[ RadSafe ] Marine safety and whaling

[Jess L. Addis III]

I watched as a big Japanese "research" commercial whaling vessel ran over a
protestor vessel (ecological terrorist?) and I have a question that's been
on my mind a lot lately. Yes, I am an omnivore, but:

I know this is a safety list, but soooo many things have come and gone as of
late that have stood up to scrutiny and were not strictly safety related, I
want to ask a question.

How many here think it's OK to harvest/kill/murder, whales?  Pick the word
that makes you most comfortable/uncomfortable?

Some "first world" industrialized nations that are high tech, generally very
well educated nations, the Japanese and maybe Norway come to mind, think
it's good, as in good to eat whales, to kill/harvest whales.

It has dawned on me over time that whales have huge brains, big eyes that
see very well (day or night under water or above) and their species have
been around much, much longer than bipedal primates (humans) of any stripe.
 
These mammals, air breathers,  have been on the planet and have watched the
sun and moon go up and go down and watched the night sky with all its stars
for millions of years longer than our species have, may be really "smart"
and self aware, much (just) like we humans are.  

They sing their songs and may exchange stories and pass on history to
successive generations just like we do and may have been doing it for
millions of years longer.

Most of their species didn't kill each other for any reason and make war,
much less cut hearts out and throw people down steps of pyramids and such,
to make the sun come up and make rain fall.

Just sayn'

What do ya'll think? 

I'll understand if you guys want to throw me down the steps for asking.

LA