I just saw The Cove this weekend, and it was a very well done movie. The plot is thrilling, the animals are easy to like, and the antagonists are easy to gang up on.

However, the movie really saddens me. It’s so easy to attack someone else’s culture and habits, while avoiding your own issues. The movie derides the Japanese for saying that hunting dolphins is part of their culture - but you could easily turn that back on Americans and ask us why we torture cows, chickens, and pigs.

For every dolphin that that is killed in Japan, 365,000 chickens are slaughtered in the US every year (9,000,000,000 vs. 23,000). And I’m not saying that killing dolphins should be ignored, but you shouldn’t throw stones in a glass house. I wish the movie had been made about one of the three species we really torture here. I wish it had been closer to home.

People will get excited about this cause, support it, and change absolutely none of their personal habits. I was sitting next to someone who was appalled at the movie but will continue to eat fish, not even considering all other meat. He couldn’t see the connection. It is easy to get excited and go to Japan and be an activist - and much harder to simply reduce the quantity of meat you consume. There are celebrities involved! and beaches! There is a lot of glamour and no sacrifice required.

I’m glad dolphins are getting a champion, but who gets to draw the line between which animals are sacred and which aren’t?