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Essays on the captivity of killer whales
Blackfish analysis
Blackfish analysis
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SeaWorld claims that Blackfish’s rhetoric is “false and misleading” because it lacks “a shred of scientific support.” But if SeaWorld has dealt the scientific evidence card, then there are plenty of holes within its game play. One of the first claims that SeaWorld makes is that Blackfish’s information is dated. There is validity to that claim: after all, Blackfish relies on trainers who had their heyday in the 1990s. Yet SeaWorld’s scientific evidence is equally dated. SeaWorld backs many of its claims with a paper written in 1998 by Dr. Ingrid Visser. Dr. Ingrid Visser, whose work was cited without her permission, has since decried SeaWorld’s use of her paper in its rebuttal. Dr. Visser is also an outspoken opponent of killer whale captivity. …show more content…
For example, Dr. Visser was an active participant in the effort to release Morgan, an orca situated at Loro Parque, into the wild. But this information does not deter SeaWorld from citing Dr. Visser’s paper four times, which is more than any other paper mentioned in the rebuttal. SeaWorld’s rhetoric is thus weakened by its own hypocrisy. Not only is SeaWorld’s scientific evidence dated, but it is also shuffled around to serve SeaWorld’s purposes. However, this shuffling comes at the expense of scientific honesty. Take the claim that “the most recent study on life expectancy of southern resident killer whales is that females live between 30 and 46 years...” SeaWorld cites Dr. Visser’s paper as evidence for this claim. In doing so, SeaWorld incriminates itself of stacking the cards in its own favor. The paper states that an “estimated 93% of females that matured (past adolescence) would have survived to 40.5 years old.” This means that female killer whales do not live between 30 and 46 years old in the wild--the majority survives well past 40. In addition, Dr. Visser’s paper hails from the late 20th Century. It is not, in any way, ‘the most recent study.’ But SeaWorld provides more evidence for this statement. Yet once again, this evidence--a website called Orcahome.com-- is as flimsy as a house of cards. Orcahome.com has no navigable interface, let alone credible contributors from the scientific community. SeaWorld’s entire science-centered argument is built more on sleight-of-the-hand tricks than hard data.
Blackfish utilizes testimonials from scientific authorities to attack SeaWorld’s treatment of its killer whales. According to Blackfish, SeaWorld is guilty of two major offenses: separating mother and calf pairs, and creating conditions that increase whale-on-whale violence. Rather than address these scientific truths, SeaWorld diverts attention away from them. To combat the accusation of cruelty surrounding mother-calf separations, SeaWorld takes many actions. SeaWorld criticizes the scientists behind the testimonies and the footage used. But it never addresses the fact that mother-calf separations are unnatural. In fact, Dr. Visser’s paper explicitly states that mothers and calves do not leave each other’s sides in the wild. This is another prime example of SeaWorld’s affinity for …show more content…
bluffing. Blackfish also states that SeaWorld’s whale habitats are so lacking in stimulation that the whales turn to violence. Once again, Blackfish fortifies its claims with expert testimonies. SeaWorld’s rebuttal is that “This implication is false. There is scientific documentation of whale-on-whale orca aggression in the wild.” However, Blackfish’s implication is that violence occurs less often in the wild, not never at all. SeaWorld again presents carefully worded scientific data to divert attention away from damning evidence. SeaWorld claims that Blackfish’s rhetoric is shaky because its science is shaky.
However, SeaWorld’s rhetoric attacks the scientists and trainers within the film more than the data. One of SeaWorld’s central targets is Dr. Lori Marino. SeaWorld presents its trump card with the statement that “the film portrays Marino’s statement as if it is the opinion of the scientific community. The Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research recently published a paper that discusses the history of this very issue. Killer whales in captivity have an excellent standard of living and have access to food and state of the art medical care." Once again, SeaWorld’s wording is key to its rhetoric. By wording this phrase in a specific order, SeaWorld infers that the Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research paper supports killer whale captivity. However, this is not the case. The paper states that “we are barely catering for the high cognitive skills of of marine mammals." It does not fully advocate the captivity or release of marine
mammals. Although SeaWorld’s rhetoric is flawed in some areas, it is effective in others. Blackfish has been dealt a better hand simply because it is a film, which is a far more palatable and marketable medium than written text. But SeaWorld combats this disadvantage through the use of clear, bold language and simple sentences. For example, SeaWorld begins many of its claims with a straightforward “This is false.” SeaWorld’s choice of loaded language also provides a clear contrast with Blackfish’s. Where Blackfish is hesitant and opaque, SeaWorld’s rebuttal is surefooted and clear. SeaWorld attempts to deconstruct Blackfish’s rhetoric in methodic and clear steps.
