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Letter to the Editor

That the Makah killed their whale is a good thing.

They are honoring their traditions by working hard to kill an animal that they respect, that is part of their identity, that is part of their spiritual and cultural heritage.

Whales are large, powerful, spiritual animals for all of us, not just the Makah. That is why there is so much resistance to their slaughter. But why is there not more vocal and active resistance to the institutionalized slaughter of domestic animals? I know. Those animals are bred to be stupid and killed in factories, in cold blood. They are eaten without much regard for their (previous) existence as thinking, feeling beings. Meat in this country is factory food. Meat is Cheetos. Meat is Spam. Meat is Velveeta. We are numb to the meat industry if for no other reason than its sheer, juggernaut-like omnipresence.

In light of the meat industry's gross spiritual vacuum, it is rather refreshing to see a people shedding blood as part of an important spiritual tradition and exercise.

I am a vegetarian. I do not eat animal flesh. I did grow up eating meat. No one ever talked about the animals that I was eating as if they had feelings or awareness or spirituality. And I have killed animals.

But when you respectfully kill and consume an animal you care about, an animal that you revere, that has meaning for you, it is not just food for your stomach. If the animal represents your culture, your land, your past, your ancestors, your being and the being of your people, and you do so reverently, consciously, conscientiously, then, when you kill it, you are in church. When you consume it, you are taking communion.

When you eat at McDonald's, you may not know it, but you are in Hell. You are consuming anti-food, spiritless food, food that has been robbed of its ability to be spiritually nourishing by how it has been raised, treated, considered, surreptitiously slaughtered, packaged, shipped and presented. This goes for plants too. It is equally important to respect the plants we eat and see them as spiritual food as well.

The Makah need support in pursuing, celebrating, cultivating and strengthening their heritage. The Makah are not the enemy. The anti-whaling protesters are misguided in their anger and protests. The enemy is the culture of consumption, in which I too was raised, that stole this land from the Indians and is destroying our families, our forests, communities. Microsoft, McDonald's, and Wal-Mart are examples of coporate interests that are fooling us into trading convenience for justice, efficiency for family, and the generic for the local.

The Makah are not interested in commercial whaling. The Makah are interested in being Makah.The Makah are not the enemy.

The enemy is us.

Ethan J. G. Rogol

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