"Norway and Japan allow commercial whaling… why pick on the Faroes because they’re small?" When Lewis asked for Faroe Islands travel tips, he didn’t expect backlash urging a boycott over their whaling traditions. Animal rights campaigner Dominic Dyer joins the debate. - ThreadSky

newsagents.bsky.social • 140 days ago

"Norway and Japan allow commercial whaling… why pick on the Faroes because they’re small?"

When Lewis asked for Faroe Islands travel tips, he didn’t expect backlash urging a boycott over their whaling traditions.

Animal rights campaigner Dominic Dyer joins the debate.

Comments

commentarydirect.bsky.social•140 days ago

Classic populist diversion. He's honeing the Faragiste technique of moving the argument away from the core point.

eddie.cloud•140 days ago

This is an excellent watch to give a better insight into what happens on the Faroe islands and their food culture.

tedstreet.bsky.social•139 days ago

In Caribbean in 80’s I watched as whale boat was blessed by priest on the beach as a kid and understood from my father the more complex relationship involved. Like so many things in world and life, it’s grey not black and white. Go and Explore the Faroe Islands and then report back on next podcast!

singletrackmark.bsky.social•140 days ago

I had to stop this episode after 15 minutes after I realised I was having to put in a lot of effort to keep listening. That’s never happened before with the podcast. I usually lap it all up. I’m not angry. Just disappointed with Lewis.

bloodangel-owens.bsky.social•140 days ago

No difference between big or Small countries cruelty is cruelty

carpevino67.bsky.social•140 days ago

Listening to your podcast about the Faroe islands and cannot understand your lack of understanding and ignorance about the barbaric practices of the Faroese.
They kill the whales and dolphins for fun. Not meat. They kill them on an industrial scale. Seriously Lewis, fuck you.

carpevino67.bsky.social•140 days ago

Whilst they question of duplicity is valid, your tone and interview style lacked any degree of understanding and any degree of compassion.
Very very disappointed

jenniferbgnk.bsky.social•140 days ago

I ate whale meat in the Faroes

cam2012.bsky.social•127 days ago

Maybe think about insects closer to home? Even vegans are effectively supporting insect extinction and ecological collapse.

And why are labour prevaricating?

biglarry2k23.bsky.social•140 days ago

That went well then @lewisgoodall.com ??

engelbert1969.bsky.social•140 days ago

I learnt enough from the Faroe Island episode to decide clearly that my decision would be not to go. Not the News Agents' finest hour in my opinion but thanks anyway

aki-sakamoto.bsky.social•134 days ago

Mr Dyer made it sound like the UK was gifting them billions when in reality the UK has been buying products at a fair price (if it wasn’t fair, the UK can buy from elsewhere around the world…right?)

thinkingalound.bsky.social•140 days ago

Snobbish, disingenuous shown no care or emotion towards the actual trauma that these sentient beings go through, just wants to berate those that actually have a spine to stand up and stand out for a cause, for being imperfect, or ya know, may have been on holiday to France.

peteravgeek.bsky.social•140 days ago

The thought experiment "where could I go on holiday if I eliminate destinations whose ethics I disagree with?" is not uninteresting. The death penalty is ineffective at deterring crime, massive levels of gun ownership also, and innocent people get executed. We know all this. It might be problematic.

thinkingalound.bsky.social•139 days ago

Yes the death penalty sucks. But the thought process behind it is, people who do heinous things should be killed, where as the thought process with the 🐋
is let’s do heinous things for fun. There incomparable, I think it was disingenuous for him to say that

jhudsy.bsky.social•140 days ago

How would a country have to act for you to refuse to go? Would you holiday in Russia? Israel? Apartheid South Africa in the 80s?

Everyone makes a choice based on their morals. Different people draw this moral line differently. Folks disagree with Lewis's line.

jhudsy.bsky.social•140 days ago

A second unexplored question is whether such boycotting actions have an effect. In the case of a small island, possibly yes. For a larger country, probably not. That's why the Faroe case is different to Norway and Japan.

jhudsy.bsky.social•140 days ago

Finally, @lewisgoodall.com didn't explain or justify how he reached the decision to go anyway, and (I think) that's what listeners most wanted to know.

stevieinselby.bsky.social•140 days ago

I'm pretty sure his reason for wanting to go was because it's a beautiful and remote place, and absolutely nothing to do with the whaling industry, that was perfectly clear from the conversation.

jhudsy.bsky.social•139 days ago

I missed that. So it's a non-issue to Lewis/he doesn't care about the topic/can't see other views.

jhudsy.bsky.social•139 days ago

It's like a carnivore, vegetarian and vegan arguing about food choice. Each has their own moral line. They may cognitively agree with each other that e.g., the vegan is doing the right thing, but can't bring themselves to care enough to change.

