Chapter 16. Whaling – Freedom of Enquiry

Summary

Most people who have been using the internet during its growth over recent years feel that it has had a liberating effect on society. Information is available to ordinary people in an unprecedented way. This means that citizens can more easily challenge views held by the managers in society. For example, patients can use the internet to find out information and challenge their doctors' opinions, or official viewpoints on environmental issues can be investigated and questioned. Whaling is a contentious issue over which different stakeholders hold widely different views. The internet offers the opportunity for an initially neutral investigator such as a bioscience student to investigate the subject. The text examines how a searcher might use the freedom given to them by the internet to arrive at an opinion.