? At least you can leave and not be worried about your life.
Now put into the equation that these ships are in the Antarctic - fall overboard and you are dead in a matter of minutes from the freezing water. I kept that in mind as I watch the Sea Shepherd crew deliberately try to "foul" the propeller of the Japanese whaler by putting a long rope in the way of the whaler and hoping it would get sucked up and wrapped around that prop, rendering that ship unable to navigate - a deliberate act of sabotage and a death sentence in foul weather if they could not free themselves in time.
Then, on a second trip back to the whaler, they decided to "board" two of the Sea Shepherd crew onto the whaler to "deliver" a letter informing them of their illegal activities - an illegal boarding as at no time had they asked for or had been granted permission to board a moving ship on the open sea. Once aboard, the Japanese crew took them into custody. Given their previous actions, I would have, too, as I would have thought (given the Somalian pirate activities) I was being taken over. In simple terms, piracy.
Then the chutzpah kicked in and Paul Watson, who had just had his crew effecting illegal activities on the open seas, started to call the media to say that his crew were hostages. Right - act like jerks, put the other crew at risk, radio threats and lies, illegally board a ship, and immediately raise the victim card.
This is nothing more than self-aggrandizement after imperiling other peoples' well being to gain media attention. And the series proceeds downward from there.
So my question is, why is the Animal Planet heralding these self described hooligans? Why are they promoting illegal activities of these sick people? Or is Paul Watson the means to their ends (ratings)? Would the Animal Planet legal eagles be as lenient with me if I use their "name in vain" or use their copyrighted material without permission? You betch'em they wouldn't!
My opinion - this guy, Paul Watson, is just using a popular rallying cry, "save the whales" for his own ego gratification. And while there are some "true believers" among the crew, he and his first mate and executive director seem to be of the ilk of "oh, they died...they knew what they were getting themselves into before they came on board" (and I noticed that the "upper echelon" of the crew were not volunteering for the dangerous missions - so typical for "the mission and cause" cults).
It won't stop until they kill someone....and maybe not even then.
