Pirates... as in Argh, matey

[Greed and Death]

Sit in a tiny empty room only getting to see your lawyer once a day for two hours until you confess. 90% conviction rate.

And that's when they play nice.

Note that in Japan the right to legal counsel is quite restricted. No legal counsel during your 16 hour "interrogation". If you can't afford legal counsel, you will get 1 visit from a legal aid lawyer until trial.

When not in interrogation, you will be in a harshly lit room under observation.

And physical violence is commonly used both as part of the interrogation and as handling.

(And may whatever gods you believe in have mercy if you're a non-Japanese not fluent in the language....)

Do not sign anything, unless it is in English.

[SaintB]

I actually agree that they have gone from a group of protesters to a group of jackasses to a group of pirates (that are still jackasses).

I'm not saying that Japan isn't also at fault though, they regularly whale in waters that belong to other nations which have banned the practice.

[Daistallia 2104]

And that's when they play nice.

Note that in Japan the right to legal counsel is quite restricted. No legal counsel during your 16 hour "interrogation". If you can't afford legal counsel, you will get 1 visit from a legal aid lawyer until trial.

When not in interrogation, you will be in a harshly lit room under observation.

And physical violence is commonly used both as part of the interrogation and as handling.

(And may whatever gods you believe in have mercy if you're a non-Japanese not fluent in the language....)

Do not sign anything, unless it is in English.

Assuming one can last the 3 week detention period, even that's no guarantee, as Japanese language documents are what's official and, as implied, the translations are not to be trusted.

[Ovisterra]

Meh. It's hard to know who's in the wrong or in the right with this. I mean, on the one hand, whaling is a Bad Thing. On the other hand, so is going out and throwing things at ships and being assholes. Both are blaming the other for everything that's gone wrong. They both seem like dicks.

[Conserative Morality]

Good. I hope the bastards get what's coming to them.

[Cruciland]

Assuming that the Sea Shepards are not put down, I would recommend whaling with battleships. (or some other armed craft) For one, Japan is not in any conflicts, so they can probably afford to deploy their military right now or issue artillery to fishing trolleys. For two, it would easily deterr those ecological terrorists. For three, it would be as funny as Hell if the whaling crew nuked the whales.

[Wisconsin9]

Give 'em a tax break. It's a well known fact that increases in piracy lead to decreased levels of global warming, and we need to do something about it.

[Delator]

"The activities that Cetacean [the Japanese whalers] alleges Sea Shepherd has engaged in are clear instances of violent acts for private ends, the very embodiment of piracy."

That's odd. I thought the very embodiement of piracy was stealing cargo.

Pirates routinely took cargo without using violence, since merchant crews often didn't feel like dying to defend their cargo.

But in those instances it was only the threat of violence, and not actual acts of violence...and that totally makes them NOT pirates.

Right?

So...are the whales cargo even before they are caught??

But Japan's fisheries minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, has said whaling is part of Japan's culture and that it will never give up hunting the animals.

"So why don't we at least agree to disagree?

When the entire world says one thing, and a single nation says "nuh-uh", that singular nation does NOT get to decide when the discussion is concluded.

Not even if they are right...which is hardly the case here.

We have this culture and you don't have that culture... so I just would like to say 'please understand this is our culture'."

Does he know that a culture can be wrong??

It's shocking, I know.

[Risottia]

...
Anyway, I just want to say: good. The Japanese may be pulling a fast one (and they are), but it is not the sea shepherd's place to be ramming ships and launching projectiles.

And it's not really the US courts' place to debate about what happens in Australian waters.

Anyway, since I bet that Japanese whalers will try to continue their hunt, I foresee...

NINJA WHALERS
vs
PIRATES OF THE SOUTHERN OCEAN

This ought to make for a major geekgasm.

[Hathradic States]

They are pirates. Hang them. I'd get a laugh out of it.

[Souseiseki]

And it's not really the US courts' place to debate about what happens in Australian waters.

i just wanna say i challenge anyone to find any nation/source that isn't australia accepting they are australian waters

[Costa Alegria]

Good. Maybe the Royal Australian Navy can use that floating piece of scrap metal called the Bob Barker as target practice.

Actually, come to think of it, I'm surprised that the Japanese haven't harpooned that fat bastard Watson yet.

[Risottia]

Good. Maybe the Royal Australian Navy can use that floating piece of scrap metal called the Bob Barker as target practice.

Actually, come to think of it, I'm surprised that the Japanese haven't harpooned that fat bastard Watson yet.

Oh well, I'm sure the post-Soviet free market gives a lot of possibilities to Russian crews and officers seeking some extra money.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Good. I hope the bastards get what's coming to them.

You'd think they'd done something morally wrong from the way you're talking. And incompetent as they may be, I'm not seeing it.
I have very little sympathy for the Japanese on this. They have no reason to support whaling as they've done; it only dates back a few decades as a serious part of their culture, and nobody in Japan cares nearly as much about the issue itself as the government does. What it is is a showboat piece to show how Japan refuses to give in to Western influence on ONE issue, which just so happens to be whaling. Besides, they stopped the hunt this year anyway, as I recall.

[AiliailiA]

US courts have no more jurisdiction than Australian or Japanese ones. The most the US will do is refuse docking of Sea Shepherd ships at US ports (and none of the ships involved dock there anyway). They won't declare Sea Shepherd a "terrorist organization" and cut off their funding (even in so far as the US can do that) nor prevail upon Australia or New Zealand to deny docking rights.

