Are Whales Slaves?

By on October 28, 2011 in News 39

WhalesPETA is asking … Hamilton Nolan reports on Gawker:

PETA has filed a lawsuit charging SeaWorld with violating the 13th Amendment by enslaving killer whales. This could be interesting.

The scorn heaped upon this lawsuit in the court of public opinion will be roughly equal to the scorn once heaped upon the ideas of abolition and female suffrage. Somebody please have Jay Leno read some Peter Singer before he starts to discuss this news.

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  • Anonymous

    I sometimes get the feeling that PETA is a plant/straw man organization that exists solely to help discredit the animal rights movement.

  • Anti-Citizen1

    You too?
    I mean, as if anyone deep down denies the apalling nature of seaworld. But peta just makes the whole movement seem like a joke.

  • Anonymous

    These are the same people who think pet house cats are enslaved.

    ‘House’ cat… a male cat is a ‘Tom’… Hmmm…

  • The Chariot

    Yeah they train the whales for profit, but I find the bond they have with their trainers pretty cool and it gives whales a chance to live an alternative life style that is not as brutal as being wild. Like I have fish I watch them swim around for my enjoyment but I take very good care of them and they lead a nice safe life with regular feedings and predator free. I guess it depends on how they are treated and if the whales show signs on getting sick and dying faster then they would if they were in the wild. We should have a circus full of trained politicians i would totally condone that. congressmen high wire act ? oh yea. 

  • Jarel

    Result of NATO drone strikes in Libya – Warning Graphic Video

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

  • Anti-Citizen1

    Brutal? They’re orcas, once they’re full grown they have no natural predators. And it is not like they have a choice as whether or not they are there. It isn’t of their own volition that they are living in a giant aquarium.
    Go and find a copy of ‘The Cove’ and watch it.

  • JZesbaugh

    I think it’s a hilarious techincality.  Good job PETA, gets some judges rulings on the books about animal rights, slavery, and then appeal appeal appeal.  Good plan to make a better legal framework for animal rights.

  • http://buzzcoastin.posterous.com BuzzCoastin

    I sure hope PETA does another naked protest over this.
    Save the whales whatever the cost, please.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Wright/100000611481782 Michael Wright

    Perhaps, however cetations -especially dolphins like the killer whale- present a fairly strong case for sentience, about as strong as any great apes, barring the bonobo and present company. We’re dealing with creatures with the intellect of human children, while I’m not certain that the 13th amendment is a plausible sort of contention owing established definitions of personhood there really ought be a protected class for sentient non-human animals.

  • Anonymous

    You make a valid point.

  • http://hormeticminds.blogspot.com/ Chaorder Gradient

    Is this any different from a corporation training a person to rot in a deskjob? i mean at least the whales get good medical treatment and all the fish they need.

  • Monkey See Monkey Do

    Glad to hear that there are members of disinfo concerned with animal rights. In the past it has seemed like nobody on this website gave a fuck. Animal activist groups are extremely marganalized by the mainstream media which influences the general public. The meat industry has alot to lose. 
     
    “The greatness of a society and its moral progress can be judged by the way it
    treats its animals” - Gandhi.
     
    PS. For further insights i recommend researching ’Speciesism’.

  • Anonymous

    Mario sez:

    There is no better training tool than a cute face and and an iron paw in a soft glove.

    WHACK! -Fill my dish…..Whack! -scoop my poop! Thwack! Post my face all over the internet…let them know the face of their MASTER……

  • Anonymous

    Mario sez:

    There is no better training tool than a cute face and and an iron paw in a soft glove.

    WHACK! -Fill my dish…..Whack! -scoop my poop! Thwack! Post my face all over the internet…let them know the face of their MASTER……

  • Anonymous

    “ In the past it has seemed like nobody on this website gave a fuck.”

    You haven’t been paying attention, Sir Monkey…

  • Anonymous

    No laws will save the whales or anything else for that matter. Men are inherently dishonest when it comes to adherence to rules and laws. FREE WILL is the only law of men, and by it we will live and die.

  • Monkey See Monkey Do

    I suppose it was a bit of a generalization. I do pay attention Dok, sometimes i just pay too much attention to the wrong people.

    All in all I do love this site. And everything it stands for. The diversity of viewpoints prevents stagnation and mind-rust.

