Thar she blows!

At last, I can offer you Whales, I have been saving them for years and I always knew that one day they would come in useful. In the continued absence of Dragons, there can be no better replacement than the wonderfully versatile whale.

What have Whales ever done for me?

You may well ask. But, what has Beethoven, Mozart or Lennon & McCartney ever done for you either? Yet, you regularly invite them into your life. The answer is that they brought you music. When men bring you soaring love songs and beautiful ballads they ask and receive so much in return for their offerings. Whales too offer you music; they give you their songs and ask nothing in return, they are too innocent for that. Their auditoria are the oceans, their concerts everlasting.

Pray silence, please.

Whales ask for nothing, they receive far less than that, the very opposite of what they deserve. Coughing cargo ships, spluttering ocean liners, and the cacophony of ice-breakers and seismological surveys drown out the music. Its intended audience strains to hear. The very livelihood of the singers is threatened. They live and die by their music. It brings them food, and sustains their love. We can evesdrop on the lives of these artists, yet instead we choose to destroy them. Japanese 'scientists' harvest them in 'surveys', our industry poisons them and our deafening white noise drives them mad.
With power such as ours, we could do anything. We are not yet civilised because we choose not to.

Listen and Understand.

Sunday, 7th June 1998