"If you don't know an answer, a fact, a statistic, then ... make it up on the spot." - Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd Conservation SocietyHe justifies this approach by saying that,
"for the mass-media today - the truth is irrevelant."- Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd Conservation SocietyThat's not only deceitful, but insulting to the public. Let's face it, the average person is probably too busy to spend time researching the myths and realities of the seal hunt. As well, people have shorter attention spans, so they want quick concise information. Well, a cute picture of a white coat seal pup, will save a thousand words, and make millions of dollars for animal rights groups. In the past several weeks, the McCartneys, Bridget Bardot and others have either been duped into, or have shamelessly misinformed the public about the seal hunt and Newfoundlanders. Since the word "barbaric" is used on the PETA web site, it is not surprising Heather Mills-McCartney, a PETA member, used it when describing how people conduct the hunt. I wonder if Heather was aware that the president of PETA, Ingrid Newkirk, said,
"PETA's publicity formula -- eighty percent outrage, ten percent each of celebrity and truth."- Ingrid Newkirk, President of PETA (The New Yorker, 2003) Did the McCartneys know that under Newkirk, PETA has donated tens of thousands of dollars to convicted arsonists and other violent criminals, and the extremist group ALF, Animal Liberation Front (animalscam.com)?
While PETA leaders promote animal rights, when it comes to actual human rights, they are not so sympathetic. Take for example, Dan Mathews, vice-president of PETA. In 2000, he declared his admiration for the man who shot and killed Gianni Versace.
When asked who is the most important man he loves of the 20th century, he replied, "Andrew Cunanum, because he got Versace to stop selling fur." - Dan Mathews, vice-president of PETA (December/January, 1999 issue of Genre Magazine)Paul Watson, at an animal rights convention condoned violence when he said,
"There's nothing wrong with being a terrorist as long as you win. Then you write the history."- Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
(Sierra Club board member Paul Watson, at the Animal Rights 2002 convention Watson also lied to Norwegian officials when he said his ship was rammed, when in fact video footage showed that his vessel did the ramming (High North Alliance). So before people start sending cheques to these groups, they should know who theyre dealing with.
The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (also, see CBC side link) has listed myths and realities of the seal hunt for anyone to see. It says the seal population has more than tripled since the 1970s, no subsidies are given to sealers, the hunt is both humane and efficient, and killing white coats is actually illegal. So when Bridget Bardots press conference showed video images of white coats being killed, she and the animal rights groups are depending on peoples ignorance to convey false information. It's an old method but the public may be finally seeing through this poor acting and old script. Of the $113 million in assets the Humane Society of the US has accumulated (activistcash.com), HSUS raises enough money to finance animal shelters in every single state, with money to spare, yet it does not operate a single one anywhere.
For people like Watson, Newkirk and Mathews, anything goes when it comes to getting publicity, including violence and fudging the facts. Rather than their support growing, their continued used of lies just speak of desperation. With the public exposure of the phony boycott (see the Centre for Consumer Freedom website) and other fabrications, people will think twice before supporting groups who think that the truth is irrelevant.
8 comments:
Congratulations Kodak on your new blog. Excellent premiere article, it is interesting how many in the Anti-Sealing movement rely quite successfully on deceit. Your article illustrates this very well. They speak out of the left side of their mouth and blow smoke out the right. The part I find really hard to grasp is how they find such devoted followers.
According to a recent news release (March 31, 2006 /World Wire/) by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Costco's senior management team has decided to remove seal oil capsules from their shelves.
As a society we should be outraged that two organizations, Costco, with a reported annual revenues of $51.9 billion and the SSC Society, with an annual carry over worth of $3 million would seek to ban the sale of a product which contributes to the annual income of Canadian fisherpersons who averages only $30,000 and a product (as well as other seal products) which contributes of over $16 million to a provincial economy which has a burdensome debt of $11.9 billion dollars.
So why should we care? Concessions like these to fanatical Animal Rights Organizations (ARO’s) are a step towards their professed goal of an animal free society. They seek the end to meat consumption, animals in medical research, zoological institutions and even the keeping of dogs and cats as pets.
Every time a company, such as Costco, refuses to carry a Canadian product which employs Canadians slows our economy.
As Newfoundland and Labrador’s Premier’s office stated recently: "The premier encourages shoppers to seriously consider whether they will support a company that does not support Newfoundland and Labrador"
Companies such as Costco concur to the whims of ARO’s because they fear the public embarrassment and lost revenues an ARO’s campaign could result in.
It is time to show these companies they have more to fear from the Canadian public then an ARO headquartered in Washington State.
Here’s was you can do:
1. Contact your local/regional/national Costco locations and express your disgust for their actions.
Remember correspondence need not be cordial to be effective. Contact information for your local Costco can be found here:
http://www.costco.com/Warehouse/locator.aspx?cm_re=1-_-Top_Right_Nav1-_-Top_locations
To reach the actual “senior management” who made the decision he can be contacted through:
James D. Sinegal (President, CEO, and Director Costco Wholesale Corporation)
999 Lake Dr., Issaquah, WA 98027.
Phone: 425-313-8100; Fax: 425-313-8103.
It might be timly to explain to a man who earned over $3.6 million USD in 2003 what it is like to do a provide for a family with only $30,000 CDN.
To e-mail Costco: https://www.costco.com/CustomerService/EmailUs.aspx?secure=1
Here is a toll free number to express your opinion at their expense:
General Member Service: Tel: 800-774-2678
2. Visit your local Costco location and demand a refund on your membership.
Costco has a general policy of refunding the fees for disenchanted members. If they refuse destroy your card and email us with the details. We will be compiling a list of stores which do not refund your membership fees for media release. If you destroy your card or close out your account prior to requesting a refund the membership fee will not be refunded.
