THERE’s a wrenching documentary that turns up on public TV now and then about Greenpeace and its mission to save the whales. Whatever you think of Greenpeace, only the hard of heart could observe this footage and not be moved. Seeing these people in their little boat, darting between whaler and whale, you can’t help admiring them and rooting for the whale to get away— which, though, he doesn’t.
Once I was watching this watery drama with some fellow conservatives who have the annoying habit of exchanging despairing looks every time the subject of my “animal friends” comes up. “Okay,” said one—launching into the usual reductio interrogation—“if whales have rights, what about minnows? Or sea horses? And what about the rights of the shrimp community. When will their cry for justice be heard?” My stirring appeal on behalf of the whale would have received a fairer hearing from the men of the Pequod.
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