Discussions of the whaling issue are riddled with absurdities and that's fine by me, but I'm troubled by the intellectual dishonesty and fuzzy thinking of International Whaling Commission members and countries' leading politicians. That thinking has elevated whales to so lofty a status that they are becoming free from the natural order -- man's dominion over animals with respect to our right to utilize them as we see fit.
Years ago sincere individuals took up the cause of properly managing dwindling and endangered whale populations, establishing a ban and then quotas to help the populations recover. However, this scientific approach has given way to a carnival of cult-like whale mysticism.
In view of this hysteria, Japan had better change course with its whale research, which has become Achilles' heel of the ethical position Japan has staked out for its whaling policy as it tries to have its cake and eat it, too -- the freedom to conduct research while using specimens to supply meat for markets. Every bite of that cake lends ammunition to Greenpeace and other extremists to charge Japan with loopholing its whale meat supply. Scandinavian nations provide no such ammunition in admitting to their commercial pursuit of whales.
A remedy would be to scale down kills for research and provide for the disposal of carcasses other than allowing the meat to enter the market. Separating Japan's research and its commercial whaling would salvage Japan's credibility as it rides out this storm of inanity.
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