Seal: The Deal

An interesting story today about seal hunters & animal rights activists negotiating some kind of meeting. I don’t know what the outcome will be, whether they’ll meet or not.

The 2 groups are diametrically opposed in their world views. One group is very well-funded and armed with full-time communications professionals. The other side are rural indigenous people who hunt seals.

You hardly need a better example of a contemporary conflict. PETA is a modern creation, upholding the principle that animals should be treated ethically, which is shorthand for not eating them.

The Inuit culture pre-dates history. Government policy around culling seal herds has been set for a few generations. Controlling animal populations in the North always garners its share of political controversy.

How the 2 groups face-off will be interesting to watch. Will either gain any understanding of their opponents’ views? Or will this only be an exercise of media spin?

One advantage for the Inuit is that the story will unfold on their turf. Northern and coastal communities are usually desperately poor. City slickers from PETA telling small town folk what to do would not help their cause. When billionaire Sir Paul McCartney tried this a few years back, Newfies just scoffed at His Paulness.

If some kind of accord can be reached between these old and new world viewpoints, that might be a very welcome sign indeed. It could prove that even the most hardened political differences can be overcome.

We need to see a lot more of that.