Join
Team Orca!
by C.A. Matthews
It’s
not every day
that warming oceans and the detrimental effects they cause
make
the news in
four
separate,
but not
unrelated stories.
One
would hope that a warming
ocean
would be as relaxing and therapeutic as a warm bath, but
unfortunately this isn’t the case. Warming oceans can
generate
more and
more intense storms
on land—higher winds, more outbreaks
of larger tornadoes,
more flooding.
They
can also cause more havoc in the oceans themselves, generating
more
hurricanes and
typhoons, as
well as practically boiling
microscopic food sources that many
aquatic
lifeforms rely
upon for life, and these lifeforms,
in turn, provide
food for
even larger lifeforms that
prey on them.
To
put it bluntly, warming oceans means we all
are up Shit Creek without a paddle. Warming
oceans are yet another component of the climate catastrophe caused by
too many greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.
But
what
can we do? We’re addicted to fossil fuels to run our power grids.
We
adore our gasoline-guzzling vehicles.
Huge Big Oil lobbyist groups promote
the interests
of the fossil fuel industry to keep
the best politicians that money can buy in
charge and
in their pockets.
We the
poor and unconnected are screwed.
We
could
become
extinct before you know it.
Luckily
for us bipedal, land-dwelling types, the Earth is full of other
intelligent species to
take our place on top of the food chain.
Unfortunately
for them,
most
of
these
intelligent species
dwell in the oceans, our
climate changing
warming oceans.
One
of the most intelligent creatures on our
benighted planet is
the
orca.
Orcas are the largest member of the dolphin family. These
beautiful sea mammals were once labeled killer whales
because they can hunt down and consume other sea creatures much
larger than themselves,
including giant
squids and
full-grown
whales.
Orcas, not us, are probably the most successful mammal on Earth.
They’ve been around in their evolved state for 6 million
years and
have no known predator. Except humankind,
that is.
You
might
remember
how adorable the famous orca “Shamu” was, as
pictured on
SeaWorld
posters. Why don’t we see these majestic beasts in aquatic theme
parks anymore? If you guessed it was because orcas have actually
lived up to their former name of killer whale when it came to
occasionally hurting and killing their human zookeepers, you’d be
right.
Highly social creatures,
orcas being forced to live by themselves in tiny swimming pools and
made
to
jump through hoops
in order to
entertain crowds really started to piss them off.
You can’t blame the orcas
for acting out.
Would you like being jammed into a fish pond and kept away from your
family members?
Of course they
got violent in
order to
express their anger and
frustration at
their
imprisonment.
Wouldn’t
you?
In
other words, orcas aren’t a creature to ignore or whose actions
should ever
be
taken lightly. We
can learn a lot from them.
Recently,
orcas have been observed
aggressively attacking
yachts—and
sinking them—around
the Strait of Gibraltar off
the coast of Spain. They
did so as
a gang in
a well-orchestrated
attack. It was deliberate. The orcas knew what they were doing and
probably what could happen to the humans onboard the sinking yachts.
Orcas
hang out together in pods, which are family groups of
50 or more orcas run
by a grandmother, and they are highly
capable
of communicating behaviors with each other and with other pods of
orcas. Scientists have always been fascinated at how quickly orcas do
communicate with each other and with other pods and
how multiple pods can join together to form an even larger army of orcas.
What’s
even more fascinating
is that orcas from
far distant pods are actually imitating the yacht ramming behaviors
that were noted in the warm waters of the Mediterranean. Uh-oh.
They’ve
attacked yachts in the North Atlantic as well.
Could
the heating up of our oceans be driving the orcas crazy? Could
the overcrowded sea lanes
be a problem? Could humanity's
blatant
disregard
of
the health of the very
waters that ultimately
sustain us
all
act
like a
poison
to orcas?
Is
over-fishing depleting other species that
orcas
depend upon for sustenance?
It’s
possible. Already
the dwindling numbers of wild
salmon
in the
Pacific
Northwest have seen orca numbers diminishing in the
area as well.But
orcas
are a
very
adaptable species—they
live in every ocean
of
the Earth,
from the North Atlantic down to the Antarctic Ocean and across the
wide and woolly Pacific Ocean. You’d think a smart animal like an
orca would do just like humans do when climate
change
causes the place they call home to be less than hospitable to live
in. They’d migrate to a better place.
And
here comes the third story of life on the warming oceans I promised.
