msolga wrote:Deb, was this the
YouTube video on the news tonight? (Sorry, can't investigate all the links you've provided as my (dial-up
) computer is extremely slow tonight.
From what I saw in the ABC & SBS news, it contained:
scenes from the "Cronulla riots"
references to xenophobia (from Australians)
A woman eating flesh from (what I assume is ) a kangaroo leg
a neglected, sickly looking baby kangaroo
etc ....
With voice-over, claiming that Australia's stance on Japanese whaling was racially-based, the implication being that Australians are hypocrites because we eat kangaroos, etc ..
My reaction: it looked like a (very) amateur piece of mischief. As it was produced by an
un-named source, there's no way of knowing exactly
where it came from. I wasn't going to respond to it at all because it was difficult to take it seriously as a
defence of Japanese whaling, nor as a criticism of the Australian position on whaling. Or even as evidence of the level of indignation in Japan. With a bit of luck it'll get some equally ignorant & hot-headed anti-Japanese responses from racist Australians. But I don't think it contributes
anything to the debate about whaling.
Well, its point, basically, is that Australia is hypocritical in attacking Japan for killing and eating whales (no "research" defence attempted) when we are happy to cruelly kill endangererd dingoes, and to slaughter and eat kangaroos.
It says hunting is cruel, but it is what all humans do...including us. It says vegetarianism is the environmentally best option, but that humans are naturally hunters and consumers of meat.
It shows lots of dead dingoes, and cute dingo pups.
It points out that since white invasion we have killed off more mammalian species than anywhere else in the world...(I think that is true?)
It shows joeys being plucked from their dead mothers' pouches and stomped to death, or having their brains bashed out against the rear of a shooter's ute. (They look young enough to make survival if rescued pretty dicey.)
It points out, re the horrible death argument for whales, that poisoned dingoes (the most-used method, I believe) die a slow, agonizing death. I believe this is true. (Ditto re foxes and myxy or kalecy virus ain't no fun for we bunnies, neither).
It shows a woman tucking into roo-kebab, then a Japanese woman tucking into whale meat.
It says that cultural practices and sensitivities re killing animals differ from country to country, and that Oz is acting from unexamined cultural assumptions (it doesn't say it in those words, but...)
It suggests that Oz picking on Japan for whaling, while NOT picking on ourselves, nor similarly picking on (I think) the Norwegians, (who kill not a lot less whales, it says, than the Japanese) is likely motivated by xenophobia, then goes on to say we are racist, and treat Aboriginals and Asians as second-class, pointing out that Aboriginals were not counted in the census (ie not "human") until relatively recently.
It doesn't point out Japanese racism...shrugs.
I think it makes some points that are quite valid, while being a nasty piece of work.
Thing is, I think it nicely illustrates the points that Robert was making re how Japanese can see the criticism of them for whaling, and especially the emotive nature of a lot of it.