  • The Chariot

    I watched the cove its very sad and most of those dolphins are killed not sent to water parks. Brutal for their prey, those whales are very efficient killers. If you had to be a vampire and murder constantly to stay alive I bet you would feel some remorse. Dont take it out of context. Its an alternative life style could be worse. If they used some of their profits for the preservation of the remaining wild orcas I’m cool with keeping some in captivity for entertainment as I am reasonable and reality is complicated. Plus its not like the whale is bored all the time in the dark,they get to interact with us humans creating awareness of their value or at least their very existence to lets say a child learning about the world.  One of their remaining predators are humans just like us. Some people train gold fish to do tricks, there is your next law suit. FIsh keeping is very hard trust me, if they stay alive its because they are enjoying it. 

  • Anti-Citizen1

    That is a very asinine argument.

  • http://www.ContraControl.com/ Zenc

    It is interesting to juxtapose this PETA proposition with the intervention of the head of New York’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on behalf of an abused child (Mary Ellen Wilson). The argument (as I understand it) being that even an animal had legal protections from such abuse and so the child was legally protected that way, at a minimum.

  • The Chariot

    shut the hell up you troll you dont know everything 

  • The Chariot

    shut the hell up you troll you dont know everything 

  • The Chariot

    shut the hell up you troll you dont know everything 

  • The Chariot

    shut the hell up you troll you dont know everything 

  • The Chariot

    shut the hell up you troll you dont know everything 

  • Shaneequa Sarkozy

    “I find the bond they have with their trainers pretty cool”

    Um, orcas (and other dolphins) regularly attack, maim and even kill their trainers. The marine parks don’t like that information getting out to the public, but it happens quite frequently, like the recent one where an orca killed his trainer in front of hundreds of people at a show. They HATE the life they live, and dolphins have even been known to commit suicide before. The same goes with other captive animals in the entertainment industry, such as apes and elephants.

  • The Chariot

    like i agree with your comments most of the time but you always take it to the extreme. If it were not a corporation doing it and a small time business you would be cool with it. And if you are going to argue against some point you need to write a counter point and not be lazy. And the common saying is for a lazy counter comment is ” I could eat alphabet soup and shit out a better argument” learn how to troll son 

  • The Chariot

    yeah my fish commit suicide from time to time but the ones that live are happy. I bet they commit suicide in the wild too. 

  • The Chariot

    I doubt they hate the life they live and have you seen the way they freaken murder seal pups if fucking crazy and cruel. It always a double edge sword and im def trying to troll all your over extreme tree hugging asses 

  • The Chariot

    shit my friends try to attack me from time to time I still love them tho. They are wild animals of course they are going to attack its what they are being trained against. If you want to end sea world fine but people are going to try to keep wild animals as pets plain and simple the key is not to go over board and over budget like that dood in ohio. And im sure if some whale kills a trainer we will hear about it since that makes for some great fox news. Dolphins try to have sex with their trainers as well and some actually like it. The world is push n pull and PETA def makes money from donations and stuff its all survival only masters of the universe are able to surpase it but the secret to becoming one of them is something i can see you dont know about yet. Ride the wave bro I bet if you had a hottie that was into whales you would take her to sea world in a heart beat. Its all so funny this world 

  • Andrew

    > learn how to troll son

    You mean like you’re doing?

  • Andrew

    > shit my friends try to attack me from time to time I still love them tho.

    “All of your relationships have one thing in common…”

    > The world is push n pull and PETA def makes money from donations and
    stuff its all survival only masters of the universe are able to surpase
    it but the secret to becoming one of them is something i can see you
    dont know about yet.

    I bet you need a special magical sword.

  • Anonymous

    doesn’t he?

  • Heath

    I know I don’t everything. Like what kinda of wine would pair well with an Orca? Are they greasy like Dolphin? Perhaps a nice Merlot..

    I always thought Sea World was huge buffet of oceanic delectables. How disappointing..

  • http://www.ContraControl.com/ Zenc

    It just dawned on me that the next logical step along these lines if for Corporations to claim that they’re slaves and entitled to “live free” from the servitude of those evil oppressive stockholder.

  • Calypso

    or that a government as an incorporation of its citizens is entitled to freedom from the oppressive role of servitude to the public. 

  • Calypso

    I prefer a good nigori sake alternating with dokuro black sake.

  • Anonymous

    don’t forget the secret handshake and the decoder ring.

  • Anonymous

    why though?