Sea Shepherd v Bethune
June 9th, 2010 at 9:00 am by David FarrarThe Herald reports:
Pete Bethune has been axed from any future anti-whaling protests led by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
The move follows allegations by the Sea Shepherd that Mr Bethune had a bow and arrows aboard the Ady Gil when it sank in the Southern Ocean, following a collision with a Japanese whaling boat.
In a statement released by the Sea Shepherd, the organisation said the bow and arrows “are not in line with the Sea Shepherd’s policy”.
So Rambo Bethune has been kicked out of Sea Shepherd – rather astonishing.
It’s good to know that Sea Shepherd will at least draw the line somewhere. They happily plant limpet mines on ships and blow them up. They also happily ram ships and try to sink them. They also happily throw containers of acid at people. But a bow and arrow is a step too far it seems.
Getting thrown out of the Sea Shepherd Society for being too violent is like being thrown out of the Labour Party for being too academic!
Tags: Peter Bethune, Sea Shepherd
June 9th, 2010 at 9:11 am
Their own website paints them as far less violent and dangerous than your posts. On this matter I’m inclined to believe your posts, but perhaps that + distancing themselves from Bethune is a sign they are turning over a new leaf?
[DPF: Could be. The Wikipedia page on their operations is worth a read. Very well referenced]
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 9:13 am
Rule 1, thou shalt not develop a higher profile than the founder.
Rules 2 through 30 repeat rule 1.
The same founder who used to carry a .45?
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 9:14 am
@RRM – A better way to turn over a new leaf would be to first renonunce acts of violence, then publish a revised charter.. and then cut Bethune and others adrift.
No, I see this as a cynical (and probably futile) rear-guard action to try to stem any financial redress that many be sought by the disrespected Japanese.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 9:25 am
Maybe the feedback they have received around the traps at street parties has re-enforced the perception that Bethune is nothing much more than a criminal wth a boat.
I hope he rots in prison.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 9:26 am
Looks like the money isn’t coming in.
JC
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 9:31 am
Words fail me. What a crock of sh*t.
Great post, David. Nailed it. Terrorism: ok. Bow and arrow? Sack him.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 9:45 am
Sea Shepherd, Al-Qaeda, just a difference in cause and extent I suppose.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 9:48 am
Poor Pete Bethune. Even his mates have thrown him to the dogs. He should have chosen his friends more carefully.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 9:49 am
There will of course be an absolutely deafening silence from the MSM about all this – until the Japanese incarsarate him, at which point the MSM will ‘suddenly’ discover that the ‘usual suspects’ from the left will once- again be marching up and down Queen Street in support of one of their own – demanding his release etc, etc, etc (cue ‘Tui Moment’) and charging the NZ government with hypocricy et al; as usual. Doing so makes good news at 6 after all.
Mr Bethune is now in the unique position of having been dumped by an extermely violent ‘peaceful protest’ organisation for being ‘Too Violent’ – there can’t be too many who can claim that ‘honour’. Noticeably no-one has asked for his opinion.
As always, there are of course more ‘idiots’ waiting in the wings, all keen and niave (there always are), and has anyone seen Lucy or Keisha recently?
One wonders . . .
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 10:02 am
Quite an acheivement being kicked out of Sea Shepherd for being too violent. Best rejection since Michael Jackson got kicked out of the Seventh Day Adventists for being too weird.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 10:14 am
So powering the Ady Gil directly into the path of a hulking great ship then claiming the ship rammed him didn’t wash this time… Who would have guessed that the light agile Ady Gil was responsible for the colision….
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 10:26 am
Some of us would have (did) but hey, why let the truth get in the way of a perfectly good lie? With the MSM it works every time – and on a daily basis, especially when yopu’ve got such loverly video footage which just ‘happens’ to become available at a very convenient moment. Evidently, in the Antarctic, things ‘just fall out of the sky’ and into TV-station laps.(Must be the local climate)
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 10:33 am
I like the “Getting thrown out of the Sea Shepherd Society for being too violent is like being thrown out of ” meme.
Vote:My contributions to completing the sentence:
*like being thrown out of ACT for being unsympathetic to the disadvantaged.
*like being thrown out of the International Socialists Organization for being unemployed.