Migrants
of the human variety cannot simply move themselves from their
war-torn and/or
climate-ravished homelands and cross oceans to find a new home and
make a new life for
themselves
in another part of the world. No,
there are other humans who don’t want these climate and/or war
refugees crossing
oceans
to
live in the same country with them. US mainstream media pundits
and
more than a few politicians label these climate/war
refugees
“illegals” and “hordes” and
“unwanteds”.
We are told to fear them and treat them as inferiors, ignore them and send them away.
Homeless
migrants
are
not welcome anywhere in
the European
Union apparently,
either. Only
104 people have been rescued from a boat that carried an estimated
750 refugees after it capsized on June 13 in the open sea near the
coastal town of Pylos. Hundreds
of lives were
lost,
mostly children and their
families,
when the
boat didn’t
make it to shore in Greece and the surrounding Coast Guard operations couldn't have cared less about rescuing them.
This
isn’t the first capsizing of a ship full of human beings trying to
escape terror that was denied a safe port in Europe. Over 23,000
refugees have drowned or gone missing while trying to reach European
shores between 2014 to 2022, but
the
real number is
probably
much higher. No
one is keeping
records of how many people embark on these deadly journeys in the
first place. (Working
as an advocate with immigrants in the US, I can’t say it’s any
better when climate/war/cartel
violence refugees
try to cross our
borders to find a
safe haven here. Read The
Unwelcoming Society to see
how Americans sometime treat strangers and others.)
Orcas
and human beings
trying
to escape dangerous situations have
something in common—they’re not wanted by the status quo. Those
with money and power don’t care if they continue to pollute our
oceans and rage war to
make
their
obscene profits.
The billionaires/oligarchs
simply don’t care if orcas and poor
people looking for safety
suffer or die, which
leads to my last story related
to
oceans.
In
case you’ve been living under a rock, a “tourist submarine” (I
never knew there was such a thing before)
imploded and killed a handful of billionaires who wanted
to view the wreck
of the Titanic
in the cold
depths of the
North Atlantic. These
super-wealthy persons (who
each
could
afford a $250,000 ticket)
were engaged
in “tragedy
tourism.” They
wanted to go beneath the waves and ogle the ocean graves of hundreds
of poor immigrants, unfortunate
working class human beings
who
were
stuck
in the lower decks and
drowned in the sinking of the Titanic.
The
horrible loss
of life
happened
because
the rich passengers
were given first pick of the seats
on the inadequate
number of lifeboats onboard. Only
those
who could afford first class tickets
were considered worth saving apparently.
This
tourist
submarine
story was
repeatedly broadcast on mainstream media outlets
every
night and day for a week.
(Check
out Lee and Eleanor’s video for their excellent analysis of this story.) The
salaciousness of
the taxpayer-funded rescue operation was
built up
for maximum effect
in order to divert
attention away from several other embarrassing news
stories
that
came out this past week. It was used as a
distraction to keep the working classes from thinking about just how
horrible the fate of other workers can be at times.
Do
you recall hearing much about the hundreds of human beings
drowning
off the coast of Greece? Did you know that US Supreme Court says it's okay for cops to not read you your rights and to keep innocent people in jail? How deep Biden family corruption goes? No, you probably didn't hear anything about it.
Perhaps
the
worst tragedy is that propagandized viewers
will never realize how they were manipulated not to see the
inhumanity
of our treatment of refugees
and the corruption
happening in US because of the celebrity rich dying in such
a
novel way.
At
$250,000 a pop, billionaires
must
really
love
looking at
drowned
working
class people’s
remains and their personal effects lying on the ocean’s floor. In another hundred years or so, billionaires
will
be taking tourist submarine rides to go down and ogle the corpses
of the
migrant
children
lying off the coast of Greece, right?
The
Earth
doesn’t
need more
billionaires
and their sycophants.
The
Earth can certainly do without the
Big Oil lobbyists and
their ilk,
causing global climate change and ocean warming. We don’t need more
sociopaths
staring at our corpses and giggling over how silly we were to
attempt migrating
to safer lands that
don’t really exist.
We
the
workers, the wage slaves,
are the people who make things and grow food and clean toilets—what is it that
billionaires actually do
to make the world a better
place for all? Nothing.
This
is where the orcas in their family pods ramming yachts have the right
idea. The
orcas aren’t taking shit from
the bourgeoisie
class
that causes the most pollution on the planet any
longer.
And
neither
should we. (Read
The
Average Billionaire
for data on
just
how
much these
super-wealthy persons
pollute.)The
workers of the world need to form pods or groups and get out
there and “ram” the “yachts” or
“tourist submarines” or
whatever else billionaires flaunt as symbols
of how they oppress
us and dominate
all
useful discourse in
our
world to the point of environmental collapse. Workers’
pods could
communicate to other pods about
what
ways they
found the most effective to
“sink the yachts” just like the orcas in
their pods
are doing.