Blackfish is a 2013 documentary, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, about the captive orca, Tilikum. The documentary chronicles Tilikum’s life in captivity while examining the conditions that SeaWorld’s orcas live under. Cowperthwaite argues that SeaWorld mistreats their Orcas and intentionally misinforms both their employees and the general public. Rhetorical analysis reveals that Cowperthwaite uses emotional appeals and juxtaposition to sway the viewer to her perspective.
The tone during the whole plot of in Brave New World changes when advancing throughout the plot, but it often contains a dark and satiric aspect. Since the novel was originally planned to be written as a satire, the tone is ironic and sarcastic. Huxley's sarcastic tone is most noticeable in the conversations between characters. For instance, when the director was educating the students about the past history, he states that "most facts about the past do sound incredible (Huxley 45)." Through the exaggeration of words in the statement of the director, Huxley's sarcastic tone obviously is portrayed. As a result of this, the satirical tone puts the mood to be carefree.
The trainers, along with Cowperthwaite, believe having them in a captivity like SeaWorld is inhumane. I agree with this documentary, Blackfish. This documentary gave a perfect visual representation of why I do not like having animals in a cage or in a small area. Having animals captive, working hard, and hardly fed is wrong, especially when only allowing them in a small area to roam. Watching this documentary made me feel sympathy towards these poor animals that must go through this harsh life style.
Among the many things that individuals enjoy doing with their families, visiting amusement parks is at the top of the list. Sea World is a multi-billion dollar chain of marine animal parks, aquariums, and animal theme parks. (Wikipedia) When people are watching the rehearsed performances that the animals and the trainers do, the animals and the trainers seem to be happy. Witnessing the interaction between the animals and the trainers can remind individuals of the beauty of nature and it serves as entertainment.
The bubbling pool of acid: Acidification most disastrous event in the history of our planet
An authority figure or experts are people who have a high standard of knowledge in a certain subject, or a very well known in their expertise. By using an authority figure or an expert the audience feels like they know what they are talking about, therefore they believe what they have to say. Examples of authority figures or experts used in this documentary include OSHA expert witness and whale researcher Dave Duffus, Howard Garrett an Orca researcher, and Lori Marino a Neuroscientist. In this film these experts express their concern for the Orca species, and explain the things that SeaWorld failed to educate their trainers. For example, SeaWorld trainers were taught that an Orcas life span reaches a maximum of approximately 14 years, when in reality, Orcas have human life spans, which means they can potentially pass at the ripe age of 100. Not only that, but they were taught that it is natural and common for Orca dorsal fins to bend, when in reality only 1% of Orcas have a bent dorsal fin. This information was passed on to visitors of
In the book Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer wrote about Christopher McCandless, a nature lover in search for independence, in a mysterious and hopeful experience. Even though Krakauer tells us McCandless was going to die from the beginning, he still gave him a chance for survival. As a reader I wanted McCandless to survive. In Into the Wild, Krakauer gave McCandless a unique perspective. He was a smart and unique person that wanted to be completely free from society. Krakauer included comments from people that said McCandless was crazy, and his death was his own mistake. However, Krakauer is able to make him seem like a brave person. The connections between other hikers and himself helped in the explanation of McCandless’s rational actions. Krakauer is able to make McCandless look like a normal person, but unique from this generation. In order for Krakauer to make Christopher McCandless not look like a crazy person, but a special person, I will analyze the persuading style that Krakauer used in Into the Wild that made us believe McCandless was a regular young adult.
