Recommended by Netflix, I'm sure due in no small part to my other recent viewings of food-based documentaries, like "Food, Inc." This wasn't so much about the kinds of food problems most of us face, but another kind of problem blamed on food.

Of course, you know stuff like this happens, but we let denial tell us that it isn't so. I just watched The Cove, about a fishing village in Japan that captures and slaughters thousands of dolphin (think Flipper), porpoise, and small whales every year. Arguably it's done for food, but it isn't sold as dolphin, and it's tainted with mercury anyway.

Sure, I know it's the case that fish in general are caught and slaughtered in massive numbers to feed the masses. It's probably a little inconsistent to not be as disturbed at that, but it's probably related to Flipper and how smart and cute and friendly dolphins are. Maybe also in part due to the speed at which the other fish replenish their losses.

The biggest thing that bugged me about The Cove, or rather, the fishermen they were showing, was that they were doing their best to do this slaughter without anyone else finding out. Not that they were doing an unsightly thing, but that they were doing a bad thing. They were hiding their whale massacre in a protected reserve, a kind of national park.

Further, according to the documentary, they were also selling the meat from the animals (at least they were using it, unlike the rest of the shark after they cut off the fins) packaged as other meat! A few people interviewed were unaware that dolphin were on the menu, or that they were harvested this way.

If you know you have to hide and cheat and lie to get things done...you're probably doing a bad thing and should just stop.