Whale Away

If you have never heard of the show Whale Wars, take a look at the link above or this video below:



I think the clip is pretty compelling and I think that anyone who is passionate enough to volunteer their time in a potentially dangerous situation, without much, if any, preparation is probably much braver than I.

That's where my praise will end.

I'm obviously not passionate enough about the environment or as incensed by whaling to the same degree as the people on this show, but I think that most of them had no idea what they were getting themselves in to. The captain of the ship, and ex-Green Peace member/co-founder named Paul Walker (I think) is fanatical. He cares more about the lives of whales than he does the lives and safety of his crew members and without a doubt more than the lives of the whalers themselves. He expects his crew to be willing to sacrifice everything, including their lives to contaminate already harvested whale meat that is supposed being used for research. Whether or not that's true is very debatable. Even if it's not, is it worth endangering people to save whales?!

I'm sure a lot of people would answer yes to the previous question, but I am not one of them. I don't see a lot of arguments that could convince me otherwise.

On the episode I saw this week, Captain Paul Walker off-handedly accuses his crew of sabotaging their mission. This line infuriated me! They are volunteers with little to no experience at sea, in the Arctic ocean, operating foreign machinery, and being assigned to tasks in which few of them have any knowledge, let alone expertise. Yet he holds them responsible for not doing things properly. He did not take the time to train or teach them how not to die in freezing waters or how to properly handle the equipment. It would be like getting mad at a 16-year-old for not driving well or breaking traffic rules without taking the time to teach him or let him practice.

In my opinion his fanaticism stands in the way of his good judgment. I applaud his efforts to stop what he considers illegal whaling but I think the way he approaches his mission is irresponsible.

With that said, by all means watch the show and make your opinions. I watched it On Demand on Comcast (free). For me, it might be the new show that I love to hate.