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The Faroes

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71–80 of 107 posts

Re: The Faroes

#71
post #13
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whale hunting (and dolphin hunting) tends to come up any time the Faroes are mentioned, and I don't understand why it's such a cause celebre. I don't see how this is worse than any other form of hunting or fishing, and frankly I prefer it to most forms of animal agriculture. Industrialized whaling has done massive damage to global whale populations, but the Faroes are tiny and (to my knowledge) their hunting practice…

It's probably because a lot of people see whales and other large sea mammals (and some large land mammals) as much closer to humans than say, tuna. I'm not going to argue about whether or not that's a correct take. And yes, there are plenty of very arguable inconsistencies (eg: eating pigs and cows is okay, eating horses is not) in how people look at animal consumption, but I don't particularly think that invalidates…

>eating pigs and cows is okay, eating horses is not

This is the situation in the UK. Some people trace it back to chivalry, where horses were very expensive and mostly owned by the nobility. But I don't know if that is the real reason.

Although it turned out that British people have been eating plenty of horse. They just didn't know it:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21375594

Re: The Faroes

#72
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure how "it's okay in !" is really relevant, TBH. There are plenty of places where it's not considered okay by a significant portion of the population, so it's a pretty valid to use it as an example of an inconsistency.

Cultural bias is definitely relevant in a discussion about why people do or do not choose to hunt and/or eat specific meats.

The point of horses was an example of an inconsistency. Saying "I have a counter example" doesn't create a relevant discussion.

It doesn't make the horses example any less of an example of an inconsistency.

Edit: not only that but the whole point of me bringing up inconsistencies was to say that just because they exist doesn't mean people can't have ethical concerns about whaling (or other kinds of animal hunting / farming).

Re: The Faroes

#73
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of it has to do with how they do it. I believe a lot of other whaling operations catch and process whales at sea. In the Faroes, whales are driven into shallow water and killed near land in sight of people who aren't accustomed to such things. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45209587

Traveling to other cultures involves being exposed to seeing things you aren’t accustomed to. In many ways, that is the whole point. I’m not defending the Faroese here (nor casting aspersions on them, either), more just saying that it’s your responsibility to research the customs of the places to which you travel, and to not go if you think you might not like what you see.

It's also fine to say it's cruel as fuck.

> "The squealing from the whales was horrible. They were putting hooks on ropes in their blowholes to pull them in and then hacking at them with knives."

Re: The Faroes

#74

What strikes me immediately are the vibrant colors of the houses. Walk through most any suburban American neighborhood and you'll primarily see neutral shades of white, gray, beige, or the occasional muted blues and greens. Sometimes someone will be daring and paint their house in a deep, dark blue or purple (or even black) but that feels relatively rare. If near the ocean, typical "seaside pastels" come into view. W…

This reminds me of this place in Busan South Korea I forgot the name of

Re: The Faroes

#75

What strikes me immediately are the vibrant colors of the houses. Walk through most any suburban American neighborhood and you'll primarily see neutral shades of white, gray, beige, or the occasional muted blues and greens. Sometimes someone will be daring and paint their house in a deep, dark blue or purple (or even black) but that feels relatively rare. If near the ocean, typical "seaside pastels" come into view. W…

This reminds me of this place in Busan South Korea I forgot the name of

Gamcheon Culture Village ?

Re: The Faroes

#76
post #13
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whale hunting (and dolphin hunting) tends to come up any time the Faroes are mentioned, and I don't understand why it's such a cause celebre. I don't see how this is worse than any other form of hunting or fishing, and frankly I prefer it to most forms of animal agriculture. Industrialized whaling has done massive damage to global whale populations, but the Faroes are tiny and (to my knowledge) their hunting practice…

It's probably because a lot of people see whales and other large sea mammals (and some large land mammals) as much closer to humans than say, tuna. I'm not going to argue about whether or not that's a correct take. And yes, there are plenty of very arguable inconsistencies (eg: eating pigs and cows is okay, eating horses is not) in how people look at animal consumption, but I don't particularly think that invalidates…

Curious contrast about eating horses. My grandmother used to live in a very humble area of my hometown and I was there often. One day, when I was a kid, there was this agglomeration in the main avenue in that neighborhood: people lynched the butcher because for years he sold everyone horse meat for cow meat, and eating horse is taboo in my region of Brazil. Years later, when I moved to Switzerland I was very surprised when I first saw packaged horse meat for sale in the supermarket right next to cow meat, pork, etc.

Re: The Faroes

#77

Would've thought trying to block right-clicking on pictures died in the 90s, yet here we are. Trying to stop someone on the internet from saving pictures you've explicitly served them on your website isn't the silliest thing I can think of, but it's definitely up there.

To play devil's advocate, I can understand the mindset. People don't think in terms of servers and clients. This is more of a digital art gallery, and you wouldn't go and grab a photo off the wall at a real life art gallery.

People take photos of artworks at galleries all the time, so I'm not sure this analogy works.

Re: The Faroes

#79
Fun fact, Faroe islands have some of the highest birth rates in Europe. Above replacement! The rest of Europe should study them.

Re: The Faroes

#80
post #58

"The Faroe Islands are like the child that Denmark and Iceland had, but forgot to tell the world about. This group of eighteen small islands receives the least amount of sunshine in the world per year. Constant rain and heavy winds have always battered these lands." "Constant storms and crashing waves have sculpted the volcanic rock over millions of years into some of the most jaw-dropping (and vertigo-inducing) coas…

You can (or could, least) move to svalbard and just live there, if you like the cold and darkness.
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