The Japanese Whalers are immoral and deserve the Sea Shepherds' actions.

========== For those of you who do not know what my opponent is talking about. .. He is talking about the TV show on Animal Planet entitled Whale Wars. Official Website: . http://animal.discovery.com... Wikipedia Page: . http://en.wikipedia.org... ========== "Now My value for this round will be Harmonious Nature. Harmonious nature is the paramount value because without it our world where we are all ocnnected ceases to exist and we all die. The Affirmation is the only side that can achieve this because stating that the Japanese whalers are moral is stating that whaling itself is moral and this would not lead to Harmonious nature. My Value Criterion is Just action. Just action is the paramount Value Criterions because without just action we cannot achieve morality and without having morality nothing separates us from the animals. " ---I googled "Harmonious Nature" and found nothing useful about it. Nonetheless, I believe you overstated the significance of Harmonious Nature by saying ". .. without it our world where we are all ocnnected ceases to exist and we all die. " We clearly wouldn't die and I'm not sure what you meant by the first part. Also, further explain ". .. and without having morality nothing separates us from the animals. " I'm not sure what you mean. I don't really get the whole above quoted paragraph. Further explanation is necesarry. ========== REBUTTALS: "The Sea Shepherds target the deck and simply make it more uncomfortable while the Japanese whalers have been known to target people and have shot Paul Watson and thrown flash grenades at the Sea Shepherds. " >This is self-defense. The Whalers are getting attacked and simply defending themselves. >Take into account this analogy: If an intruder comes into your home with a knife, you will obviously want to defend yourself. A weapon the homeowner may choose is a gun. A gun is clearly more powerful than a knife, but the action is just. >If anything, the Sea Shepherds are acting immorally here. "Whales are the gentle giants of the sea the Japanese whalers are destroying innocence which is no way moral. " >This contention is void. It is backed up in no way whatsoever. "They are taking advantage on a Law stating that they can only whale in the name of science and no more than 1000 whales can die a year. They kill about 950 to avoid legal issues. " >Since when is acting within the law immoral? I applaud the whalers for acting legally and morally. "However the Law also states that none of the whale may be wasted. Thus they ship and pack the extra meat to sell to the market without using it for science. " >Another unwarranted claim. >The Japanese use the whales for research and science. (1) ========== CONTENTIONS: 1) Humans have always eaten and exploited animals. -Ever since humans (homo sapiens) have walked the Earth, we have been exploiting animals for personal gain. Hunting and farming both involve exploitations of animals and we have been doing these things forever. Since exploitation of animals is in our DNA, whaling is morally acceptable. 2) Animals have no rights. -Rights are something created by humans, not animals. Reason and free will is essential to rights. Animals do not have reason and free will. Therefore, they have no rights. 3) Animals harm each other anyway. Thus, whaling is just nature playing its course. -Humans are essentially animal. So, for an animal such as a human to do harm to another animal is simply nature. 4) Whaling reduces overpopulation. -The whalers mainly go after minke whales. Minke whales are overpopulated (2). The whalers are doing a favor by making the oceans more wide open for other organisms. 5) Whaling is fun for the whalers. -Fun is morally acceptable. ========== SOURCES: (1) . http://www.icrwhale.org... (2) . http://animal.discovery.com...