Where I Call Out the EU Over Canadian Seals

How odd is it, that our Governor General has sparked controversy by eating some raw meat.  Oh but wait, wasn’t just any old meat, it was seal meat.  To me, this isn’t even news.  It’s the GG doing the whole ceremonial thing with the Inuit locals.  But to the EU, this would seem to be on par with the Holocaust.

Dickie Arbiter, the former press secretary to the Queen, said this:

I find what she’s done extraordinary to comprehend… Her role is largely ceremonial and what she does in the political arena is really on the advice of the prime minister and the ministers. And to start cutting up a seal and eating it is sort of making a political statement and not what one expects a Governor General to do.

This whole EU seal ban completely mystifies me.  PETA mystifies me.  Paul McCartney mystifies me.  And the reason I am mystified by these people is because they’ve taken on a political cause for seemingly no other reason than:

seals have cute faces.

People need to get a grip on reality here.  Seals are animals and animals are food.  Does anyone really think that hunting deer, slaughtering pigs or catching fish is any less cruel?  There is no scientific reason to think otherwise, though I’m sure some bought and paid for scientists will tell me that fish don’t feel pain because their brains are too small, or some bullshit like that.  Ever seen how a fish hops around on the line after it gets the hook in its mouth?  Tell me that’s not painful.  But none of these hypocrites care because fish aren’t cute.

Let’s change one word in that quotation above to demonstrate how absurd it is.

I find what she’s done extraordinary to comprehend… Her role is largely ceremonial and what she does in the political arena is really on the advice of the prime minister and the ministers. And to start cutting up a fish and eating it is sort of making a political statement and not what one expects a Governor General to do.

Do you suppose any European official would bat an eyelash if a Governor General ate down some raw fish?  Even though Canada is constantly at odds with Europe over fishing?  I doubt it.  You would also think the tree-huggers would love sealing because it is a low impact, sustainable, ‘green’ industry.  But the cuteness of the seal trumps everything, including politics, science, environmentalism and reason.

I have another theory.  My theory is that most people in the EU don’t really give a shit about seals and neither does the EU leadership, but but they do give a shit about having something to believe in.  The leadership doesn’t want the public to know they have no idea what they are doing, and the public don’t want to think about the growing social and economic problems in Europe the leadership can’t solve.  One of the easiest ways to deal with something like this is to pick a cause that has nothing to do with you and go after it.  That way it looks like you are doing something useful, when in fact, you are not.  The seal is perfect.  Everyone thinks they are cute, no one in Europe sees them as useful, and the best part is you can collectively blame Canada, which is not in Europe (and therefore not like us).  Blaming Canada is also convenient because when it comes to trade issues Canada is too small to fight back in a way that might piss off EU voters.

The hypocrisy is ridiculous.  Billions of animals a year are killed in Europe to fuel the society there.  It makes no sense to me that seals are somehow special, unless all you care about is the cuteness.  If that is the case, may I be so bold as to suggest there are way more important things to worry about than cute, fuzzy-wuzzy little seals.