Canada’s Seal Hunt Recommences This Week
rhet-o-ric [ret-er-ik] — the art of influencing the thought and conduct of an audience; the undue use of exaggeration or display; bombast.
Questions of animal welfare often come down to a war of words between industry or government, and animal rights groups. The battle takes place in the media, and the media don’t always do enough to cut through the rhetoric on both sides and tell the story that lies behind the words.
I’ve been calling myself an animal welfare activist for about six years now, and as a writer — and particularly as a writer for young people — I think it’s part of my job to be as informed as possible about the issues I’m addressing. For me, that often means being able to hold two or more viewpoints in my mind at once, so that I can write about an issue fairly, and not make my readers’ minds up for them. That has led to looking deeper into things like zoos, hunting and meat-eating in order to be able to see more clearly, and speak or write more truthfully.
The Canadian seal hunt is a situation that can polarize people like few others, and is so controversial and emotional that many otherwise rational and compassionate people prefer to ignore it. The 2007 hunt commenced this week, and as someone who has responded passionately to it in the past, I decided I wanted to say something about it here.
But in digging in to do a little research, I discovered a site that is so articulate and so balanced that I’ve decided the best thing I can do is direct you there. Canada’s broadcaster should be commended for giving this issue space, and the journalist(s) who assembled the piece congratulated for giving fair voice to all sides.
To learn about the issues involved in Canada’s seal hunt, start here: The Atlantic Seal Hunt - FAQs. And then keep going. Dig deeper. And once you know what your opinion is, learn something new, and question it again.
Postscript: In a strange twist of fate/cause-and-effect, global warming is causing the ice floes to break up earlier than usual, setting seal pups adrift at sea. The pups cannot yet swim, and are drowning. Hunters may not meet their quota of 270,000 seals for 2007, because there may not be that many left to kill.