When I was first made aware of Amazon.com's involvement in the slaughter of porpoise, dolphin (as in bottle-nose, as in American television's "Flipper"), I was ... well ... LIVID & DISGUSTED is still an understatement. La femme was on the warpath. Amazon.com had both my tribal AND anglo blood boiling!
When I manged to stop spewing about the news to some of my colleagues about what Amazon had done, I sent Amazon a very lengthy letter voicing my anger and disgust, and let them know I would be discontinuing my Amazon Associates affiliation, would no longer promote them via book sales when writing reviews, nor would I personally purchase books, or any other commodities, from them henceforth.
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| Dolphin slaughtering in Japan promoted and endorsed by Amazon.com. |
I stayed angry and disgusted with them, even after discussing the situation with McGuyver (Jonathan Hall), who mentioned whale, dolphin and porpoise slaughter being a part of Asian culture. He wasn't making the explanation from either an offensive nor defensive perspective, he simply brought it up.
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| Japan and Amazon.com should both be so proud of themselves for turning a profit with integrity. |
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| Whale slaughter, the Faroe Islands, a self-governing dependency of Denmark. This annual practice gets an A+ in disgust from femme's desk as well. |
That aside, Jared said it was an easy thing to happen without Amazon realizing what they'd done until it was too late. A company who sells "seafood" applied to Amazon to be a seller of their products and someone at Amazon granted them the product sales agreement.
I can agree it might be something easy to miss, but it HAD to have been noticed when someone typed in "Dolphin Meat", "Whale Meat" and "Porpoise Meat" on the items list, and easily found by doing a search in the Amazon site tool bar. When I searched it, all of them popped right up. So, I can manage to be less sizzled with Amazon in considering it could have been an honest mistake, however, I'm still not convinced Amazon agreed to do it to turn a profit, make as much as they could off of it until the CIVILIZED purchasers noticed it on their website and threw a fit about it.
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| Faroe Islands, a self-governing dependence of Denmark. The annual event is considered a rite of passage for the residents to participate in, and visitors are allowed to participate as well. |
It's not only Asia on my inhumane and waste-of-good-air list. The Faroe Islands, a self-governing dependence of Denmark, and the country of Kenya are right up there on top of the list of people's who are a tragedy-walking as well. However, the Faroese peoples, Asia and Kenya are not alone in these practices. Spain, Mexico and the U.S.A. have equally as upsetting practices occurring regularly as well, and I am committed to bringing them to light in a soon-to-be-posted weblog issue.
I'm resolved to no longer promote Amazon via my book reviews, or for any of their other products. I would rather drive an hour to a shop to get what I need than order anything from Amazon ever again.
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| KENYA!! They cut out their horns and leave them to die. |
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| Kenya again .... |
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| Michael Vick and his dog. NFL - you're part of the problem. |
If the photos disgusted you (and I surely hope they did), I'll let you know, I was equally disgusted in having to post them, and sadly this is on a small part of a very large problem, and there's more coming. I just felt this was overwhelming enough for me to write and for you to read in one post.
It's easy to go about our day to day lives and ignore the tragedies that are happening around us. When we do nothing about it, we're just as guilty as those involved with it. Therefore, I'm doing what I can, with what I've got to work with, which for now, is spreading the word.
Another article of interest in regards to a facet of what I've written here was written by Rickrideshorses on Hubpages. The article is Animal Cruelty: Rhino horn poaching in Africa.
My thanks to Rick for shouting it out!
Thanks for reading, God bless, and please go make a difference.
femme
5 comments:
These pictures are NOT from Denmark, they are from the Faroe Islands, a country that is independent from Denmark since 1948, they have their own laws and their own government, their language is Faroese
Mr. Petersson,
Per wikipedia.org, the Faroe Islands are still subject to Denmark, and have not declared independence, and is still constitutionally regarded as part of the Kingdom of Denmark and are supported by financial subsidy by the Kingdom of Denmark's citizens.
Also per wikipedia.org, in 2011 a new draft of a Faroese constitution was drawn up but was declared unconstitutional by Denmark's government, also stating that if the Faroese wished to continue with it, they must declare independence from Denmark.
Per wikipedia, the Faroese populace is divided to about half-and-half, of those wanting to continue as subjects to Denmark, and those who wish independence.
Wikipedia's description states that since 1948, the Faroese have been a self-governing "dependency" under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark, and via the Nordic Counsel are also members of the Danish delegation.
This being said, I do understand and appreciate that you as a citizen of Denmark are offended, and will change the captions on the photos to reflect the Faroe Isles, as opposed directly to Denmark.
And, in regards to happenings within the confines of my own national borders, they're coming up on "femme's desk" soon.
In an email to me (which I appreciated that you took the time to write), you mentioned the native Inuit people's of Alaska, and how their similar whaling practices are protected.
That and several other barbaric methods of animal killing and maiming here will be voiced ASAP.
The references in this blog to rooster fighting and dog fighting here in the U.S. are only two issues we have happening here.
The horse racing industry has much to answer for, as well as the dog racing industry, both of which are legal and sanctioned by the U.S. government.
Past that ... ah well, Magnus, past that here in the U.S. we've got practices going on that are equally as disturbing and on a much larger scale than what is happening near your coast, and it's a sad situation.
In closing, I will say that the peoples of the Faroe Islands, nor the Inuit, sell what they catch and process outside the confines of their own people, unlike what Amazon.com did.
There's a chance my blog will not make a difference. But, there's a chance it will.
I hope it does, and I am sincere in thanking you for your input and correspondence.
femme
P.S. I don't know who dubbed you with it, but your name is awesome. :)
A very interesting read. I agree. Just because something has been a traditionally and culturally acceptable practice. Does not mean that it should continue in the light of new understanding.
We used to burn witches in the UK, we don't do that anymore. We used to have public hangings where people would bring along a picnic and make a day of it.
The point is; just because something has been the norm in the past, doesn't mean that it has to stay that way now or in the future.
I wonder how many small bookshops were 'culled' with the rise of Amazon. O I know the answer. All of them.
We are a barbaric species by nature, and cheap it seems, and you are right. Unless people with a least a clue, start making one heck of a noise. Then the barbarians will dominate.
The other inhabitants of this planet could do without humans. It is an international disgrace.
Michael
Michael,
Your comment is appreciated, and I'm in complete agreement.
This is a touchy subject with me, and I hated writing the blog. But, the more people that are aware of these atrocities occurring, perhaps the more that can be done to stop it.
It's one thing for carnivores to engage in killing for meat, but if the killing is being done in an incredibly cruel and barbaric fashion, then I have no use or respect for those who engage in it.
femme
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