Strange Famous

This is the kind of statement I just cant understand.

I dont support hunting for fun, but hunting for food (with some common sense restrictions to not kill of species) seem rational to me.

But even if I was a vegan, even I wanted to close down zoo's and ban furcoats, I cant get my head round preferring fisherman to die than whales.

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"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

shakran

Yep. This is an excellent point. If you want a good example of how these reality show producers fuck with reality, go watch Ice Road Truckers season 3 ep 1. They made a missed downshift into a life or death "ohshitthey'reallgonnadie!" festival of idiocy. A downshift!

In fact, it's entirely possible that the helicopter and pilot were provided by the producers of the show.

Yeah. Collecting tissue samples. But they seem out to get a tissue sample from every whale in the ocean, which rather eliminates the point of getting a tissue sample in the first place.

They don't WANT to hunt whales to extinction, but they aren't WILLING to ease up on the hunting enough to make that happen. There's too much money to be made with whale meat, and the attitude is, if I don't kill this whale, someone else will, and then the whale's dead anyway and I don't make any money off of it.

Cynthetiq

I ate some whale meat when I was in Iceland. Icelanders also like to hunt whales. I must say it tasted "of the sea" and the meat was beef like in texture, but saltier than expected.

Personally, I don't care if they or Japan hunt the whales.

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Glory's Sun

eh.. us editors often try to put the best looking thing together.. and if it's over-sensationalized then it's most likely because we have dumb producers standing over our shoulders until our 'h' button is smoking. (add edit)

/end

I'm just sitting here trying to figure out how and what they do with all that meat.. I mean.. whales are FUCKING HUGE.

Cynthetiq

soon we'll be able to blame it all on one person, the preditor.

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james t kirk

Can't help the way I feel.

There are 7 billion people in the world. There are a few thousand humpback whales. The Japanese are angling to hunt every type of whale, even those on the verge of extinction. If a few Japanese whalers die - good news - it really won't matter in the grand scheme of the world anyway.

I despise whaling, or sealing, or any hunt for that matter. Simply not my thing. I always vote for the bear in the bear hunt.

Seeker5509

Though I hate the idea of anyone slaughtering whales - I am astounded by the incompetence of the crew of that ship... Unbelievable...

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Full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes - Adm David Farragut

silent_jay

They were all shitting their pants that the Japanese would have LRADS on their ships this time, then the crew started to cut out pieces of foam for earplugs, yeah that's going to work about as well as plastic wrap and duct tape would for making a safe room in your house. Hope to see the LRADS used next week, would be nice to see the crew flopping around like fish out of water.

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Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Strange Famous

Joking aside, the Southern Ocean is a tough place... and these guys are a mixture of idealistic kids with no experience, and self important jerks who have no clue how to lead and who dont even care about human beings. People have a right to hunt for food, and killing a whale in the wild seems to me a lot less fucking cruel than a factory farm with 10,000 chickens crammed into a shed with no natural light.

From what I have seen of these "sea shepherds" - they behave like pirates, trying to ram other boats, throwing chemical bombs onto the other ships... Im afraid to say that behaving in such a way in international waters makes them fair game. Like I said, I dont ever in my life wish or hope for the death of others, no matter how stupid or criminal their actions - but these people make their choices and one day they will end up paying the price for them, and I wont weep about it.

People are lost at sea all the time just doing their job.

I'll feel sorry for them before I feel sorry for the fat prick who captains the "Steve Irwin" (I use the word "captain" advisedly because he does not deserve to be called such) or the gullible college drop outs that follow him.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

Seeker5509

They are an accident waiting to happen.

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silent_jay

Totally agree with every word SF.

Couldn't agree more about Watson, he's a captain like I'm the fucking pope. Saw his new 'first mate' on last week's episode, the kid had such a wispy high school mustache I was impressed when he talked and his voice didn't crack.

