The Discovery channel has been airing this commercial (actually, a little bit longer version) to the annoyance of me and my mother (and hopefully other Asians?)  Notice trigger words such as “the Japanese” and um, “it’s up to US to stop THEM.”

Let’s get something straight.  Whaling is bad.  No doubt about it.  But when you have an older, white male angrily spouting US vs. THEM rhetoric,  you have yourself a veiled jab at the Japanese, which could arguably stem from some leftover World War II resentment. Not to mention the name of the documentary, Whale Wars, along with special highlights of the program which include throwing mysterious, grenade-like objects onto the decks of whaling ships.

Also, my mom’s initial reaction: “Oh, like Americans have never hunted anything illegal before?”

3 Comments »

Ah, that was quite the entertaining clip you posted…Not to mention slightly offensive.

Though I do agree he could have chosen better words to express himself and narrate the clip I do agree something has to be done about whalling in Japan. With the technology we have available to us now there’s absolutely no necessity for it and the fact most whales pose no threat to any other organism in the planet, no real justification for it.

However, there was also no justification for that old white bloke to be chucking ‘grenades’ upon decks of Japanese whalling ships. Violence begets violence and (in this case) probably a major lawsuit, as well as just exascerbating the problem. No-one will be willing to solve this problem if everyone is embittered with these continuing tactics from both sides.

Whew, anyways..How are you?

Said by Sophie | November 9, 2008 @ 4:42 am

You are absolutely right in that there is no reason for whaling to continue. I hope my post didn’t seem like it was aiming to justify it with the cruel acts against animals that Americans have also been known for committing.

I too think that better words could’ve been used – maybe “Japanese whalers” instead of “the Japanese,” (thereby not blaming the race as a whole) and used clips that were less aggressive and um, not have the word “Wars” in the name of the damn show.

As always, thanks for your input!!

Said by Foxes | November 11, 2008 @ 1:47 pm

Exactly! In this case, both parties are at fault. There’s no need for those borderline xenophobic remarks from the end of the white bloke.

Said by Sophie | November 11, 2008 @ 8:42 pm

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