COLUMN: Kill the Whales

From Arne Thommessen's "Hear Me Now, Believe Me Later," Fall '93 From Arne Thommessen's "Hear Me Now, Believe Me Later," Fall '93During Norway's resistance against German invaders in 1940, President Roosevelt said "Look to Norway." America looked, and learned that Norway was the capital of Sweden, burdened by occasional outbreaks of unrest among the Viking minority. After Norway's surrender, the public eye turned its attention towards Pearl Harbor, McCarthy, JFK and the Vietnam War. A closer look at the reality behind the myth reveals a different picture than Greenpeace and other self appointed environmentalists have managed to portray. It is true that Norway and other whaling nations have done irrevocable damage to many whale species. The blue whale population has shrunk from 228,000 to about 14,000 today. In the middle of the 1980s, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned whaling of all species for 10 years. Most whaling nations, including Norway, respected the ban. During this period, the IWC became more radical. Member nations with no previous whaling traditions disregarded scientific facts and voted for a total ban on whaling, ignoring the recommendations from IWC's own scientific committee. There are 80 different whale species with larger variations than those between dachshunds and greyhounds. A whale is not necessarily a 150 ton blue whale. The number of minkewhales, the only whale species Norway hunts, is more than six times larger than it was when the whaling industry emerged in the beginning of the 19th century. Norwegian whalers will catch 296 minke whales in 1993 out of a total that exceeds 800,000. Activists claiming that the minke whale is an endangered species are either grossly misinformed, or only vaguely familiar with the concept of honesty. The popular image of a whale, wrote a Norwegian columnist, is that of an animal as compassionate as Mother Theresa, as intelligent as Einstein, and as beautiful as Marilyn Monroe. Actually, the whale is as intelligent, or may I say stupid, as a cow. I suspect that Americans would be very reluctant to sacrifice their holy burgers in order to save the brain power of cows. Intelligence was not an issue when Buffalo Bill, the great American hero, did his proud duty to exterminate his portion of the 60 million buffaloes. This is not to say that Norwegians dislike animal brains. On the contrary, sheep brain is a celebrated delicacy among Norway's tradition-bound gourmets. One of the few serious objections against whaling is the inaccuracy of the grenade harpoon. Most whales, but not all, are killed instantly. It is unfair to compare whaling to cattling. Whaling is a form of hunting and its effectiveness cannot be compared to slaughtering cows. It might not be relevant to the U.S. public opinion, but far more enduring pain is inflicted on animals during the hunting season in America. I do not know how many deer and elks the gung-ho NRA hunters maim each year, but not all hunters can be as accurate as the acquitted Magnum 44 -touting maniac shooting a Japanese student. Violence against humans, in all its gory details, is prime time entertainment in the U.S. When it comes to the cow flesh in our burgers, people willingly keep themselves in the dark. The average person does not care how the food finds its way to his plate. The flesh of slaughtered cows and pigs is transformed into beef and pork. The whale is given human traits and people eating whale meat are thus considered barbaric cannibals. People "saving" whales might feel good about themselves, but they are not doing a thing for the environment. Today many shark species are endangered, but who feels good about saving sharks? Sharks are not being killed for their meat, but out of irrational fear and hate. Who is wasting our maritime resources? The whalers trying to make a living or the Sharkalo Bills of the world who kill for no reason. Who benefits from the useless hate campaign against the crew on 28 small Norwegian fishing vessels? Greenpeace, Union Carbide and Congressmen. Ninety percent of Greenpeace's members mentioned the whale and seal issue as their main reason for supporting the organization. The memory of Flipper lives on, and Greenpeace knows where their money comes from. Their unscientific protests give them as much credibility as an environmentalist organization as Dan Quayle has as a presidential candidate. Why do corporations support the whale campaign? They are eager to embrace anything diverting attention from their own shoddy environmental records. The "save the whales" campaign is a decoy. I would not be surprised if Union Carbide and Exxon sponsored Greenpeace. When was the last time Greenpeace did something to offend blue chips in the U.S.? And what do Congressmen have to gain from a whaling ban? Nothing. Few sane minds have ever accused Congress of being a chamber of integrity. Congressmen brush up their green images by voting against sustainable whaling. No constituents or sponsors get offended. To some degree, Norway deserves a boycott. The farther away the problem, the better we have been at solving it. Our handling of the whale issue has been amateurish, and to some extent, arrogant. Nevertheless, Norway's incompetence in presenting its case does not alter the scientific facts. Economically, Norway has much to lose and little to gain from whaling. Then why does an insignificant dot on the map as Norway defy the U.S. and the EC? Henrik Ibsen put words to a special Norwegian character trait: "The strongest man in the world is the man who is standing the most alone." It makes no difference if we lose in the end. Ever since the Viking Age we have lost to mightier powers.Thus to lose does not imply dishonor, as long as the losers go down fighting. So called "good losers" are highly respected. Our Davidian struggle is a mixture between this particular stubbornness and more or less fond childhood memories of whale beef and whale oil. In today's short supply market, whale meat is almost as expensive as beef sirloin. Even Norwegians like myself, who never really liked the taste of it, eat it out of patriotism. Norwegians do not want to harm the whale – we just want to eat it. And, by the way, if we had dolphins, we would eat them too. Arne Thommessen is a senior Finance and Entrepreneurial Management major from Oslo, Norway. Hear Me Now, Believe Me Later appears alternate Fridays.

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