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dohrk

I know it's late and I'm tired, but if I read this correctly, some are accusing the Sea Shepherds of throwing pipe bombs and flash bangs. I believe I have watched all episodes of the current ( the second) season, and they have not done that. What I have seen, they throw butyric acid bottles and some colored dye if I remember correctly. The Butyric acid is rancid butter according to the intrepid whale protectors. The point here is they say it makes the area hit stink to the point of retching if you are there too long, so they try to get where the harpoons are, or where they process the whales, which they say ruins the meat, making it unsellable. I have seen the Japanese whalers throw flash bangs at the Sea Shepherds, as well as hurling brass nuts at the zodiac occupants. The Sea Shepherds say that they only target the ship, while the Japanese were intentionally trying to hurt the zodiac occupants.

I am conflicted by this show. I understand that the loophole exists, and therefore the argument could be made that the Japanese are within their rights to snag this many whales, but it seems to me that they shouldn't need to "research" this many whales. Also the fact that apparently they are researching a delicacy makes it seem kinda fishy ( sorry for the pun, but I'm tired).


That being said, either the Animal Planet is excellent editors for their purpose or the Sea Shepherds are complete morons in many respects. They don't seem very organized or anything.

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Tragon

Regardless of the fact if the Japanese are doing illegal acts.. Regardless of the fact if you think they should be stopped or not. Regardless what anyone thinks they know about whales/whaling, how many they are, are they going extinct.. Are they tasty? etc..

Remove all that from the argument.. What's left?

You have a group of incompetent retards floating around on a boat, putting their lives in danger on a daily basis. FFS, get some training.. Get some Real knowledge under your belt. Learn and know wtf you're doing beforehand. Get equipment that actually Works, or even that was Meant to be used in the way you intend to. If you have any kind of ship and/or a very large, very expensive structure, being run by complete and utter morons.. that's just asking for bad things to happen. Someone is going to seriously get hurt here..

Steve Irwin would be rolling over in his grave if he could see this show.. Yes their hearts are in the right place.. Yes it's a "good cause".. but come on! Have some common sense before a lot of people get really hurt or even worse, killed.

To recap:

Illegal or not (for either side), doesn't matter..
Incompetent people running a ship not even meant to do what they're doing... Check!
Failing at every corner... Check!
Everyone loves a good rubber-necking TV show... Check!

Did I miss anything?

silent_jay

That's why they had to film season 2 on a different ice road, the mining companies that own the road weren't impressed with the way the producers made the truckers look like cowboys and the way they turned everything into a life or death situation with snazzy editing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Roa...ers#Season_2_2

Tonight's episode was another funny one, not only did the Japanese take the 'prop foul line' that the Sea Shepherds were trying to use against them, and Watson referred to it as 'stronger than steel', but the Japanese had a surprise of their own for the zodiac crews by throwing brass nuts at them. Then the Sea Shepherds were surprised they were being targeted in a 'violent way'. What do they expect they're throwing butyric acid on the deck of the ship, they say they aren't targeting people on the deck but how can they tell if and when they're going to hit someone? I say good for the Japanese.

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SSJTWIZTA

they explained something on tonights episode...i was half listening.

they dont need to be worried about being arrested seeing how they;re flying under the dutch flag or some shit of that nature.
as long as they throw nothing from the ships(Steve Irwins) deck, they are aye-okay with the government they're "working" for.

...but someone threw something from the deck, so lets see how this goes.

oh, yeah. the japs also hit the helicopter pilot with an LRAD, UH-OHHHHH! wonder if he crashes.

Also, i wonder what Steve Irwin would think about his name being used on such a vessel.

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First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for me And there was no one left to speak out for me.
-Pastor Martin Niemoller

telekinetic

The editors of the IRT need to lay off the cracking-ice track...it's worse than the laugh track of an early-90's sitcom.

Scene: a graceful snowshoe hare gingerly scampers through the snow
SFX: Popping ice out of an ice cube tray, pretzel sticks being snapped, bricks being dropped onto granite counter tops.

---------- Post added at 11:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:34 PM ----------

Also, from Wikipedia:

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisshin_Maru emphasis mine)

Has this episode aired yet? LOL...in case anyone doubts the level of douchery we're dealing with.

