In order to fully understand the whaling controversy, it is necessary to understand the history of the Makah. They were a group of Native people who hunted gray whales. As a result of their increased trade with the Europeans, the 'white man' decided to also enter this hunt for the whale. This competition between the Makah and

1999} Available: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/makahs990518.html

Available: http://www.conbio.rice.edu/nae/index.html

Dube, Jonathan. (1999, May 18) "Plenty of Meat To Go Around". {October 26,

Anderson, Peggy. (1998, November 2) "Melee during anti-whaling demonstration

Shakes both sides". {November 2, 1999}

Finally, the protesters are sending mixed messages as well. Their statements regarding this dispute can be seen as being contradictory. The protestors are using many different arguments in order to show their disgust for Makah whaling. However, they are displaying ethnocentrism in these views. Their main issue is that only the Makah have this right to whale, and not everyone else. Some protestors say that their concern is for the protection of the whale, and has nothing to do with racism as some Native people have charged. Kenny Clark, of the Oregon based Sea Defense Alliance says, "I don't see the race issue. It's about an animal people feel very passionate about and people are just angry." However, if it has nothing to do with a race issue, then one has to question the reasoning for the threats being made against the Makah. At one rally, protestors held up such signs as, "Save the whales. Kill a Makah." Also, a bomb threat was made to a local school at the Puyallup Reservation after a Puyallup canoe joined the Makah as the whale was towed to shore. This led Terre Rybovich, of the Coalition for Human Dignity to state, "One whale was killed. In response, the lives of hundreds of Indian children were threatened." Another fact that shows that the issue is not simply about the protection of the whale is the statements made concerning the possibility of the Makah beginning to sell the whales that they have successfully hunted. The protesters are trying to imply that the Makah want to whale so that they can sell commercially. They argue that one gray whale can fetch as much as one million dollars in Japan. But yet, the Makah have agreed to whale no more than 20 whales until 2002, which was 5 per year at the time of the controversy.

In conclusion, one can clearly see that the reporting of the Makah whaling controversy was ethnocentric in many ways. The language used by the media to describe the whale hunting showed bias towards the Makah and held them out to be inhumane savages. As well, the media is responsible for not providing the reader with an accurate picture of the Makah and the importance of whaling in their culture. Finally, protestors are angry that only the Makah have the right to whale, and they are displaying thi

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1757
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)