🚀 go-pugleaf

In <phfrom.198@nyx.uni-konstanz.de> phfrom@nyx.uni-konstanz.de (Hartmut Frommert) writes:

>The most important thing is that as far as I see the Norwegian officials 
>(at least those who decided to restart whaling) do *NOT CARE* anyway if 
>whales are intelligent or not. Even if you could teach whales speaking, 
>calculating, doing arts and science, these officials would state that these 
>fact are not implying intelligence. And even if they admitted, this would 
>not prevent them from whale murdering. 

Exactly so.  Those who have been trying to justify the slaughter
of whales slander their opponents by comparing them to the extremists
of the animals rights movement.  "We kill cows," they reason, "so what's
wrong with killing whales?"  In fact, it is the whalers who have made
the same mistake as the animal-rights movement.  Both overlook the
significance of intelligence.  The animals movement, thus, cannot
tell the difference between killing a cow and killing a man, while
the whaling industry cannot tell the difference between killing a
cow and killing a whale. 


>Moreover, according to a recent message, also Iceland prepares for mass 
>murder of whales. They seem to be at least more honest: they do not mention
>"scientific reasons". One reason besides eating them is claimed to be their
>fish consuming. But shrinking fish population is of course not due to the 
>whales, but to the Icelanders, and other people, who made their fishing 
>industries. Maybe other countries join. So Norway was the one who re-started
>this "war" against whales after the moratorium.

Several years ago, Jerry Pournelle made a half-serious suggestion
that if the Japanese would not stop killing whales and dolphins,
we should solve the arming the dolphins with nuclear-tipped torpedoes.