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twisted no more

Seeker5509

Yeah - I watched tht a couple of weeks ago. It was so "dramatic"... He suddenly colapses and clutches his cest.... A couple of minutes later they show the projectile lodged in his bullet proof vest, but strangely - no bruising or any markings on the skin under the vest.

Clearly staged to milk max media attention.

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Full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes - Adm David Farragut

Telluride

I'd love to see these idiots get hijacked by Somali pirates or something.

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silent_jay

Just saw this episode tonight, looks like they're trying to say it was 'defending their boat' because the Japanese were 'getting too close'. Yet they seem to cry and moan any time the Japanese try to do anything to protect their boats, such hypocrisy from the Sea Shepherds, also I'd much rather the Captain of any one of the Japanese boats being in control while they're maneuvering close to a ship than that idiot Watson, I wish they'd quit calling him a captain.
Saw the one guy in the zodiac dropping to the side, I laughed, oh the drama they try to get going, like we all don't know the helicopter didn't crash.
His wife let them name it that, guess she doesn't care what his name is associated with.
MV Steve Irwin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I did see my first shred of common sense on this show tonight though, when the zodiac crews refused to throw grappling hooks from their inflatable boats at the nets on the Japanese 'mother ship'. I noticed the people who wanted to try the hooks, weren't actually going to be on the inflatable boats, so of course they didn't care if it worked or not, or if they got tossed back at the small boats or not.

I'm seriously going to send that first mate a supply of razor blades, his wispy facial hair is starting to get really annoying, shave that fuckin armpit that's around your mouth off you silly bastard.

I know it really is sad how much they use the ice track, someone farts and the ice cracks for days on that show.

I started watching American Loggers as well, they're the same way with the trucks rolling over, anytime they go around a corner they feel the need to explain the truck 'may' tip if the driver goes to fast, and use the same CGI truck rolling down a hill. Also they were talking about working in 'extreme cold', then the narrator said it was -25, fuckin hell that isn't extreme, that's downright balmy compared to the -40 or -50 and above I used to work outside in, and I didn't have a nice warm truck cab to sit in, I was on a damn ski doo, sometimes driving across a lake, now that's bloody cold.

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SSJTWIZTA

ahh, they werent THAT close. i mean, one of the deckhands REALLY had to lob that bottle of stinky acid.

wow, had no idea the wife gave the "okay" for that.

__________________
First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for me And there was no one left to speak out for me.
-Pastor Martin Niemoller

silent_jay

I noticed that too, they were really trying to play up how close the Japanese actually were to them, if they were as close as the Sea Shepherds thought they were that deckhand wouldn't have needed to throw the bottle that hard.

Yeah I didn't mind Steve Irwin, he was good for a laugh, surprised his wife gave the go ahead for renaming the boat after him though, seems like bad publicity to have your name associated with these guys.

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lordsangone

illegal or not the Sea Shepherd's efforts and tactics are quite pathetic. at best they are just letting the whalers know that they are against what they are doing. other than that their efforts to stop them are a waste of time and energy, in fact it makes them look quite helpless and powerless. what are they trying to achieve? i was confused watching the show. the cause is noble and the whole reality aspect of it caught my attention. theres nothin on tv like it. but i must admit they have brought a knife to a gun fight. a plastic knife at that. these whalers are killers. that means you are risking your life in order to stop them. someone is gonna get hurt or even killed. you need to fight fire with fire. but i know that will never happen. all i can say at this point is for the sea shepherd crew to recieve better training and tactics. the last couple of shows showed me that they were not prepared, lacking effective skills, lack of resources, etc. the only thing that they dont lack is their passion. more power to them but i think they are going to need more than just power. good luck SS! you are going to need it!

ASU2003

Finally- Australia Government Initiates Legal Action On Japanese Whaling - Sea Shepherd

It looks like they were successful at getting the Australian government to bring their cause against the Japanese government.

(And I think they are right in doing what they do. Although I would think they would use a few other tactics to stop the whalers)