So, I can't really blame people for not actually reading this article as it's paywalled, but...the headline is misleading here. Protip: you can often get past an article paywall by putting "cache:[article URL here" in your google search bar
And I know we're just goofing here. We're just clowning. And, yeah, making fun of journalists for looking like they stepped out of the 1920s is pretty funny, I say as someone who wears a tan trenchcoat to work half the time. However...maybe it's just me being oversensitive, but after the demonization of journalists in recent years, I kind of get my hackles up every time I see people online see an article they haven't actually read but think they don't like and immediately jump to going after the writer.
The headline was no doubt written to be deliberately contrarian to drive clicks by capitalizing on a hot topic. But what does the article ACTUALLY say?
In short, it's a caution against anthropomorphizing killer whales. The writer argues that there's no actual evidence that the orca who began this trend did so after trauma. Instead, he cites an expert who thinks this phenomenon is more likely a result of curiosity and an instinct to play. A juvenile may have started this behavior, and spread it to other orcas, like that time when they were all putting fish on their heads.
Now, I'm no biologist. But this makes a lot more sense to me than the vengeance narrative — from what I know about apex predators, they don't pick fights they don't know they can win.
As the article writer points out, humans have a very long history of killing and abusing orcas, and yet there has never been a recorded instance of an orca killing a human in the wild. Why would they start their vengeance now?
There's a quote that gets taken out of context from this article a lot where he calls orcas "sadistic jerks" — what people seem to miss is the context, where what he's specifically saying is this is how we WOULD have to see orcas if we judged them by human standards. And he's right! Orcas exhibit behaviors that would be morally repugnant in humans. But it's not intellectually or morally coherent to apply human ethical standards to animals. And that includes their good behaviors as well as their bad ones.
I particularly like the last part:
"In our present era of environmental catastrophe, Shields told me, it’s appealing to think that nature might fight back, that the villains get their just deserts.
But projection and anthropomorphization are only shortcuts to a shallow sympathy. Orcas really are capable of intense grief; they are also capable of tormenting seal pups as a hobby. They are intelligent, emotionally complex creatures. But they are not us."
So, in conclusion, this is an inflammatory headline, not a bad article. I would recommend reading it.
And, to editorialize a little...
It is a nice thought, isn't it? That the orcas are fighting back. That nature will rise up just like in a movie, that there's only so far that humanity can push before we get pushback from the "rightful" inhabitants of the ocean.
I think it's an attractive narrative because it absolves humanity of some responsibility. There is an entity other than us that will recognize wrongdoing, that will push back against it in a manner and intensity commensurate with what our own moral standards might approve of. It's not a fight we have to start if the orcas attack first.
But that's not true. Animals don't know what climate change is. They cannot recognize and contextualize the broader causes of their suffering. Animals are intelligent, they have emotions, they have complex inner lives...but they will never be able to meaningfully conceptualize and enact revolutionary praxis, and I think that any narrative that frames them as doing so, even jokingly, runs the risk of irresponsibly projecting our own moral frameworks onto entities that simply cannot operate under them. And that just sets us up for disappointment and science denial when we're reminded that these apex predators are also capable of great cruelty.
In conclusion: if you see an inflammatory headline, consider reading the article before posting about it. It might give you more insight into how headline writers seek attention and engagement, and how legitimately good points are often used to capitalize off of hot topics.
