What's so great about dolphins???

Nursedan said:
What would be the penalty for not being "cautious"? Perhaps one day I might learn I ate something that was close in intelligence to a human? By the way, I have no intention of eating dolphin, I'm speaking hypothetically.

In response to a previous post: I think the dolphin would be smiling even as it were being slaughtered, instead of frowning (theres a disturbing image - a frowning dolphin...) Anyway, it negates the thinking that we disagree with the killing of dolphins because they appear to smile.

By the way - this thread can end because I've got it all figured out. I'll call it the "Flipper effect". We associate dolphins with the TV show, and thus we humanize them, making it strange to kill them.
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Seems to me that you ignored the substance of the last two responses you got. You are content with your attitude of "lol people who are against killing dolphins are silly and irrational" and are only interested in having your view confirmed, not challenged.
 
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http://www.dolphindreamteam.com/
This was on my dad's bucket list. We did it in '05. It was freakin' awesome. We didn't go chasing dolphins. They came to us. They chose to interact with us. Not because we feed them, because we don't. The captain has been doing this for 20+ years and knows quite a few dolphins by sight. If you don't understand what the big deal about dolphins is you should really go spend some time with them in the wild. I think if the shoe was on the other foot, (or fin) they wouldn't eat you.
 
Nursedan said:
We associate dolphins with the TV show, and thus we humanize them, making it strange to kill them.
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Well that's not so strange. We really do kill humans too.
But you usually either go to jail, or get a medal for it.
 


See that shiny object? That's the insignia for a qualified U.S. Navy Submariner. It shows two dolphins riding the bow wake of a surfaced submarine. We call them Dolphins, and earning them is a big deal. Takes non-nukes over a year and nukes almost two years to earn the right to wear them.
That's what's so great about them!
 
Yup, smart.

It is presumed that the doliphins' intelligence correlates with a higher capacity for suffering.
 
Nursedan said:
What would be the penalty for not being "cautious"? Perhaps one day I might learn I ate something that was close in intelligence to a human? By the way, I have no intention of eating dolphin, I'm speaking hypothetically.
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Most people don't want to kill and eat fairly sentient beings. I find it odd that you don't understand this.:confused:
 
Nursedan said:
By the way - this thread can end because I've got it all figured out. I'll call it the "Flipper effect". We associate dolphins with the TV show, and thus we humanize them, making it strange to kill them.
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When was Flipper on? I'm 37 and it was before my time. I doubt it has anything to do with the attitudes of most people.

I think you are ignoring some pretty good input above.

I think the playfulness is a big part of it. Cows may be intelligent, but all they do is stand around chewing. Dolphins and chimpanzees play, which we recognize as being like us humans, and in particular like young humans. And most people have a dislike for the thought of eating young humans.
 
Nursedan said:
Who cares about dolphins? Seriously - I don't get it. The Japanese want their meat, right?
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Are you seriously unaware of the actual problem-- that there are whale and dolphin species that are being hunted to near extinction (or endangerment)? Have you ever read about what happened at Easter Island? If not, you should-- and if you don't get the relevance it can be explained to you.

Nursedan said:
Someone help me understand why I'm suppposed to specifically care about dolphins.
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No, I refuse to help you do any such thing. If you want information on the relevance on the dangers of the Japanese practices of decimating sea animal populations, no problem and it's not anything that a few Google searches can't figure out for you. I have no desire to "help" you care about anything, though, because if you lack the empathetic skill to handle such things on your own I have zero desire to chase that wild goose.
 
Ocelot said:
Odd but strangely mouth watering.
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Bender: Who wants dolphin?
Leela: Dolphin? But dolphins are intelligent.
Bender: Not this one. He blew all his money on instant lottery tickets.
Fry: OK.
Leela: Oh, OK.
Amy: That's different.
Farnsworth: Good, good.
Leela: Pass the blowhole.
Amy: Can I have a fluke?
Hermes: Hey, quit hogging the bottle-nose.
Farnsworth: Toss me the speech centre of the brain!

Farnsworth: A toast to Leela. She showed us it's wrong to eat certain things.
Fry: Hear, hear!
Bender: Let's get drunk!
Leela: Aww, thanks, guys. Pass the veal, please.

foxs_futurama-5128.jpg
 
Penn and Teller asked this very question last season.

In my opinion: it's cultural. Americans think dolphins are cute but we also think that owls symbolize intelligence whereas the Finnish think owls are dumb.
 
GreNME said:
Are you seriously unaware of the actual problem-- that there are whale and dolphin species that are being hunted to near extinction (or endangerment)? Have you ever read about what happened at Easter Island? If not, you should-- and if you don't get the relevance it can be explained to you.
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Except that the Japanese hunt Bottlenose dolphins, which are not at all endangered. Only some species of river dolphin are endangered, but these are not the kind that the Japanese hunt.

If you're concerned with extinction, their overfishing of salmon is a real problem.
 
iknownothing said:
I think the playfulness is a big part of it. Cows may be intelligent, but all they do is stand around chewing. Dolphins and chimpanzees play, which we recognize as being like us humans, and in particular like young humans. And most people have a dislike for the thought of eating young humans.
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It could be that most people have a dislike for the thought of eating young humans, but evil atheists don't. To all evil atheist forum members: Stop eating dolphins! Start eating babies again!
 
yomero said:
It could be that most people have a dislike for the thought of eating young humans, but evil atheists don't. To all evil atheist forum members: Stop eating dolphins! Start eating babies again!
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Who stopped eating babies???
 
Being on the high end of the animal intelligence scale is what pretty much keeps me averse...
 
Travis said:
Penn and Teller asked this very question last season.

In my opinion: it's cultural. Americans think dolphins are cute but we also think that owls symbolize intelligence whereas the Finnish think owls are dumb.
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And I would say that their TV show succeeded in missing the forest through the trees on a question yet again (they've done it with both recycling and global warming before), letting some hyperbole lead the way to more entertaining than informative television.

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Cavemonster said:
Except that the Japanese hunt Bottlenose dolphins, which are not at all endangered. Only some species of river dolphin are endangered, but these are not the kind that the Japanese hunt.

If you're concerned with extinction, their overfishing of salmon is a real problem.
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Actually, I am concerned about overfishing of salmon (and despite my love of the meat I rarely eat it... same with tuna).

But the dolphin issue isn't one of them being endangered now. It's that Japanese hunting practices are akin to mass culling that kills a large number (and supposedly growing larger every year). Without population growth to counter this-- and I'm not sure, but as far as I know the population growth has remained relatively the same with bottlenose dolphins-- their numbers quickly will dwindle to the point where they are endangered. Addressing the problem at that point, like is now being done with some whale species, presents a problem of limited diversity of viable parents, which bottlenecks the species.

The problem with Japanese aquatic food sources-- as was hilariously depicted in South Park-- is that they hunt to flagrant excesses. Stupid 'Sea Shepherds' complaints aside, the Japanese have been known to go over quotas for hunting aquatic species that are regulated and when pressed by the world community they claim cultural prerogative and dismiss demands for sanctions. Japan isn't the only nation who does this, but they are located in a region where they do it with more species than other nations (except possibly the US, China, and Russia, if you count land-based species).

There is a cultural tendency to identify with and anthropomorphize some species, but that doesn't discount the real concerns. People generally associate wolves with malice or aggression, but that doesn't discount the genuine concerns for keeping North American wolf species off the endangered list. (Black) Bears in North America are another example. One could go on and on with a number of species who aren't currently under an extinction threat, but can be tipped very close to it through over-zealous hunting if it were not for the existence of regulations.
 
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