June 9th, 2010 at 10:42 am
Sorry, I do not buy it. This is classic spin to cover for some other agenda. They are cutting him adrift to avoid some other issue: perhaps they have a financial obligation to compensate him for jail time and his boat because they were both part of and under the direction of Sea Shepherd. Think American think litigation.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 10:45 am
These clowns are just trying to avoid getting sued. Smart move, but sadly shows that they have more compassion for seacows than humans. But that is not really anything new with the beardy sandalistas is it.
Vote:I have been sitting here for around ten minutes trying to squeeze out some sympathy for Bethune. I have to stop now because nothing is coming out and if I squeeze any harder I will stroke out.
June 9th, 2010 at 10:50 am
Getting thrown out of Sea Shepherd for being too violent is like being thrown out of NZ First for being too old.
The Sea Shepherd timing and reasoning seems contrived. Ulterior motives.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 10:58 am
This is like being tossed out of the SS for excesive brutality, or the greens for being too commie.
It aint fooling anyone.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 11:45 am
Mr Bethune had a bow and arrows aboard the Ady Gil when it sank in the Southern Ocean.
How did the Sea Shepherd know.. it sank… they therefore knew before hand… its hypocritical for them now to make these allegations and axe Bethune from any future anti-whaling protests led by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society because of it..
Its just a red hearing as not to be caught up in any legal costs obtained by Bethunes actions.
It would also make sense the Ady Gil would have had some form of protection aboard… after traveling around the world on the high seas.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Me thinks this might have something to do with it:
Have to feel sorry for his wife and kids, but for the idiot himself, he deserves everything that he has coming to him.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Maybe Buffoon and Paul Henry can compare notes on how to be the most gullible dickhead in the whaling debate
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Bethune fancies himself as a modern day Don Quixote ( ‘Don Quixote is a (mythical) middle-aged gentleman from the region of La Mancha in central Spain. Obsessed with the chivalrous ideals touted in books he has read, he decides to take up his lance and sword to defend the helpless and destroy the wicked’.) Instead of tilting at windmills with his sword Bethune tilts at ships with a plywood boat. A bow and arrow would be totally impractical for defending a boat; perhaps it was a crossbow.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
‘As always, there are of course more ‘idiots’ waiting in the wings, all keen and niave (there always are), and has anyone seen recently?’
Lucy or Keisha are NOT about ‘keen and niave’.
It’s called ‘cheap self promotion’.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
actually the reason we know about the arrows is that the japanese fished them out of the water – and promptly popped them on you-tube to show exactly the kind of nutjobs they were having to deal with.
But its OK, the arrows – which looked very real were *really* only to fire into whales to poison the meat. and the acid in glass bottles were only intended to shatter on the ship, but not to hit anyone, and deliberately accelerating into the path of a ship was to demonstrate just what exactly?
Oh yeah, that Pete the Pirate was hoping for a payday. Well seems like he’s got one. He is also getting a crash course in the integrity of the Seashepherd group. But I appreciate that is an oxymoron.
but hey, who gives a shit, best he enjoy his time in jail.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
“I like the “Getting thrown out of the Sea Shepherd Society for being too violent is like being thrown out of ” meme.
My contributions to completing the sentence:
*like being thrown out of ACT for being unsympathetic to the disadvantaged.
*like being thrown out of the International Socialists Organization for being unemployed.
”
I’ll play!
Vote:* like being thrown out of a law firm for being too greedy
* like being thrown out of a accounting firm for being too boring
* like being thrown out of Socialist Aoetorea for being too smelly
* like being thrown out of a casino for losing too often
* like being thrown out of Kiwiblog for being too right wing
can I get away with one more???
* like being thrown out of Canterbury for having one-eye
June 9th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
Did they just figure out he had a bow and arrow on the Ady Gil now..?
Don’t think so… Weak…
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
Poor Petey.
Maybe they have thrown him out to get him off the hook in Japan, but how does that work? The crime has already been committed – by Bethune, not the Sea Shepherd organisation as a whole. It looks more like they’re sick of paying for his legal fees. Bethune’s wasted his entire life for these dumb animals and now he’s been hung out to dry by the very people he’s bled alongside. Makes the Special Operations lot look like social workers.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
I heard that Johnny Harawira’s favourite one is:
“I’d like to be thrown out of the Maori Party for being too racist”.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 11:22 pm
By now Mr Bethune is quite possibly the loneliest, saddest man in the world. All is vanity.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
Limpet Mines?
Vote: