Hero? More like a Zero!

I don’t know about you, but I reckon anti-whaling campaigner Peter Bethune’s wife Sharon has dodged a mighty, big bullet by finally splitting up with her nut-case husband.
It looks to me as if Bethune is going through a rather rough and sad mid-life crisis. For starters, he has a ridiculous amount of Maori tattoos covering his arms – which looks just a little too try-hard on a middle-aged, skinny, white guy.
However, instead of buying a Harley and running away with a 20-something slapper, Pete mortgaged the family home to the hilt, bought himself a silly looking boat and joined the anti-whaling movement!
I’d say Mrs Bethune is well rid!
Bethune – or Buffon as he has been dubbed in some quarters – recently returned to New Zealand after spending six months in a Japanese jail after going on trial for piracy. The anti-whaling protestor’s stint in the pokey in the land of the rising sun all stemmed from a publicity stunt that went horribly wrong.
No sooner had he got back to New Zealand, where he was met at the airport by three – that’s right only 3 – supporters and a media contingent numbering about 20, he admitted that his marriage was toast (and had been for a while), and then started whingeing about how hard done by he’d been and that the New Zealand Government had not done enough for him while he was banged up abroad.
Bethune’s whining and moaning totally ignored the fact that it was pretty obvious some serious behind the scenes deal making had been done by NZ politicians and officials with their Japanese counterparts to get this sad little man back to Godzone without spending another year or two locked up in a Tokyo prison.
Prime Minister John Key rightfully described Bethune’s petty outburst as “downright ungrateful”. Most of us thought the PM was being way too soft and reckon Bethune is a downright tosser!
Let’s recap. Back in February – under the glare of anti-whaling supporters video footage (which was then provided to compliant media outlets) – Bethune boarded a Japanese whaling vessel the Shoran Maru 2 from a jet ski in Antarctic waters. He had planned to hand over a bill for $3 million, the cost of replacing the Ady Gil, his boat that was sunk after a collision with the same Japanese ship a month earlier. Bethune had also wanted to make a citizen’s arrest of the captain of the Shoran Maru 2 for destroying the Ady Gil and the attempted murder of six crew members
Instead, Bethune was arrested by the Japanese as the final act to numerous, heated confrontations between the whalers and militant anti-whaling activists who had harassed each other in the Antarctic’s international waters all during the whaling season.
Bethune was taken back to Japan and put on trial for piracy and deported back to New Zealand after receiving a two-year suspended sentence after been convicted on five charges relating to clashes with Japanese whalers in Antarctic waters
So did Bethune’s make any difference? Not one iota. The Japs will be back hunting whales next year. And even Bethune admitted he probably has not achieved anything. “I don't regret anything about what I did, but I don't know if it's made any difference,” he told media on his return.
What a waste of time and effort! But I am delighted to discover that my view of Bethune puts me in total disagreement with loud-mouth, Maori MP Hone Harawira who says he’s a hero. Sorry John, (that’s English for Hone) but a bit like you, Bethune is a zero rather than any hero!