South park
"Whale Whores" is a South Park episode about a real show called "Whale Wars". This episode is about japanese whaling and the fact that they do not care about any sea creature. "As savejapandolphins.org puts it: in the small fishing village of Taiji, entire school of dolphin are driven into a hidden cove after a prolonged case. Once trapped inside The Cove, the fishermen kill the dolphins, slashing their throats with knives or stabbing them with spears. The water turns red with their blood, and the air fills with their screams" (Ramsey Isler, 2009).
After Stans acknowledge the existence of these japanese groups, he tries to involve Eric Cartman on this issue to then do something about it. Since Cartman is the kind of person who despise tree huggers (environmentalists), only Stan decides to join a crew that defends these species and tries to stop the perturbant and inhuman actions from the japanese, which leader is Paul Watson an environmental activist.
Paul Watson's crew is based on the reality series called Deadliest Catch. At first they have some encounters where they win over the japanese, stoping the whaling for some time. Afterwards Cartman and Kenny decide to join the crew supported by the argument that they just want to save whales when on the contrary, they do not care for them, they only want to appear on T.V. By then the Japanese air force decide to launch kamikaze attacks on them where everyone is killed except for Stan, Cartman and Kenny, so they are captured, brought to Japan and imprisoned. Then they met Emperor Akihito which tells them the first motive for Japan's whaling is because of Hiroshima's bombing and shows the trio a picture of a dolphin and a whale being in charge of the Enola Gay aeroplane which started the attack.
Knowing the image is fake, Stan decides to change the story claiming that the U.S authorized him to show the truth and gets a picture of a cow and a chicken in charge of the aeroplane. The Japanese apologize and stop with the whaling acts but instead they start killing animals in farms. The episode concludes with the message, that now the Japanese are "normal, like us."
Movie: The Cove
Is a documental focused on showing people how dolphins are being inhumanly treated by fisherman in Taiji, Japan, to then take actions against it and stop the acts. A crew of activists, film makers and free divers is recruited to find "the cove", get evidence of it and finally demonstrate the truth. The cove is a place where fisherman bring a pod of dolphins and while some of them are sold to water parks and aquariums such as Sea World the rest are brutally killed with harpoons leaving a huge blood stain which is later washed by the sea.
"The world outlawed commercial whaling in 1986 and yet, dolphin hunts remain legal because the members of the International Whaling Commission have not agreed to protect so-called small cetaceans" (dosomething.org, 2011). Some fishermen said it was a tradition but when people was asked about such traditions, they were unaware about it and did not agree with the idea of killing dolphins just for their meat. Another question was if they would eat dolphin meat, the answer most people gave was no, which is the contrary as the fishermen's statement. Dolphin's meat is not healthy because of the high mercury concentration it has, reason why it is not sell on supermarkets; at least not tagged as what it actually is. It is also sold at an extremely low price and it has been decreased even more.
Personal opinion
The link between the movie and the show is obviously, the topic of Japanese whaling and dolphin killing. It shows how wrong it is and there is not a good reason to keep doing it. Japan is a wealthy country which citizens do not live of dolphin killing, for some people in Taiji it might be different but it can be changed, they could just stop and find another source of income, such as farming.
In South Park, Cartman is the guy who lies to the world for fame, like in many cases. In The Cove, although is a movie which won numerous awards such as the Academy Award, and now many of the actors there gained recognition (just as Cartman's egoist desire) they did it for the purpose of opening people's eyes (just as Stan's idea). The fact that they South Park episode finished by saying "now they are normal like us" referring to the Japanese means that eating cows, pigs, chickens and the most consumed meat is fine. Is alright to kill them because as human beings, we need that protein but we do not need dolphin's meat in any way.
I think it is fine to eat cows, pigs and chicken because there is farming for it. I would stop if I could find a better way to keep getting the proteins but the most natural is that one. Also dolphins are known for being so intelligent they can actually help people, they enjoy the interaction with them, mostly with children with special needs.
It is against nature to kill animals such as those, its no longer about tradition and culture, it's about respect for the nature. The massacre that has been on for many years must stop, and I'm not only talking about dolphins now, I'm referring to all the species that the human being erasing from earth. We all made the planet, we should have the same rights, people do not need animal fur in their wardrobe or the head of them in the walls. If you NEED it, to survive then go ahead because animals would do the same but if we do not NEED them, why should we do it? If a piece of paper is more important to you than your integrity as a respectful individual, then it's a shame you were shaped that way. The world is slowly dying now, mostly thanks to people with that kind of thinking.
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