So, with all the bleeding heart (no pun intended) backlash that has accompanied the seal hunt by Canada’s northern aboriginal population, we have a Governor General who recently supported the Inuit in a very hands-on fashion.
The E.U. has recently called for a ban on importing seal products. Which is a load of fucking crap, considering how chickens, cattle, hogs and the like are treated in the rest of the world. I’m sorry if seals are cute, but they have long provided food and clothing for the Inuit, much like bovines have provided food and clothing for most of the rest of us in the “civilized” world.
Anyway, Canada’s appointed Governor general, who is originally from Haiti and knows a thing or two about government repression and poverty, visited the community of Rankin Inlet, Nunavut and asked if she could perhaps partake in a traditional ceremony; thereby she swallowed raw seal heart she had sliced out of the fresh corpse of a seal using a traditional Inuit implement!
Good for you Michaëlle!!! And thank you for helping to protect the Inuit way of life. Before you pass judgement, take a look at the nearest chicken factory, and/or slaughterhouse: you hypocrites.
My favorite part of this whole load of crap was some twit being quoted in the newspaper all “What would the Queen think?” Um…probably the same thing most normal people are thinking, that it’s a remarkably apt way to show support for a beleaguered people.
Fuck no. they’re not endangered in any way. There’s zillions of them. The slight culling of the heard is minuscule. But, alas they are cute, and so Brigit Bardot, et al, have convinced the EU to ban any seal imports: you closed-minded jerks. Really.
Heh. I don’t do this often, but I just emailed Her Excellency thusly:
Her Excellency
the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D.
Governor General of Canada
Your Excellency,
I am absolutely astounded at your recent solidarity with Canada’s northern citizens. Your willingness to share in their way of life in spite of current global adversity is a refreshing and welcomed connection.
You have my utmost respect and admiration for this undertaking.
It’s the whole raw, bloody, ripped from a corpse thing with which I am very much not down. Fry that sucker up, smother in gravy, and I could prolly eat it.
I gotta say that we need more politicians in all countries with the moxie to do a move like that. No appointing blue ribbon study committees for me, Ill just bite right into this problem myself …
Then again, with Cheney’s shooting skillz, we might have had him pulling out the heart of some schlub that wasn’t quite dead yet.
I emailed the GG too! I think it was common courtesy to accept the offer from people to share their food.
Baby seals are cute, but the are not hunted at all anymore. Adult seals are no cuter than an adult cow, and we eat beef. They’re not a quarter as smart as pigs, and we eat pigs.
Europeans attacking the hunt of seals in Canada (while allowing “culling” in their own countries) can buy themselves a cheap good conscience-- and ignore the way their own animals are slaughtered or tortured (foie gras, making calves anemic in order to have very pale cutlets, bullfighting). At least, seals have a good life for a while.
Good for her. This ban means certain death for entire communities’ only source of outside income. (Yes, they get exceptions, but the price of pelts will plummet as it did in the '80s and their market will disappear.)
I don’t especially like this Governor General, but I admit, that was a great move on her part. And now you have anti-hunting groups condemning her for it. You know, I can sort of understand opposing the hunting of seals solely for their fur, even if I still think it should be allowed. (I think there’s too much of them anyway.) But when a community hunts seals and eats their heart, it’s safe to say that they’re not doing it for frivolous reasons.
