THE end justifies the means.
It's a mantra rogues and fanatics have lived by throughout history.
It is an attitude that has allowed totalitarian regimes,
dictators and other monsters to justify all manner of crimes.
And it is an attitude adopted by organisations like Sea
Shepherd in more modern times.
These self-appointed guardians, who were elected
by nobody and are beholden to no one, put the safety of themselves and others at risk by behaving in a manner that is possibly illegal, and definitely dangerous.
Don't worry, though, they are doing it for your, my and
everyone else's benefit, even though they never actually
asked us.
The truth is, the end can never justify the means. Ever.
Because, the moment someone rejects the difference between right and wrong behaviour, they invalidate any claim of moral superiority. And they've opened the door to using any immoral tactic because ''the end justifies the means''. Rant over.
Well, not quite.
Sometimes, occasionally, despite their arrogance,
recklessness and myopic morality, fanatics actually do
some good - often by accident but sometimes intentionally.
Which brings us to the Southern Ocean and whaling.
The Japanese crews on board boats like the Shonan
Maru 2 are quite literally only going about their business
and doing their jobs. And who wouldn't get a bit antsy if
some self-righteous hippy were to put themselves, and
possibly you and your work colleagues, at risk in a hostile environment because they believe their morality is superior to yours?
Does that make changing course and ramming some
sinister black stealth ship, that looks like a prop from an '80s James Bond film, justified? Of course not.
Does it make it understandable, though? You bet.
At least part of this argument about whaling is
about cultural arrogance.
Australian values - including my own - hold that eating
whales is immoral, but eating other animals isn't.
There is justification for this view. Whales are demonstrably more intelligent than cattle or tuna, and a good deal rarer too.
But we can't assume that every other culture should
conform to our values. If the Japanese want to hunt whales in their own waters for ''scientific purposes'' (read: lunch), then telling them they can't seems a tad bigotted.
However, the rash actions of Sea Shepherd have highlighted this whaling is not occuring in Japanese waters.
It is occuring in Australian territorial waters.
And we have every right, as a sovereign nation, to tell the Japanese whalers to bugger off if they break our laws (or international ones).
Sea Shepherd has highlighted how feeble Australia is at policing its own borders.
It shouldn't be up to an unelected bunch of do-goods
to shadow whalers violating Australian waters. It should be the Australian Government and the Royal Australian
Navy.
All this doesn't justify Sea Shepherd's tactics. But the end may yet be to the benefit of Australia and whale-kind alike.This time anyway. You know I'm right about
this.
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