3. Bring in all merchandise you have purchased at a Costco location and demand a refund.
Costco like any store has refund policies. These are not important as the protest action is more important then the actual refund. Bring in any product you remember purchasing at Costco. The products may be old, opened or even used. If a refund is refused leave the item at the location and contact us with the details.
4. Forward this entire message to as many people as you know.
Costco will only realize who has more power, the Canadian people or an American ARO, if everyone expresses their opinion on the issue.
Remember just because we shop at US stores does not mean they are not accountable to US--- Canadian consumers!
I think the seal hunt is like any other type of hunt, be it cattle, chicken, pig, etc. No killing is pretty. But seals are cute, and pristine white ice flows make a much better photo-op - really shows off the blood nicely.
I wish that celebrities would get their facts straight on this issue - I've heard so many 'statistics' lately. No matter what someone's stance on an issue is, I'll respect them if they have sought independent evidence, listened to both sides, and made an informed decision, instead of merely believing what was handed to them on a fact sheet.
I saw a press conference with Pamela Anderson yesterday, and she admitted that she's never spoken with anyone involved in the sealing industry, although she 'knows people who have'. Yet she's an international spokesperson rallying against the seal hunt. I don't think the McCartneys had spoken to sealers either, and that frustrates me. I'm sure the people who do this for a living would welcome the chance to be heard.
Speaking of... check out this poster at: www.niyc.ca/comment.php?comment.news.218
Save the Baby Veal: Avoid Cultural Prejudice
"... all cultures have a relationship to animals and ... people in southern urbanized settings should not look down their noses at people whose cultures and economies are still closely tied to the harvesting of animals in the wild"
The poster is meant to give southerners a little glimpse into what it might feel like to have their own culture and animal practices judged harshly by outsiders.
Mike, thanks for the addresses and contact information, I have sent two emails to Costco basically trying to shed light on our side of the issue. Companies like Costco are approached by groups like Watson's SSCC, and HSUS. Some of the Costco Board of Directors already have a bias since they have contributed funding to Sen. Carl Levin (behind Senate
Resolution 33 condemning the Canadian seal hunt as cruel).
This is hard to believe stuff here E.g., "As many as 42 percent of the seals studied were likely skinned while alive and conscious," the statement reads.
Obviously they were not informed of seal's swimming reflex (see myth # 2), by the animal rights groups. Or if it was mentioned, they may have said something to the effect, "The Canadian Gov. is going to tell you that this is normal ..."
Another annoying point made on the Humane Society site showing Sen. endorsement of Resolution 33, is that they continue to use the reason we in Newfoundland want the seal hunt is because it caused the cod collapse. What a stupid and misleading thing to brazenly tell the public. Here's a statement from Resolution 33 pertaining to that: "The consensus among the international scientific community is that seals are not responsible for the collapse of cod stocks,..." Part of the media manipulation at play here is to sound and look authoritative. Again, the purpose was to mislead readers that this is what Newfoundlanders blame for the cod collapse, when we have been informed that there are many factors involved. One of the factors being a chronic overfishing by European trawlers, which the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society thought trivial enough to avoid protesting it, till after the cod moratorium was in effect.
So a one-sided presentation to Costco on the "Nazi-like" atrocities will kick their emotional brain in, and shut down an objective rationality.
Costco is insulting to Newfoundland because it's decision invalidates a product manufactured here, and worse of all, bases their decision on unsubstaniated information fed to them from media manipulating SSCS people.
Skylark that picture of the baby calf is an excellent example of how animal rights groups use "cute" pictures of animals, rather than the barnyard type, to lure the public. The ironic thing about what Costco is doing by removing seal oil products, is that they are supporting groups like the Sea Shepherd Conversation Society, and others, who ultimately want places like Costco to stop selling meats, fish, and leather products like expensive couches. They are really supporting their own potential demise in the long run.
You people are quite funny. Referring to a 1985 Report - over 20 years old - to justify the commercial seal hunt of today. I'm sorry, but that's so desperately clutching at straws that it would be hilarious were not the situation so sad. I've read all the government Reports in justification of the slaughter, and if you can't see the discrepancies then I feel sorry for your chronic case of tunnel-vision.
Contrary to your opinion, there are actually some AR activists who get both sides of the story, research from every angle in order to be able to put forth a valid argument.
You accuse AR activists of not knowing what they're talking about, but I'm seeing here the same old arguments and observations that are incorrect. We're only interested in saving the "cute" animals? Slaughterhouses are just as bad? Celebrities are only in it for the money? Change the record, please.
I'm sorry if you don't like it, but we WILL stop the commercial seal slaughter. Sealers will be forced to consider and accept one of the numerous viable employment alternatives that have been suggested to them over the last 20 years. Perhaps instead of breeding generation after generation of fishermen/sealers to live in alleged poverty while working in a failing industry, they will stop claiming there are no alternatives and will accept what has been suggested to them numerous times -- there ARE alternatives to slaughtering seals for a living.
We're not looking to put anyone out of work or into bankruptcy. There have been employment alternatives suggested, none of which have even been considered by government or sealers. Research that, and you'll see that I'm right.
We don't want to save the seal at the expense of the human. There is a 'win-win' situation if you people would only consider it.
To the anonymous comment, please read my blog of Arp. 24.
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