Not looking good - click for detail. Animation here.Poor Fiji!
As per the map, we're currently between tropical depressions, and the effects of the first one have been devastating. And, it ain't over by any stretch of the imagination as the next depression may well develop into a cyclone and undoubtedly once again dump a lot more water on the already waterlogged soil in the West and in the North.
As expected, so far, we're OK - fingers crossed!
But it's bucketing down, I'm bored and cranky, so there.
A friend has sent me the link to this video, and I cite (sic) from the description.
After pouring healing Reiki energy into the appalling "fish tank" the dolphins are in The more lively of the two began to play with me. I did what I would do if I were swimming with them in the wild and played. Low and behold the dolphin who is normally lethagic and depressed suddenly joined us! This tells me she is able to be saved, if we can act now and get these beautiful dolphins better living conditions. Go to SaveJapanDolphins.org and find contacts to write to . For the Dolphins
And here's another one.
The lady is Kerry O'Brien, a Dolphin conservation activist who is part of the Taji Action Group and of Dr. Ingrid N. Visser's Whale Rescue etc.
Did you like that?
Personally, I find it creepy.
Having lived in Vava'u, Tonga, one of the Humpback viewing hotspots, I've witnessed plenty of this unholy alliance of activism and New Age, and the people who shamelessly exploit it to hawk their particular brand of quackery. I'm also appalled by all the vociferating and the energy squandered on "saving" non-endangered Cetaceans in Taji and now, the Faroe Islands whilst at the same time, the endangered Hector's/Maui, Snubfin, Vaquita and several river Dolphins are quietly being exterminated. Is that conservation?
And, maybe Kerry should not travel to Japan but do some positive visualization in her native New Zealand first?
This is why I'm alarmed by this petition by Sea Shepherd.
Irrespective of its content that shall be analyzed in a future post, it features the usual Sea Shepherd sycophants, but it also features organizations for whom I have a lot of respect.
And there's this endorsement.
"You can't save the dolphins without saving their environment, and you can't save that without saving the sharks!" - Ric O'Barry
Scary stuff.
I say, thanks but no thanks.
I for one want nothing to do with the dolphinization of the Shark conservation movement, and the media fog factory of pulled from the arse conservation misquotes of those bullshit machines.
Friends.
Too late now - but next time, look at who you're associating yourselves before lending your name and support. It elevates them but alas, it ultimately demeans you.
If it's such a worthwhile cause, maybe do your own thing and thus spread the message even further?
You know who you are - think about it, please.
4 comments:
Thou art too much the cynic, Mike.
I think these New Age dolphin huggers must be on to something. I mean, because a dolphin has a frozen smile, it just HAS to be the happy wappy, cuddly wuddly bubbly huggly cutie wootie they presume it to be and not at all the powerful, aggressive, gang-raping, rival-ramming happy-go-bitey thug they really are. I mean when did the facts ever get in the way of a good, self-serving delusion?
If you are really, really, really bored, Mike, I recommend:-
http://www.joanocean.com/
(Obviously her real name!)
Wait till you read her encounters with Sasquatch!!! Hell, the dolphins got off lightly. Poor Sasquatch, it should sue for defamation.
Oh my god
And one more video.
Paul Watson in 2008 faking being shot so he could seal the deal with Animal Planet for Whale Wars.
Watching SS suck up conservation media bandwidth and spawn clones while the rest of serious conservation takes a backseat, or is co-opted by them, is appalling to watch.
Makes you weep for metrics based conservation where goals are attainable and targets are set and knocked down one at a time.
SS clones unfortunately come with a healthy does of, "look at me ain't I grand?" narcissism that is destructive, self serving, and ultimately not effective.
Case in point the spectacular lead up to the S.A Shark Nets Campaign and it's ultimate failure.
It you watched the over-the-top video PSA's one might have thought that Julie and her clan were days away from physically removing them.
Days become months, months now years, but you can still donate to that cause.
It's no surprise that Julie is/was/remains a core SS member and grew up surrounded by people who callously treat media conservation messaging like kittens with a not-quite-dead-yet animal pulled from the outdoors and delivered onto the media stage chewed, damp, and still vaguely twitching with life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7Sz8uH0k-Q
We can do better.
We have to because this 5 year conservation hijacking attempt by small vocal group is an ongoing and unmitigated disaster with lasting negative consequences.
This is not how conservation is done, it's how people who play at conservation get it done.
The push back starts when serious minded conservationists and orgs say, "enough is enough."
I am saying enough is enough.
When your inner core as a human being is so twisted that you have to take the horrors of modern whaling and make that issue about yourself with a faked assassination video, and those around you say and do little but embrace the deception, then you have lost your way as a conservationist.
Amen brother.
That faked assassination attempt & the media circus in Antarctica did it for me a long time ago.
Thing is, Giam and the fin industry are crafty and have latched on to the bullshit those people continue to spout, making all of us look like a bunch of loons in the process.
It really is terribly frustrating when the worst setbacks are directly attributable to the very people who are the most vocal in claiming that they are "saving" Sharks - incidentally, much like in the continued Whale fiasco where I'm personally convinced that Japan would have long abandoned its financially ruinous whaling were it not for the continued provocations of Watson & Co.
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