(for the record I'm not vegan, so guilty too)

stevieinselby.bsky.social•139 days ago

I think it's more that he was unaware of the issue beforehand. Now that he is aware of it, it's perfectly reasonable to ask why there are calls to uniquely boycott the Faroes but not other countries that have abhorrent practices. He wouldn't have done this show if he didn't care about it at all.

fcstu.bsky.social•139 days ago

6th form whataboutery, was nauseating, your attempt to seek the cover of some Oxford Union type ethical debate,shallow and inauthentic. No doubt you will soon be off to Yulin to put money in the pockets of people who blowtorch dogs. I look forward to your defence of FGM and child marriage

fcstu.bsky.social•139 days ago

It is amazing how one’s opinion of someone can change over the course of a single conversation. It is like finding out that your friend beats his wife or abuses his kids. That you can defend such pointless savagery by sine Faroese because “culture” is ludicrous, the pathetic, almost sociopathic

bella34.bsky.social•140 days ago

Maybe Lewis Goodall will realise that when people from both Twitter and Bluesky all tell him he is wrong (as he reported) he is actually wrong, but it seems not.
He has shown himself to be petulant and cloth eared.

I had thought better of him.

markhirst.bsky.social•139 days ago

I’m a fan of @thenewsagents.com & of @lewisgoodall.com but I think petulant & cloth-eared sum of this interview well. Lewis didn’t appear to listen, fell back on ‘whataboutery’ & then seemed to take pride in the idea he might be ‘cancelled’. Regardless of the issues, not the podcasts finest hour.

bella34.bsky.social•140 days ago

This was a terrible News Agent episode.
Lewis Goodall constantly talking over Dominic Dyer, making ridiculous arguments such as saying why go to America when they have the death penalty? Totally different. What did the whales and dolphins do to deserve this slaughter?
Totally petulant.

stelhel.bsky.social•140 days ago

I couldn’t listen to the whole thing. It was an awful interview. I suppose the only positive is that hopefully more people will now be aware of the horrendous practice that takes place there.

peteravgeek.bsky.social•140 days ago

I learned a lot from this exchange with @lewisgoodall.com
The job of a journalist is to give the interviewee the best opportunity to argue his case and I think he did this well.

sageofthevale.bsky.social•140 days ago

That’s a novel perspective. He strikes me as chippy, arrogant, rude and deeply biased. A small man who has been aggressively promoted through positive discrimination way beyond his abilities, a small man who doesn’t appreciate his luck. Inebriated by the exuberance of his own verbosity.

lewisgoodall.com•140 days ago

thanks!

markhirst.bsky.social•139 days ago

All the ‘whataboutery’ was weak though imo

johnhowson.bsky.social•137 days ago

My question would be is it okay to do this to a human being? If the answer is no then it’s not okay to do it a whale. Whaling is wrong wherever it occurs and I fully understand Dominic Dyer.

https://uk.whales.org/our-goals/stop-whaling/

stevieinselby.bsky.social•140 days ago

Interesting discussion. I thought DD made a good case for not going to the Faroes, but floundered badly on why we should uniquely boycott the Faroes but not any number of other countries with their own abhorrent practices. Is it just because they're small enough that we can throw our weight around?

stevieinselby.bsky.social•140 days ago

Also, great thread for picking up a load of abusive, sanctimonious twats to block.

hawksland.bsky.social•140 days ago

No comprison with Nor/Jpn. The meat isn't for sustenance. In 21C his is a "sport". The whole cultural argument is false. This act is plain cruelty, the outcome simply to kill as many whales and dolphins as possible. Barbaric, and yes I wouldn't go to the Faroes no matter how beautiful.

kamosaurus.bsky.social•140 days ago

For sustenance read profit.

hawksland.bsky.social•140 days ago

Hmm, don’t all good producers need to make a profit? Use for food is one thing, “sport” or “fun” is something else entirely

swearygrandma.bsky.social•140 days ago

Not even if the barbarians paid me, vile people

powerchicken.bsky.social•140 days ago

And you're just going to buy the argument that the meat is left to rot and isn't fully harvested for sustenance, contrary to what actual reporters who cover the topic state?

