yes, a happy day

[Nadja Adolf]

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Cleven [mailto:ironmtn at BIGFOOT.COM]
Sent: Thursday, May 20, 1999 10:02 PM
To: CHINOOK at LINGUIST.LDC.UPENN.EDU
Subject: Re: yes, a happy day



My reaction about how the whale felt remains on point; it's not an issue of
whether or not the grey whale is still officially "endangered" (a "white"
designation, in fact) nor whether or not a return to whaling is what Neah
Bay needs to feel good about itself again.  From what I've heard both
verbally and in the non-mainstream press, the return to whaling has sharply
divided Neah Bay, but that, too, is another matter.  My reaction was to the
"it feels so good....as it should be" sentiment.  As if only people
mattered!  Native or not.  Whales don't have to be endangered for their
killing to be wrong, whether "culturally mandated" or not.

Whales aren't being endangered by this hunt.

It is now known that whales are extraordinarily intelligent, with
complicated family structures and advanced learning behaviour, and obvious
emotions and sentience - and a language and musical lore so complicated it
has yet to be deciphered, if it can be deciphered and as if "whale
consciousness" were accessible to human understanding.

All social animals have complicated family structures, advanced learning
behavior, and obvious emotions and sentience. Anyone who has ever watched
any animal from deer to coyotes to crows knows this. This in and of itself
says nothing about whether or not one should eat the animal. Or is it
squeamishness and the viewing of the whale as "like oneself", a totally
human centered view of the world?

This is why my
comment "I'm sure that's how the whale felt" is relevant - because whales
_feel_, whales _think_.  Worse yet, since the worldwide ban (more or less)
on whaling, whales in some areas (especially ours) have come to
_trust_humans_ (of all the stupid things another intelligent species might
do!).  That poor whale (yummy!) was probably accustomed to being cruised by
whale-watching boats.  Some hunt; like killing a puppy.  And hopefully you
don't have to "be white" to understand that.

Have you been on a boat near whales? They tend to move away in most places.

That the reinstitution of Makah whaling will be used (and it will) by
Norwegian and Japanese whaling interests to lift the ban on grey whales
worldwide is a further issue; why else would they have supported the Makah
cause?  It's certainly not because they are interested in native culture,
that's for sure!  And once full-scale whaling resumes (as it may), the
number of grey whales will again dwindle to "officially endangered" levels,
as if the numbers back in the sea after several decades of moratorium were
anything like what had existed before.  It's like saying - "OK, we've got
elephant poaching under control again, so let's open up the ivory trade"
(and elephants turn out to be similarly intelligent and socially complex).

Excuse me, that is a mighty big "what if" here. I doubt the IWC is going to
approve commercial harvests.

In any event, I will address you remarks about using "traditional methods."

White people no longer plow with oxen, they use tractors.
White people no longer walk places, they use cars.
Before you suggest that the Makah should use "traditional methods" to do
their hunt, I suggest that you get white people to plow with oxen and walk
to do their "traditional methods" first. I consider it very racist to demand
that other people perform as circus sideshow acts for the gratification of
others.