And the hits just keep on coming. Yet again today I find comments from hunters on the pre-coyote/wolf-kill-contest post that really seemed to get their goat, the article, https://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2015/01/02/id-gun-nuts-start-new-year-with-three-day-mass-slaughter-of-wolves-and-coyotes/ was posted over a week ago, and still the hunters are coming up with (unapproved) comments such as this one from today (printed verbatim):
…”‘Hunt or be hunted’ all u tree hungers don’t understand… if we don’t thin out these packs it could turn bad for everyone they are already over populated… if we left the wolves an coyotes alone next thing u know are children’s an even adults we become hunted and killed by them it’s called animal control an besides the department of wildlife knows when they will.need to shut the hunting down all it is ‘control of the packs’”
Exposing the Big Game 
I do think that some of these people are completely hopeless. Whether it’s intellect they lack, or they somehow got shortchanged on empathy at birth, they will never “get” it. They inhabit a different world (hell) than you or I and can probably never move beyond equating their demonic pursuits with virility and prowess. Old-think, dominance, violence, power-over, blood lust, brutality, celebration of killing. They embody the worst of humanity and should be scorned and reviled for the ignorant repulsive throwbacks they are.
When you go to animal exploitation sites — or even to the comparatively tame foodie and paleo pages, the ones glorifying meat, hunting and slaughter — it can seem as if the whole world is in the grip of this callous and bloody mentality. The ignorance Pamela mentions above, seeps in, in the most appalling and grotesque ways.
I have to keep reminding myself that despite the violent and ignorant commentary by the pro-killing contingent, people like this are still a radical minority who have a puffed up voice not because they represent, but simply because they lucked into an influential PR engine that drives the discussion and the perception. Of course, it’s difficult to keep that in perspective, understanding how this system drives our wildlife departments and our wildlife policy almost entirely.
And change, oh it does come far too slowly … as culture slips back and forth between the sane and the insane … from compassion right back to brutality again. The cosmic lessons we as a species miss by brutalizing the very four-legged and feathered beings of earth who can teach us, are clearly to our detriment. But the likes of the commenter above will never understand the personal or global repercussions of that self-serving and short-sighted stupidity. And we all suffer for it, especially our non-human animals.
I’m ready for the culture to change and slip back towards compassion. It does seem the world is grip of this callous and bloody mentality…
I agree, Jim. Me, too!
I checked out Animal Factories from the library in the early 80s and gave up meat overnight, literally, joining my first animal rights group in Seattle. At that time, I wouldn’t have been able to fathom that this many years into the future, we’d still be fighting against abuses like fur, trapping and hunting. I thought for sure the light would seep into those dark corners. It can be so disheartening.
I know it’s been discussed many times here, but it’s clear that the animal rights fight is the most difficult and gigantic monster of all social justice battles … precisely because nearly every human is implicated in (and accrues benefits through) the exploitation of other species.
I do fear that we will destroy every species and ourselves before the reality actually settles. But, when I give into that fear, I become immobilized by helplessness and anger. I realize that changes, both personal and cultural, can come through unexpected avenues of enlightenment. I can’t fully conceive of how that might happen with these entrenched issues, because they run so deep. But I do refuse to rule it out. I think I’m being realistic by saying it’s not naivety in the face of horror, but rather, hope in the face of tremendous odds and economic power.
Says it all!