We
the
workers no longer need
to put up with these billionaires'
contempt and ill-treatment of
us.
We need to swim in formation and save our oceans
and our
homes
before it’s too late. Will
you join me? Will
you become
like the
orca, a majestic sea mammal who doesn’t put up with shit from
anybody?
Welcome
to Team Orca! We're glad to have you onboard. Let's get to work.
Related articles and other interesting links:
Orcas are ramming yachts off the Spanish coast – is the whale world rising up? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/25/orcas-ramming-yachts-spanish-whale-behaviour-trauma-humans
Orca rams into yacht off Shetland in first such incident in northern waters https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/21/orca-rams-yacht-off-shetland-first-such-incident-northern-waters
Orcas have sunk 3 boats in Europe and appear to be teaching others to do the same. But why? https://www.livescience.com/animals/orcas/orcas-have-sunk-3-boats-in-europe-and-appear-to-be-teaching-others-to-do-the-same-but-why
Shipwreck in Pylos. Open Letter by Over 180 Human Rights Organizations https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/22/shipwreck-in-pylos-open-letter-by-over-180-human-rights-organizations/
The Mediterranean Shipwreck Tragedy Was an Outcome of Militarism https://truthout.org/articles/the-mediterranean-shipwreck-tragedy-was-an-outcome-of-militarism
Missing Sub Gets 100X More Coverage Than Drowning Refugees https://youtu.be/Y0XxGHOUpIw
Two episodes at sea: The submersible Titan and hundreds of refugees drowned in the Mediterranean https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/06/22/ilqz-j22.html
Brutal Heat and Storms Grip Southern States and Mexico on First Day of Summer https://truthout.org/articles/brutal-heat-and-storms-grip-southern-states-and-mexico-on-first-day-of-summer/
The Pacific Northwest’s Deadly 2021 Heat Wave Fuels a New Lawsuit Against Big Oil https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/24/the-pacific-northwests-deadly-2021-heat-wave-fuels-a-new-lawsuit-against-big-oil/
El Niรฑo Is About to Accelerate the Global Climate Crisis. It’s Time for Action. https://truthout.org/articles/el-nino-is-about-to-accelerate-the-global-climate-crisis-its-time-for-action/
The Irony Of World Refugee Day: Celebrating, Then Blaming The Victims https://popularresistance.org/the-irony-of-world-refugee-day-celebrating-then-blaming-the-victims/
Mediterranean Migrant Shipwreck Reveals Cost of Cruel European Asylum Policies https://truthout.org/articles/mediterranean-migrant-shipwreck-reveals-cost-of-cruel-european-asylum-policies/
Supreme Court rules out suing police for Miranda violations https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna35012
East Coast Wildfires Put Incarcerated People on Frontlines of Climate Crisis https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/20/east-coast-wildfires-put-incarcerated-people-on-frontlines-of-climate-crisis/
Biden’s Asylum Policy Continues Tradition of US Cruelty to Haitians https://truthout.org/articles/bidens-asylum-policy-continues-tradition-of-us-cruelty-to-haitians/
Merrick Garland STUNNED By Investigation RESULTS (clip) https://youtu.be/H78mfJK34uA
Cornel West TACKLES Liberal & Conservative MEDIA (clip) https://youtu.be/hdh98yKyVeg
Lithium Nevada Lawsuit Aims To Stop Praying At Sacred Site
https://popularresistance.org/lithium-nevada-lawsuit-aims-to-stop-praying-at-sacred-site/
Debunked: Media falsely claims China is building spy base in Cuba
https://geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com/p/media-china-cuba-spy-base
Biden’s Refusal to Demand Accountability for Israeli Army Killings Is an Open Farce https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/22/bidens-refusal-to-demand-accountability-for-israeli-army-killings-is-an-open-farce/
The Unlimited Campaign Spending by Corporations and Billionaires Has Destroyed Democracy https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/22/the-unlimited-campaign-spending-by-corporations-and-billionaires-has-destroyed-democracy/
The Elite War on Free Thought
https://www.racket.news/p/the-elite-war-on-free-thoughtPastor Fined for Feeding and Housing the Homeless https://youtu.be/OOzByUAsSBQ
The Average Billionaire https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-average-billionaire.html
The Unwelcoming Society https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-unwelcoming-society.html
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