The whales are usually pregnant for 15 to 17 months; but having young every 2 to 6 years. In captivity about 163 orcas have died. As well as about 30 miscarried or stillborn calves (“10 Things…”). SeaWorld force breeds the orca’s. They do this by having the animal lye on its back while they masturbate it. The people take the sample and put it inside of a female (“The Fate of…”). They do this to make the numbers of orca’s they are capturing to go down. In all actuality they are making things worse. They have inbred these animals. They don’t know what it could do to the baby inside of the mother. It could come out with some type of deformation, and the wiring in their brains could become
Hosseini’s purpose of writing the Kite Runner was to teach the readers the different ethnic groups in Afghanistan. The main character, Amir, is a Pashtun and Pashtuns are Sunni Muslims, then there are Hazara’s that the Pashtuns do not get along with. Hazara’s are not welcomed by the Pashtuns because they are different social classes.
“You hear her just scream out, ‘somebody help me!’ It was such a bloodcurdling scream. She knew she was going to die,” commented John Hargrove, a former SeaWorld trainer. There has been 21 attacks on humans by killer whales in the last 10 years. SeaWorld was associated with 12 of them. In 2013 SeaWorld was worth $2.5 billion, they would do anything to protect their business. They target adults and teenagers; or anyone who can pay. The purpose of the Blackfish documentary was made to inform people how wrong it is what SeaWorld is doing. Animals in captivity do not live as long and depending on the animal there is more complications. Seaworld is an unacceptable place to live, for orcas and any other animal. They do not have animals’ best interests in mind.
Blackfish is a 2013 documentary attempting to elevate public awareness regarding the orca that are being kept in maritime amusement parks, specifically SeaWorld, and the inherent danger of their captivity. The film is effective because it raises a set of important ethical questions for the viewer while presenting with a necessary fact-based style of documentation that does not evoke gratuitous scenes of abuse in order to inspire sympathy, unlike some of the other films that are intended to raise awareness about animal abuse.
"Blackfish" might not make an airtight case against training wild animals for our enjoyment, but it very convincingly argues that those animals remain what they are, no matter how SeaWorld or any other corporation invested in presenting them as cuddly attractions tries to say otherwise.
Yet these people do not stop to consider what is going on behind the scenes when they are watching the dolphins and whales swim and dive through the water with their trainers. If one were to approach a trainer and ask about the abuse that these animals suffer every day in order for them to perform their shows and tricks, the trainer would say that it is an educational and necessary aspect to keep the animals in captivity. They would also defend these abusive acts by speaking of the information they are gaining of the animals and how they can use this information to help those in the wild. This is due to their own ignorance that they would say such terrible things about these intelligent yet helpless animals. These animals endure much more torture in captivity than most people would like to admit to themselves. Furthermore, the “facts” that the trainers tell the visitors of SeaWorld are untrue. For example, as one sees in the movie Blackfish, the trainers do not give accurate facts regarding life span in and out of captivity as well as the percentage of the collapsed fins
Every year eight million tons of plastic trash end up in the ocean (National Geographic), and every year little is done to stop the destruction of this resource. As trash continues to pour into what happens to be the most relied on resource, humans continue to stand idle and witness the atrocity. While it has become evident that many are not aware of this issue, or simply do not care, organizations such as “Surfrider” have taken on the tedious task of bringing this travesty to attention of others. Surfrider is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and preserving oceans around the world. As part of their campaign, Surfrider published a strong and effective advertisement in hopes of convincing viewers to halt the destruction of the ocean. This advertisement effectively utilizes various rhetorical devices such as imagery to provoke pathos, an anaphora, and
To demonstrate this point, Stayer discussed the show about sharks. And saying that there is a huge misconception in America and sharks do not attack humans. In other words, Sea World says that sharks are friends not fiends, and that the fishermen are the true evildoers. Indeed this very characteristic view of a person who anthropomorphize an animal. Because there is so much objective evidence to support the notion that sharks like any living thing will eat almost anything digestible in order to survive and that includes humans leads any coherent person to realize that Sea World is unserviceable information to make a