Well, the heroic anti-whaling activists of the Sea Shepherd (and stars of Animal Planet’s “Whale Wars”) have made the headlines once again. This time they claim the Japanese rammed their speed boat, the Ady Gil, in an “unprovoked attack,” breaking it in half.

Given that former Greenpeacer Paul Watson’s express purpose in tailing the Japanese whaling fleet through the Southern Ocean is to harass them, I highly doubt the attack was unprovoked.

Still, there’s nothing like some high seas dog fighting to make good television. I’ve got to hand it to the programming execs at Animal Planet who came up with this — they knew what they were doing. All they needed to do is add some camera crews to Paul Watson’s entourage, and then sit back and watch as all hell broke loose.

You can forget about any substantive argument for or against whaling, because that’s not what Watson, his crew, or the show is about. And that’s what’s most disappointing about the whole thing. Here are people glued to the TV set watching a show about a meaningless battle over a few minke whales in the Southern Ocean. Meanwhile our oceans are being polluted and acidified, and humans are gobbling up its fish (not whales) at an unprecedented rate.

I wonder what goes on in Paul Watson’s head, I really do — probably something akin to whatever went through Richard Heene’s before he launched a helium-filled flying saucer into the sky over Colorado and pretended his son was inside it. Regardless, I’m waving the white flag. It’s clear the media loves a diva, and they’ve found a worthy one in Watson.

To be fair, the Japanese ‘research’ activities are just as suspect as Watson’s crusade. I just hope that as folks watch this titillating little drama unfold, they can find enough time in their busy TV schedules to worry about where their seafood is coming from.