Showing posts with label seal hunt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seal hunt. Show all posts

Everyone needs a laugh on Friday

*Updated (scroll down)

Air Canada's map of Canada
(originally on The Newfoundland Experiment, but I read about it on Feltham Rambles)


The pretty weapon every girl wants: shoes with a built-in stun gun (via Shiny Shiny)


'Sir Paul' & the seal hunt:


Grrrl Meets World wants you to caption this picture:


The American Answer (via insanitycase)

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?

A: It was an unprovoked act of rebellion and we were quite justified in dropping thirty tons of nerve gas on it.

Other interesting news:

And in weird, disturbing, sick news: PETA has officially gone insane.

They've released a comic for kids, to scare them into thinking their parents are murderers. Teaching kids to care about animals is all well and good, but this crosses the line. The artwork is disturbing, and I think it would give kids nightmares!

It's called:

Your Daddy KILLS Animals!

Ask your Daddy why he's hooked on killing!


The end of the comic warns children:
"Until your daddy learns it's not fun to kill, keep your doggies and kitties away from him. He's so hooked on killing defenseless animals, they could be next."

* Update: Tony commented that there's another PETA comic. Not to be accused of unfairly discriminating against men, PETA has also published a comic warning children:


Your Mommy KILLS Animals!

Ask your Mommy how many animals she killed to make her fur coat?


To me, one of the most disturbing things about these comics is the language. By using the words "Mommy" and "Daddy", it's clear that PETA is marketing them to very young children.

We live in a violent enough society as it is. Kids should feel safe and secure in their homes, but these comics teach young children to think of their parents as cold blooded killers. That's gotta do damage to a kid's psyche.

Here's a video of a PETA spokesman trying (badly) to defend the ad campaign.

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Posted in: , , , , on May 12, 2006 6 comments  

Seal hunt documentary tonight

Remember to watch (or tape to watch later) 'My Ancestors were Rogues and Murderers', an award winning documentary about the history of the seal hunt, which will air on CBC Newsworld's 'The Lens' tonight, Saturday, April 8th, 2006 at 10:00 pm ET/PT.

Watch the trailer.

Also, don't miss the insightful interview with the director of the film, Anne Troake, found on 'The Lens' website. Troake has an interesting background, and explains how she reconciles her environmentalism with her position on the seal hunt and her opinions about activist groups like the IFAW.

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Posted in: , , on April 08, 2006 2 comments  

Published

I just got an email saying that an online comment I posted in response to an Ottawa Xpress article about celebrity seal hunt protesters was selected to be published in the print version of the magazine.

Neat! :)

Posted in: , on April 07, 2006 3 comments  

Costco reverses decision to remove seal oil capsules

Update below

Well, it seems that Costco has reversed its decision to remove seal oil capsules from the shelves of its Canadian stores.

The U.S.-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, who claimed that it convinced Costco to remove the capsules, is angry, and has added the company to its boycott. The Society claimed that it convinced Costco to remove the capsules in protest of the seal hunt. Costco replied that it was a "business decision", and denied any affiliation with the Society.

Thanks to kodak for blogging about this - I hadn't heard the news!

April 10th update: Goodness, now the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is disputing seal oil's status as a health product. They released their own study, in which they list toxins they apparently found in the oil, and in which they call seal oil "snake oil".

On a related note...

I mentioned prejudicial remarks against Newfoundlanders in my April 4th post, including those of Paul Watson, the head of Sea Shepherd. I just read some information about the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on Activist Cash, a project of the Center for Consumer Freedom which provides information about anti-consumer activist groups (select Sea Shepherd from the 'Activist Groups' dropdown menu). The Center for Consumer Freedom is a nonprofit coalition of restaurants, food companies, and consumers, so I'd like to do some independent research about the Sea Shepherd, but the article makes some pretty shocking claims:

"SSCS’s mission is to stop fishing of which it disapproves. Its preferred methods? Ramming and sinking fishing ships, throwing butyric acid on their decks, and firing machine guns. Watson argues that United Nations resolutions authorize him to commit violent acts. But he regularly interferes with fisherman and hunters who are committing no crime."

"Sporting the skull and crossbones, his black or battleship-gray ships sail menacingly through the waves. They are painted with the names of the boats Watson has rammed and sunk. ... The group has sunk at least ten ships in Iceland, Norway, Spain, Portugal, South Africa, and the Canary Islands."

"Watson was a founder [of Greenpeace]. But Watson’s violent tactics became too much for Greenpeace, which kicked him out in 1977, after he assaulted seal hunters. Watson now assails his old comrades for being too wimpy, calling Greenpeace “the Avon ladies of the environmental movement.”

"Of his native Canada, Watson has said he “despise[s] its government and dislike[s] its people.” Scandinavians, meanwhile, are “the children of the rapers of Ireland and executioners of the Celts.” The “bloodlust of these Viking offspring” who hunt whales made him “ashamed” of his Danish ancestry. And Watson once shouted through a megaphone at Makah Indians on a whale hunt: “Just because you were born stupid doesn’t give you any right to be stupid.”

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Documentary on the history of the seal hunt

Update below

I just read this morning that a documentary about the history of the seal hunt will be on CBC Newsworld tonight and Saturday, so if you get a chance, watch it or tape it. I haven't seen it yet, but I've heard lots about it, so I'm looking forward to it. For those of you looking for more information, this might be a good start.

