You just don’t understand us!

Apparently, despite having earlier accepted a World Court ruling ordering Japan to cease its whale hunt in the Southern Ocean,[1] the country will indeed seek to resume whaling.[2] As deplorable as this is, vegans may particularly note the irony of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s latest rationalization for the practice, as reported by the BBC: “Referring to the respect given to whales by those in towns where whaling takes place, Mr Abe said it was ‘regrettable that this part of Japanese culture is not understood’.”[3]

This, of course, is the same rationalization heard whenever meat-eaters seek to minimize their crimes. They love animals, they say. They revere all life, they say. They buy only ‘humanely’ raised and slaughtered meat, they say.

Anyone who has watched whaling in operation knows better.

Update, 10:39 pm: I wrote the foregoing before seeing this:

“Even if some country thinks that whales are special or sacred, as long as whales are sustainably utilized that view should not be forced on others,” [Joji] Morishita [Japan’s Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission] said.

“…If people in India tried to impose their way of treatment of cows on the rest of the world and tried to promote prohibiting of eating at McDonald’s or hamburgers, what would happen?”[4]

Obviously I’m unimpressed.

  1. [1]Saeed Ahmed, “U.N. court orders Japan to halt whale hunt,” CNN, March 31, 2014, http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/31/world/asia/japan-whale-hunt/index.html; Chris Butler, “What the World Court’s Ruling Against Japan Now Means for Whales,” One Green Planet, April 4, 2014, http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/what-the-world-courts-ruling-against-japan-now-means-for-whales/; Kristina Pepelko, “Huge Victory! World Court Deems Japan’s Antarctic Whaling Program Illegal!” One Green Planet, March 31, 2014, http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/huge-victory-world-court-deems-japans-antarctic-whaling-program-illegal/;
  2. [2]Debra Kay, “Japan Doesn’t Want to Stop Whaling, Despite Ban,” One Green Planet, April 18, 2014, http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/japan-doesnt-want-to-stop-whaling-despite-ban/; Elaine Lies, “Japanese whaling group intends to resume its hunts,” Planet Ark, April 15, 2014, http://planetark.org/wen/71436; Science, “Japan Says It Will Resume Antarctic Whaling Next Year,” April 15, 2014, http://app.aaas-science.org/e/er?s=1906&lid=43264&elq=f879a874509b49fba7b70e3704e62e71;
  3. [3]British Broadcasting Corporation, “Japan to press for resumption of annual whale hunt,” June 9, 2014, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27762292
  4. [4]Elaine Lies, “Japan shrugs off embarrassing court loss, vows resumption of Antarctic whaling,” Planet Ark, June 11, 2014, http://planetark.org/wen/71692

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