Sunday, May 18, 2008
A Minor War
So ok. There was a minor war that began between two blogs: http://hotpinkchili.blogspot.com/
and http://cherylest.blogspot.com. What started out as simple (and let's admit it, some rude) comments about Cindy trying a terrapin soup escalated into an all out war between Cindy, her supporters (fans?) and Cheryl (unwilling to participate as she was).

The situation stands thus. Cindy tried out a terrapin product. It's not a crime but only in theory. Although some of her proponents have suggested (some quite rudely I might add) that we target the sellers of these products and to stop placing blame in the consumer, we feel the need to state once and for all that NO ONE is to blame.

Capitalism dictates that whatever can be sold SHOULD be sold even to the extent of blatant exploitation.

Consumerism, being the flip side of the same coin also dictates that whatever can be consumed SHOULD be consumed be it turtles, terrapins, their eggs or whatever wildlife can be poached.

Now, let us examine a logical argument to this dilemma.

Some (in Cindy's website) have stated that if the selling stops, demand will die out. That in and of itself is already rather inaccurate as Cindy herself pointed out and I paraphrase "people will always be curious about these things".

On the other hand, if people were to commit to a boycott of these products to begin with, the cost of obtaining these products versus its returns (if NO ONE bought these things) would ensure that the sale does not happen again. It makes no sensee to stock something that does not sell does it?

And so it comes to this.

Environmental protectionism is not a game of finger pointing. We approached Cindy because she claimed to have consumed turtle products, a fight that we've been involved in for sometime now. That was our only agenda for as far as we're concerned, Cindy is a consumer with the potential for constructive change. No more no less.

Fact. Most turtle eggs and turtle products are tried at least only once by 'curious' customers, especially the ones visiting coastatl states like Terengganu and Kelanatan. This trade in exotic food is all the more damaging than the traditional indigenous use of turtle eggs and terrapin products because let's face it, one hundred 'curious' customers can inflict more damage on a nestful of limited eggs than a family of five ever could on a regular basis.

Our plea lies thus. Everyone has battled the temptation to take dope 'jut to see what it feels like'. To the ones that have managed to overcome this temptation, do the same for turtle eggs and turtle products.

If you already do not take these things, keep up the good work and spread the good word. We need all the help that we can get and to do that, we need to work objectively without these foolish games of personalising problems.
Written at 12:39 PM by The Return.
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