Right now the annual bloodbath of dolphin hunting in Taiji, Japan is ongoing. During this archaic process dolphins and small whales are driven into a cove where some are destined to be sold to amusement parks while the rest are cruelly slaughtered en masse nearby, the screeching screams of their pod mates audible to all.

It is so senselessly cruel and unnecessary that it bewilders the more educated people everywhere - why does the government of Japan allow this to go on? There is the usual claim of indigenous rights to eat the dolphins, yet they harvest more than the village can consume…and certainly there is nothing indigenous about selling dolphins to amusement parks.

The fallback position of the Japanese always comes down to their belief that the dolphins eat too many fish, hence as man's competitors their numbers must be controlled…an almost bizarre demonstration of a lack of higher order thinking in which critical thinking, analysis, and problem solving seem to be completely lacking. Very strange, considering how otherwise cultured, educated, and modern Japan is seen to be - and search for understanding this also involves understanding that people in varying cultures become entrenched in what allowed them to survive, and in counties like Japan these skills are passed from generation to generation, and their whole outlook on the world may be different than ours.