Not too long ago, there were 2 guys from Greenpeace boarding a Japanese whaling vessel. If I'm not mistaken (correct me if I'm wrong) it was the critical whale-processing craft. Without that functionality, it is pointless to get whales to process. Ok that makes sense.
What bothers me about this, at least a little, is that a private organization can just go and board ships. Without permission. The normal process is to ask if you can come aboard.
Unless you are some sort of authority, like customs, immigration, some navy. Then you announce that you will board the ship, and then you do it.
Of course these guys did this without weapons, so it is not really piracy. But it does seem like they are assuming authority, where they have none.
What is next? PETA breaks down my door because I have a hat with rabbit fur?
I need that hat because it gets really cold here some days.
I see your point
Greenpeace has good things and bad things as an organization. They were an important part of getting the message of sustainability an enviromental break-down to the masses, but some of their methods are indeed questionable.
But the problem is, if you see something wrong in the world but are not a legitimate authority, do you wait until the authorities invest you with some recognition to operate, or do you take action before it is too late?
Of course, before you take action it would be best to review why exactly do you think what you are up against is wrong, otherwise you might get blinded by your own righteousness...
I see simmilar problems everyday here in Mexico. Some groups seem to think is perfectly fine to protest about this or that problem (which may be perfectly legitimate) by blocking the highways and roads and hurting innocent third parties, and of course the angry citizens affected by the protests urge the authorities to punish the wrong-doers with the full weight of the law, which the authorities are always reluctant to do since to protest and free expression is protected by the Constitution, but also because the ghost of the massacre of 1968 is always lurching and they fear to appear as fascists, so it is an endless vicious circle.
So, if you want to take action against something, like the corruption of authorities or the killing of an endangered species, and you want to get noticed and make people care, but at the same time be careful not to trample the rights of third parties, what do you do? Resource to theatricality like Amnesty International or Greenpeace? That will only get you so far, since people are easily bored and they tend to change the channel or flip the pages of the newspaper.
I wish I knew the answer.
-----
It's not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me...
It's all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!
Red Pill Junkie
Whales are people too!
I agree with Red Pill Junkies argument that if you see something horrible happening, do you wait around for a shiny badge to appear? Or try to take action. Myself, I would take action. As PETA has not broken down my door for my Fox Fur hat, I really can't say. But I don't think thats an issue. People feel very strongly about this, fur, whales, vegans, saving the world things. Though I feel very strongly, and cheer for Green Peace. I don't have a problem with meat and fur and long as it is not cruelly harvested. But Whales are sentient also. So I feel thats murder.
whales and whales
I agree that hunting whales, or any other species, to extinction is a bad idea. Morals or no morals, it is not good to upset the food chain, if only for selfish human reasons.
Also, I agree that we can't always wait for the authorities. Often they arrive too late. So we have to take action ourselves, some of the time.
That is also why I support an individuals right to own weapons, at least some of the time.
Some whales appear to be intelligent, perhaps as intelligent as a dog or a bear. Others are about as intelligent as a cow. So where do we draw the line?
We talked about this in another thread. I say we draw the line approximately where it upsets the food chain balance. Purely selfish human stuff - if the ocean food chain is gets out of balance seriously, then we are in real trouble. Too much oxygen (above 30% we are in trouble, everything burns), or too little oxygen (below 16% we suffocate).
But, these guys were just trying to get on TV. That's not the right reason, and not the right method.\
I don't have a problem with your morals bladerunner. I just have a different view, I'm trying to see what has to be done, as opposed to what would be nice to do.
----
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.
(Bill Clinton, and perhaps others)