A Ninth Circuit ruling just doesn't have that oomph.

Whaling is deeply unpopular in Australia (as it directly impacts their economic interests in tourism, plus the near-global opposition to killing highly intelligent animals for no reason), and also unpopular in the US and even in Japan. Australia, though a smallish military power, is enormously valuable to the US as a military ally because it is a huge land base with access to the South China Sea. Japan is also a very valuable ally, with its large economy and established military bases near to Korea. The idea that the US would throw its weight around by picking sides between those two allies is quite ridiculous.

[Dissant Machine Empire]

[The Tiger Kingdom]

(Image)

OK, I laughed.

[AiliailiA]

(Image)

OK, I laughed.

It's very old. Usually it illustrates "correlation does not mean causation" but on this subject it's just a random reference to pirates.

Take your laughs where you can get them though

[New Chalcedon]

I thought pirates were dangerous, not stupid and self righteous.

The Sea Shepard folks are all of the above.

Yes, how dare they attempt to prevent the commercial hunting of thousands of whales (most of which come from endangered species thereof) hidden under the guise of "scientific research"?

Clearly, they're a menace - unlike, you know, those Japanese whalers who systematically violate international law under the protection of their own govenrment, infringe on other nations' EEZs and laugh all the way to the bank, all the while hunting an ever-depleting animal closer to extinction.

This judge is either corrupt, or corporatist - not that there's a difference.

[New Chalcedon]

OK, I laughed.

It's very old. Usually it illustrates "correlation does not mean causation" but on this subject it's just a random reference to pirates.

Take your laughs where you can get them though

Shyeah. I have much lulz from that graph.

[AiliailiA]

The Sea Shepard folks are all of the above.

Yes, how dare they attempt to prevent the commercial hunting

It's not even commercial the way Japan does it. The whale meat sells for less than the cost of hunting whales. If we're to believe the "scientific whaling" clause of the treaty under which "Cetacean Institute" hunt whales, they're doing it for science and only sell the meat because they're obliged to by treaty.

That's not a commercial interest. It's something much dumber than that.

[New Octopucta]

Yes, how dare they attempt to prevent the commercial hunting of thousands of whales (most of which come from endangered species thereof) hidden under the guise of "scientific research"?

Clearly, they're a menace - unlike, you know, those Japanese whalers who systematically violate international law under the protection of their own govenrment, infringe on other nations' EEZs and laugh all the way to the bank, all the while hunting an ever-depleting animal closer to extinction.

This judge is either corrupt, or corporatist - not that there's a difference.

When you're trying to stop whaling by sinking the whaling ships and thereby killing the people on them, then yes you're a fucking menace. When you attack a search and rescue operation, and don't assist them after you've fucked it up, you're a menace. Not to mention how embarrassing this is to people who are really doing something to end whaling. Whaling is a bad thing, but there are right ways to go about ending it, and there are wrong ways to go about ending it. Sea Shepherds is is the wrong.

i just wanna say i challenge anyone to find any nation/source that isn't australia accepting they are australian waters

[AiliailiA]

It's very old. Usually it illustrates "correlation does not mean causation" but on this subject it's just a random reference to pirates.

Take your laughs where you can get them though

Shyeah. I have much lulz from that graph.

Aye. Ye hearty graph lay around and about for ye lols.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Yes, how dare they attempt to prevent the commercial hunting of thousands of whales (most of which come from endangered species thereof) hidden under the guise of "scientific research"?

Clearly, they're a menace - unlike, you know, those Japanese whalers who systematically violate international law under the protection of their own govenrment, infringe on other nations' EEZs and laugh all the way to the bank, all the while hunting an ever-depleting animal closer to extinction.

This judge is either corrupt, or corporatist - not that there's a difference.

When you're trying to stop whaling by sinking the whaling ships and thereby killing the people on them, then yes you're a fucking menace.

Sinking =/= killing. All of those ram/kill markings on the Sea Shepherd boats were achieved nonlethally. You ever hear of...lifeboats? Or the fact that these whaling vessels almost always sail in groups, so the likelihood of actual drowning is basically nil?
If they were trying to kill people, then they wouldn't pussyfoot around with ramming. Basic logic.

When you attack a search and rescue operation, and don't assist them after you've fucked it up, you're a menace.

Incompetence and mistaken identity don't equal piracy.

Not to mention how embarrassing this is to people who are really doing something to end whaling.

Like what? Politely asking the Japanese to stop (because that's about all anyone cares to do)? Yeah, that's worked for the last 40 years. Oh wait, it hasn't.
Sometimes, to make an omelet, you've gotta break a few eggs, and I have little sympathy for Japanese whalers massacring intelligent mammals out of some bizarre, pointless, atavistic nationalism.

Whaling is a bad thing, but there are right ways to go about ending it, and there are wrong ways to go about ending it. Sea Shepherds is is the wrong.

More like there are effective ways to go about it, and ineffective ways.
SS has done more than almost anyone else in terms of drawing attention to the issue and making it difficult for the Japanese to just brush the issue aside.

[The Serbian Empire]

Two wrongs don't make a right. That is the problem with the Sea Shepherds.