hawksland.bsky.social•139 days ago

Agree disposal info mainly conservationists so has a bias. Article contains criticisms from the chair of whalers association in terms of numbers. Faroe Islanders are wealthy, €60000 p/an average wage. No need for barbaric acts against defenceless dolphin/whale pods.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58555694

powerchicken.bsky.social•139 days ago

Let's talk about that article: In 2021, an abnormal hunt occurred in which the size of the pod was dramatically underestimated until the pod found itself onshore. A pod of such a size had never been seen before, it was an unprecedented occurrence and people frankly did not know what to do (cont)

powerchicken.bsky.social•139 days ago

The problem with unprecedented events is that it is easy to make mistakes. Once the pod had been beached, there was no unbeaching it. These animals are social creatures and won't survive on their own, if they were pushed back into they sea they would have split and most likely perished.

powerchicken.bsky.social•139 days ago

Lessons have been learned from that hunt, and future pods of such a size will be left alone. But there is still one point of contention here: All those in attendance report that all of the edible meat was harvested, despite the unprecedented size.

lindaukc.bsky.social•134 days ago

It's just cruel and unnecessary, whole families slaughtered in front of each other. Go vegan.

powerchicken.bsky.social•140 days ago

@lewisgoodall.com I am frankly disappointed in the lack of fact checking done in this interview. You've invited an activist to your show and allowed to him to make numerous outrageous claims about the Faroese people and the whaling practice and at no point asked if what he says is actually true?

powerchicken.bsky.social•140 days ago

When you allow such outrageous claims to go entirely unchallenged you've essentially given this activist exactly what he wanted, a platform to make his case without any scrutiny as to veracity of his claims, your only retorts being tangential whataboutisms.

powerchicken.bsky.social•140 days ago

The outrageous arguments being: The claim the majority of the meat is left to rot and isn't eaten, the claim the killing is just for sport (local communities leave the pods in peace if the there has been a recent hunt and there is no further need for the meat)...

powerchicken.bsky.social•140 days ago

The claim that most people don't eat whale meat (I don't know a single person here who doesn't. They exist, but they're a small minority). The claim that domestic violence is widespread here (where did that come from and why?)...

powerchicken.bsky.social•139 days ago

And lastly, the claim that the hunt is somehow anymore cruel and barbaric than any other killing for meat. The animal is herded into shore without physical contact, it is secured in place with a blunt instrument and subsequently killed with a single incision to the spinal cord, killing it instantly.

powerchicken.bsky.social•139 days ago

With all that said, enjoy your trip! The weather is likely to be shite, but our new year's events are always fun.

ianccc.bsky.social•140 days ago

Whaling central to faeroes culture and having lots of kids 🤔 i understand.

greenplanetfish.bsky.social•140 days ago

Good to have this issue highlighted and discussed. I hope that this barbaric practice is ended. 'Tradition' isn't sufficient justification for whale killing, as it isn't sufficient justification for fox hunting, bull or bear baiting, dog fighting, etc.

satiricalplanet.bsky.social•132 days ago

Ah, fox hunting—the noble tradition of chasing terrified wildlife through the countryside with hounds, horses, and just enough tweed to choke a tractor.
https://aiwillybillhuman.substack.com/p/the-great-fox-hunt-debate

untamedaggression.bsky.social•140 days ago

Lewis really comes off as a whiny child in this show, refusing to listen to what people are telling him and just constantly interrupting to shout "OTHER PLACES DO DODGY SHIT, WHY ARE PEOPLE YELLING AT ME?"

swearygrandma.bsky.social•140 days ago

The whataboutery defence 🙄

jhudsy.bsky.social•140 days ago

Whataboutism is a standard human reflex when trying to justify uncomfortable moral choices. Its a shame the self-reflection wasn't there to recognise this in the episode.

bella34.bsky.social•140 days ago

Showed him in a totally different light.
He said he was interested in the debate but refused to listen to others’ point of view by shouting over them with frankly ridiculous points.
Makes me rethink The NewsAgents.

untamedaggression.bsky.social•140 days ago

Like with the CEO shooter, he instantly goes to "SOCIAL MEDIA BAD" as opposed to "what is the issue that's causing people to react this way?"

lizking21.bsky.social•140 days ago

Just listening to Lewis - too much ‘what aboutery’ - because he wants to go on holiday & so what about the animals?
But what concerns me more is the amount of air travel all these podcasters do (not just the newsagents) for both work and pleasure. It’s obscene in this global warming time.

smithjpete.bsky.social•140 days ago

You make a very valid point about the frequent flying. Rest is Politics guys the same. Plus: many of the ads they read out themselves are ethically controversial and often in direct conflict with the ethics/morals/global issues being discussed. £££ behind these 'noble' podcasts.

dreamerb.bsky.social•140 days ago

I was sceptical about Dominic Dyer's take that the UK is "making them rich." It's not a charitable action and it's equally valid to say the Faroes are feeding the UK. Perhaps a trade deal not entered in a panic could have exerted pressure.

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