The Makah have their whale, as what was (depending on your point of view) either a pointless butchery or a sacred tradition last week degenereated into a media spectacle that could only be regarded as sick. It's hard to tell what denegrated the ceremony more: the overgrown Makah adolescent doing backflips off the doomed whale, the use of modern weaponry (mandated by international law), or the hovering TV choppers that relayed the whole mess to a voyeuristic white world. Time, and ceremonies, change.

The most curious aspect, though, had to be the hundreds of people who gathered in Seattle in a protest and vigil for the slain whale. What were these people thinking? The comparisons are endless. Why was this whale any more valuable, or its loss any more keenly felt, than the many thousands of mammals hunted and killed (for pure "sport," not religious tradition) in this state each year? Why, for that matter, was this crowd larger than the demonstrations that have protested NATO's butchery in Serbia? Every day, shrapnel from cluster bombs continues to impale Serb civilians because Bill Clinton isn't willing to admit he goofed, and it's more important to protest not that a whale died--if the Makah hadn't taken their allotted kill, someone else would have--but that a particular local Native tribe killed a whale. Something is terribly askew.

The most appropriate comparison, though, is last fall's execution of death row inmate Jeremy Segastegui. The Seattle vigil protesting that execution was literally cancelled due to lack of attendees. We can draw hundreds of people to a protest when a government, with yeras of careful planning executes a whale, but nobody--repeat, nobody--when our own government, with similar planning, executes a human being.

What's the lesson here? That whales are innocent, and people aren't? Are whales more valuable than humans? More valuable than humans who commit crimes? More valuable than non-white humans who commit crimes? Or is it easier to protest governments that aren't our own? Or non-white governments that aren't our own? Is it simply safer for people to protest, and media to cover the protest? (After all, there's not much of an anti-whale lobby out there.) Probably what it boils down to is that whales are cute. Indians (real ones, not the new age myths) aren't, at least not in a way that sells merchandise.

The percentage of folks protesting the whale kill because life, all life, is sacred and irreplaceable, seemed pretty small. Committed, long-term animal rights activists rightly protested the killing, but seem curiously silent on the overt racism the killings have engendered, the death threats and slurs to Makah and non-Makah alike (as though all Native Americans are responsible for, or even support, the actions of one tribal council). In turn, some of the Makah weren't exactly exuding the respect for the hunted that is such a core part of most indigenous cultures. All the way around, sides that could have taught respect, didn't. And the TV cameras rolled. What a lost opportunity.--Geov Parrish

I'll start right out. I'm against killing whales. My gut feeling is that the Makah hunt will, in the long term, prove to be counterproductive for both the Makah and the whales. I wish they had never done it. But I'm not gong to even think about protesting it. In the simplest terms, it's none of my damn business. It does happen to be Captian Paul Watson's and the Sea Shepards' business. They've spent a couple of decades making it their business. Full time animal rights activists have every right to protest this hunt. It's an expression of their culture. I wish the activists weren't conducting themselves so badly, but, it's not my business. I, like most of the folks mouthing off all over the country, have no standing. I would just shut up about the whole thing, but the recent news coverage has gotten under my skin. Outpourings of outrage from multitudes whos only specific pro-whale activsm to date is a fondness for the movie Free Willy, have awakened my need to protest. A protest against people who protest something they haven't bothered to learn the first thing about. The first law of political activism is that if you can't think of something intelligent to say, don't say anything at all.

I've been lax in my TV viewing lately, so I missed all the coverage of the blood-drenched ocean and the dying thrashes of the magnificant beast. I've had to content myself with newspapers and random discussion. Some of the things I have witnessed: A letter to the editor of one of the two Seattle dailies, the writer of which is ashamed this tribe is here. Leaving aside the question of just where this tribe should be, I wonder, is the writer equally ashamed to live in the same state as: an upscale law firm that lobbies in favor of the horrendous, near slavery conditions in the factories of the U.S. protectorate of Saipan; ashamed perhaps to live in proximity to the carcinogenic hell hole of Hanford which exists by virtue of public fraud; or even ashamed that the Makah were lawlessly dispossessed of their property and their culture criminalized? Another letter writer, who prefers a nice grilled salmon fillet with a light lemony sauce to the taste of whale, insists the Makah should be forced to eat the first whale they kill before hunting the next one. And I mean the whole whale! Ycccch! The writer most unhelpfully failed to provide a suggestion for a nice sauce to go with all that blubber. There have been calls for a boycott of the Makahs and their Neah Bay enterprises until they put their bloody traditions back in the history books where they belong. (Extra credit if you can name one single Makah enterprise available to boycott. Not going to Neah Bay doesn't count as a boycott. Most people don't go to Neah Bay as a normal course of affairs.)

The thing about all this anti-Indian Whaling outpouring is the cultural chauvanism (speaking generously), or what may be called outright racism. For goodness sake, the Makah killed a whale. A nice innocent whale, swimming about minding her own business. They stuck a harpoon in her then blasted her with a rifle. She rolled thrashing in agony. Her blood stained the sea red. She died and there was one less whale filling the ocean with magic. Truly, it is not pleasant to look at. In reality, this scene is played millions of times every day, with many different actors. Senseless wars, corporate pollution, crimminal violence, slow genocide, deforestation, indifference. Why choose the Makah upon whom to vent your spleen? There are millions of problems to choose from. The Makah are not even close to the greatest threat to the survival of whales. They happen to be on TV, but what does that mean?

If you are really interested in whales, instead of saying something stupid, stop. Go to the library, look on the Internet. Become an expert in the whole whale situation, then write your letter on the whales behalf. Senseless Indian bashing is not going to save the whales.--Troy Skeels