Quotes from Paul Watson

I’m a bit of a fan of Paul Watson. He’s the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society after all.

In particular I love how he says:

• “We’re just a conceited naked ape, but in our minds we’re some ‘divine legend’ and we see ourselves as some sort of god, thinking we can decide what will live and what will die, what will be saved and what will be destroyed, but honestly we’re just a bunch of primates out of control.”
• “You can’t rely on the Government to make any decent, social change. We’re now in the midst of a 3rd World War, but this time the enemy is ourselves, and the objective is to save the planet FROM ourselves. There’s no hope for masses of humanity to do anything – they never have, they never will. All social change comes from the passion and intervention of individuals or small groups of individuals. Slavery wasn’t ended by any government or any institution. Women got the right to vote not because of any government. The civil rights movement, the same thing. India with Mahatma Gandhi, South Africa with Nelson Mandela. Again, it’s always individuals. You need those individuals with the passion and the energy to get involved. In fact, I don’t know of any government or any institutions that are doing anything to solve any of these problems. All over the world, all I am seeing is individuals and non-government organisations that are passionately involved in protecting ecosystems and species, and that’s where I see some optimism. That’s where I see results are happening.”
• “We should be pirates of compassion hunting down, hunting down and destroying pirates of profit.”

Love him.