It's called My Ancestors were Rogues and Murderers, by Anne Troake, and it will air on The Lens, CBC Newsworld at 10:00 pm ET/PT tonight, Tuesday, April 04, 2006, and same time on Saturday, April 08, 2006.

Watch the trailer.

I mentioned in a blog conversation that it makes me so sad to see the debate about the seal hunt beginning to turn into a personal attack on Newfoundlanders.

For those of you not following, take, for example, the comments of Paul Watson, head of the Sea Shepherd Society:

Watson confirms he wrote an e-mail describing Newfoundlanders as "blight and a curse, saying he has "no respect for Newfoundland or Newfoundlanders.

"They debased Canada when they joined the nation in 1949 and they continue to embarrass us in the eyes of the world as they inflict bloody carnage on innocent creatures (seals)."

April 7th update: Another example of this disturbing trend is an email sent from a Vancouver resident to a Newfoundland bed & breakfast, saying that "we won't weep" if the next tsunami hits Newfoundland.

Although I have my cynical moments, I like to believe in the basic good of people. Maybe it shouldn't surprise me that there is such prejudice in the world, but it still does. Perhaps this film can educate us all..

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Posted in: , on April 04, 2006 4 comments  

My thoughts on the Juno awards

  • Where were all the awards? Presenting just 7 out of 39 on the show is pathetic.
  • Where were all the women? Besides Pamela, Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, and Feist from Broken Social Scene, none of the performers were women, and few of the nominees were. At least some of the presenters were.
  • Why the hell was Coldplay's British frontman inducting Bryan Adams into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame?! Having Coldplay perform, okay, fine, but they should have chosen a Canadian artist to do the induction.
  • Loved it when Pamela got booed - twice - for using the Junos as a soapbox against the seal hunt. Also loved Jann Arden quipping that her bra was made out of seal eyelids, and seeing the camera pan to Rex Goudie, jumping in the stands.
Speaking of the seal hunt... (yeah, yeah, I know, I'll shut up about it soon) ...I stumbled across a blog with some interesting comments:
No one cares about poor old Jim, who has to go to the ice or see his family starve. No one thinks about this: Yes, sealing is gross and unpretty, yes it is horriffic and ugly, but NOBODY actually does this for FUN. No one says to themselves, "yanno, Jim, 'by. I think i haven't had nearly enough near-death encounters this past little while. I think i should go to the ice, you know, see what's up. Get a few kicks".

It irks me that people who have no concept of the historical significance of the hunt, or the economic importance of this hunt not to the shipowners (who could do without) but to the poor sealers themselves who have to do this or else face emmigration to Alberta, where we're raping the shit out of the environment for the sake of oil --- but that's a whole nother story.
Food for thought.

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Posted in: , on April 03, 2006 1 comments  

Save the baby veal: Avoid cultural prejudice

Makes you think, doesn't it?

Published in the Nunatsiaq News. The caption underneath the photo reads:
Tommy Akulukjuk and Corenna Nayulia pose in a parody of celebrity “Save the baby seal” campaigns. Nunavut Sivuniksavut teacher Murray Angus created the poster to counter Paul McCartney’s recent anti-sealing campaign.

The teacher who created the poster issued a press release with some insightful words:
"… all cultures have a relationship to animals and … people in southern urbanized settings should not look down their noses at people whose cultures and economies are still closely tied to the harvesting of animals in the wild"

"There's a kind of cultural arrogance at play" he said.

Inuit don’t participate in the Newfoundland seal hunt or anything equivalent to it, but their communities across the Arctic have been severely affected whenever animal rights protesters have been successful at reducing the market for seal pelts generally …

The post[er] is … meant to give southerners a little glimpse into what it might feel like to have their own culture and animal practices judged harshly by outsiders.
Found via Field Notes. More of the story behind the poster from the National Inuit Youth Council, and Siku News. There's a humorous/interesting article from Kent Driscoll of the Northern News Service.

In my opinion, the cultural prejudice spoken of is not only directed towards the Inuit, but towards the sealers. Very few of the people protesting the hunt have been to Newfoundland and know how truly different the culture of a Newfoundland fishing community is from that of other places. To them, fishing and sealing are not merely jobs, they are traditional ways of life. It must be difficult to see your way of life and source of income slowly eroding; especially when international hostility towards you is drummed up by celebrity activists who have never spoken with you, and know virtually nothing about your way of life.

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Posted in: , on April 01, 2006 3 comments  

This just released - Costco vs. the seal hunt

Apparently, in protest of the seal hunt, Costco has pulled seal oil capsules from the shelves of all its Canadian stores.

From what I've read, a lot of people are ticked off (although I'm sure there are some that are tickled pink, like Sir Paul & "Lady" McCartney). Here's a VOCM article about Costco's decision, and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador's reaction. I expect to hear more about this on the evening news.

Nancy Burden's blog has Costco Canada's contact information, if you're the letter-writing/emailing/phoning type.

April 1st update: PETA spokeswoman Pamela Anderson (in Halifax to host the Juno Awards) admitted in her press conference that she's never spoken to anyone involved in the sealing industry, but says she 'knows people who have.' She's also sure that there aren't any young people in Canada who support the seal hunt. GAH!!! It pisses me off when celebrities spout blanket statements like that, especially when they've never talked to people on the 'other side'!
If you'd like an interesting read, check out this letter about the history of Newfoundland and Labrador sealing industry, sent to Larry King, The McCartneys, and Danny Williams. Also watch the Canadian National Film Board's documentary, My Ancestors Were Rogues and Murderers.

Posted in: , on March 31, 2006 3 comments  

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