I stumbled upon this forum a few weeks ago and have been reading old posts and checking things out since then. For the most part, I have enjoyed it but haven't seen anything that compelled me to register and reply until recently. The first topic was the drunk baboons, and the second was this one.
I don't want to make a bad first impression, but I would like to say some things about this topic.
First off, let me clarify a few things about myself. I am a gun toting, hunting, fishing, superduty driving, meat eating guy who is nowhere near being a hippy. However, I'm also a wildlife biologist, and that leads me take up for the animals on some occasions.
As Americans, we are blessed in so many ways, but that hasn't stopped us from being some of the greediest folks out there. Just look at what we've done to our own natural resources in the last couple hundred years. Do a little research on the passenger pigeon; a bird so plentiful that it would surely never go extinct. Or the number of bison that used to roam the plains, even in the East. Or the number of large predators that we've killed just for the sake of killing. My point is that just because there's an animal out there that we can kill, it doesn't mean that we should kill them all.
About the show, the first time I saw it a few years ago, my first impression was that they were ecoterrorists/pirates. As I watched a few more episodes (forgive me, I got bored it was on), I've about come to the conclusion that their intentions are good but their tactics are lacking. As daddy would say, "They've got the right string, but the wrong yo-yo." I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with following the whalers around trying to stop them, but I think they cross the pirate line with launching objects and attempts to board other vessels.
My take home point is that maybe it wouldn't be too bad of an idea to think twice before eating that whale steak.
Thanks for putting up with such a long post.