• treadful@lemmy.zip
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    3 months ago

    Everyone trying to say this is normal didn’t read the article.

    Kick recounted of the event, “Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet.”

    She concluded, “We all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out, and people on the highway were giving us the finger, but that was just normal day-to-day stuff for us.”

    There’s nothing normal here.

  • Apeman42@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we’d make meat helmets. When I was insolent, I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard, really.

  • ArbitraryValue
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    3 months ago

    It was a dead whale (and presumably rather small for a whale, although the article doesn’t specify). He wanted the skull for his anatomical collection. I think this is actually pretty cool, at least because there are biologists (as opposed to politicians) who would do this sort of thing and they’re cool people.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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      3 months ago

      He’s not a biologist, he’s a lawyer. And if cutting up a whale with a chainsaw is normal day-to-day stuff in his family… that’s pretty fucking weird.

      • ArbitraryValue
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        3 months ago

        It is quite weird but in a cool way. I mean, I collect teapots. He collects animal skulls. Which of us is more badass?

          • ArbitraryValue
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            3 months ago

            You’re telling me that a man beheading a whale with a chainsaw because he wants its skull as a trophy isn’t badass? I suppose it’s a matter of opinion and no one’s opinion is wrong, but your opinion is wrong.

            • Tyfud@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              Yeah, that’s exactly what we’re saying. It’s weird and barbaric and unnecessary.

              • ArbitraryValue
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                3 months ago

                You just say that because he’s a conservative. I bet that if Harris had a collection of severed heads, you would approve.

                • Tyfud@lemmy.world
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                  3 months ago

                  That is absolutely not true and you’re an asshole for suggesting that.

                  He’s an asshole for what he did, regardless of political affiliation. I didn’t even know he was republican before commenting.

                  But now I know, and it’s just reinforcing that world view you seemed so defensive about.

            • athairmor@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              You’re telling me that a man beheading a whale with a chainsaw because he wants its skull as a trophy isn’t badass?

              Yeah, it’s practically psychopathic. Mutilating a corpse with a tool for cutting trees for a “trophy” is fucking insane. He didn’t catch and eat the whale. He didn’t hunt and take down a monster to feed himself and his family.

              He found a washed up corpse and went and got a chainsaw to cut off its head so he could show off the skull. It’s fucking weird at best.

            • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              Your skipping the wearing plastic bags with holes cut into them over their heads with juices squirting into the car smelling absolutely rank and people all around you flicking off your children and family. Nothing badass there, just bad parenting and craziness.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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          3 months ago

          I don’t find driving to a beach with your child to carve up a dead whale with a chainsaw (is that even legal?), bungeeing it into the car and then driving down the road with “whale juice” flooding into the car to be badass, just bad parenting.

          Also, claiming to be a big environmentalist and having an animal skull collection is not the best look.

          • optissima@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            claiming to be a big environmentalist and having an animal skull collection is not the best look

            Nothing wrong with it if they were collected ethically. Would you find it odd that arborists collect tree trunk slices?

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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              3 months ago

              Is it ethical to drive down to the beach with your kid, cut off a whale’s head with a chainsaw and drive it home in your car?

              I doubt it’s even legal, let alone ethical.

              • anon6789@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                From the article:

                “Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet.”

                It does not sound legal.

                From NOAA.gov

                Can you keep a protected species part found on the beach?

                In some cases, yes, you may keep the part. You may collect and keep any bones, teeth, or ivory from a non-ESA listed marine mammal found on a beach or land within one-quarter mile of an ocean, bay, or estuary. You may not collect parts from a carcass or parts with soft tissues attached.

                Any marine mammal bones, teeth, or ivory that you collect must be identified and registered with the nearest NOAA Fisheries Regional Office. You may contact the appropriate Stranding Network Coordinator in your region for assistance. Marine mammal parts collected in this manner may not be bought or sold.

                A dead marine mammal with soft tissue is a stranded animal and you should report it to the nearest NOAA Fisheries Stranding Network Coordinator so that the animal may be sampled for scientific research purposes and properly disposed of. You may not collect parts from a stranded animal.

                Parts from ESA-listed species, including threatened or endangered species, may not be collected without a permit or other authorization.

                Edit: Great job by an environmental attorney…

              • optissima@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                That act in itself is ethically neutral.

                Why are you implying that legality has any impact on the ethics of the situation?

                • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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                  3 months ago

                  That act in itself is ethically neutral.

                  What makes you the arbiter of what is ethical?

                  Why are you implying that legality has any impact on the ethics of the situation?

                  I’m not.

                • brennesel@discuss.tchncs.de
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                  3 months ago

                  Although legality and ethics do not always coincide, they often influence each other. Many laws are based on ethical principles, such as the protection of human rights, wildlife, or the environment. They reflect a societal consensus that actions that violate these principles are both unethical and should be illegal.

                  In this case, RFK Jr. most likely violated several laws like the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA) which make it illegal to disturb, remove, or possess any part of a whale, even if it’s dead, without a permit. This is not “normal” behavior.

      • YaDownWitCPP@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        You’re not an ethicist, you’re a mod. Forming an opinion about someone else’s hobbies is…well, kinda weird.