Journalists love the Exploding Whale

This is just further proof that journalists can’t get enough of the Exploding Whale. When there’s nothing else to write about, they can always rely on the old “EW” to meet their deadline.

Peter O’Neill, a writer for the Timaru Herald which is located in the South Canterbury region of New Zealand, recently wrote an article titled, “I just don’t get the great fascination with whales.” The article basically contains a lot of aimless ramblings about whales. Here are a few excerpts so you know what I mean:

We obviously like whales. And when I say “we”, I mean everyone except the Japanese and me.

I don’t think [whales] are particularly pretty or even graceful. I mean, meerkats are cute, monkeys are clever, cheetahs are classy and albatross are graceful, but whales are … blobs.

Maybe the [stranded] orca had sclerosis of the liver. Maybe it was a promiscuous whale with a sexually transmitted disease and had just been kicked out of its pod.

With such inane commentary, O’Neill obviously needed a strong closer. Enter the Exploding Whale:

The other story comes from Florence, Lane County, Oregon, the United States of America. A whale beached itself there and died, and the locals were pondering how to dispose of it in the nicest possible manner.

So they decided to blow it up.

With dynamite.

With 20 cases of dynamite.

He goes on to explain the entire incident and then offers a tongue-in-cheek explanation for why you would never want to watch the video yourself:

This, of course, is not in the least bit funny, so you will not be interested to know it can be viewed by going to www.youtube.com and typing in “Exploding whale”.

In fact, if you did go off and watch it, there would be something wrong with you, wouldn’t there?

And that’s how O’Neill’s article ends. Personally, I failed to see any real point to it other than to fill blank space in the Timaru Herald. But I guess it stands as yet another example of the enduring nature of the Exploding Whale.