Japan: Don't Be Emotional Over Whales

Humpback breaching off Cape Cod. Image allowed by CC license. Thanks to Rich Ellison. Click on picture to go to original full size. Roll over to see location/further attribution.

"We have been trying to make this issue as objective as possible," said Morishita, of the Fisheries Agency. "But other people ignore the facts and try to make it emotional."

Oh I agree. The Japanese have it all worked out.  They want to kill the whales.  They make lots of money killing whales.  Morishita makes lots of money defending killing whales.  Everybody is reasonable and happy except the beautiful whales they pull from the sea still bleeding from the misaimed harpoons they've fired (see picture here ).

All very reasonable, like skinning dogs alive to get fur for cheap coats being sold at the mall.  Like stealing people's pets because cat fur mimics rabbit fur and is so soft with strong color.  Throwing someone's loved one into a cage and then throwing the cage into a truck (often breaking or even severing the pets' limbs) and then later, of course the skinned alive part with "Patches" slowly dying a horrible death afterwards because someone who wanted to make money was able to scoop the poor cat out of your front yard.

All wonderfully reasonable.  It's just making money.

This reminds me of the reasonable excuses the Japan gave pre Pearl Harbor for going into Asia, and the Pacific Islands.  They used a mix of perfectly reasonable arguments.

One excuse was that Asia needed Japan to save it from Communism.  They petitioned the US to pledge not to attack them while they took over Asia to stop the spread of the system.

Yet, at the same time, they also declared they had a right to enact their "Manifest Destiny" just like  the US did in the previous century.  They argued that they had a right to go secure natural resources on the mainland, and the US was just being unreasonable in calling for a stop of their activity in Asia and the Pacific.

It was the refusal of the U.S. government to say "OK.  We weren't doing anything with East Asia anyway.  Go ahead with the MD thing.  Leave us alone." that brought on Pearl Harbor.  The Japanese believed that the US would only grow stronger militarily over time, so they attacked early leading to the entry of the U.S. into WW2. 

All because the US was emotional and not rational.   

(Source John Toland's Pulitzer Prize winning "The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945" .  See picture at right.  Link under picture goes to Amazon.com's site for the book.  Again I do not receive any remuneration in regards to any sale here.  I am just using a widget offered by blog-city.)

Rational fighting was the style that the Japanese did.  They didn't take prisoners if the prisoners would be a burden.  Even when captured instead of being killed instantly, little effort was made to keep prisoners alive, and extreme burdens were placed on the captured like the Bataan Death March. But that was all perfectly reasonable.  No extra effort wasted on prisoners of war.  

On the Asia mainland the perfectly reasonable invasion and expansion of the power and control of the Japanese empire included bayonetting mothers or killing their children in front of them.  Why should we get emotional about that? It was just Manifest Destiny at work. 

But there is a problem with the rationality argument.  Because the Japanes spokesman has previously switched to declaring their whale hunts a "cultural necessity".  What is less rational that culture? 

If you want you can give your family a test on rationality and culture this season.  If your kin celebrates around a Christmas tree, forget it and put up a Mennorah.  If you family uses the Mennorah, put up a Christmas tree with all the trimmings and invite the extended family in.  That'll show you how rational and reasonable "culture" is.  (If you can't go that far, just try changing the recipe for the yams or other "special seasonal" dish to get a reaction that is anything but rational or reasonable.  Culture is all about feelings and emotion.

So which is it Mr. Moroshita?  Rational or cultural.

Inquiring minds want to know. 

tags: japanese whaling fleet  japan  whalers  whales  

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