Foxy in Manchester
Posted by Gamble on Fri 13 Sep 2002 - 10:28
The Countryside Alliance, an advocacy group protesting recent moves to end the fox hunt in Britain, staged a mounted demonstration along Canal Street in Manchester's gay village Thursday. Forty protestors on horseback rode down the street, notable for its appearance in the original British production of "Queer as Folk", accompanied by a pack of dogs and a falcon. A spokesman said that the location was chosen to emphasize hunters' "battle against bigotry and intolerance".
Comments
As opposed to their battle against bunnies and foxes?
Melissa "MelSkunk" Drake
You do have to admit that for all the talk of "tolerance" and "peace" various animal rights groups greatly enjoy attacking their opponents -- not just in words but occasionally through physical violence. I had all four of my pickup's tires slashed as well as various other defacements perpetuated against my property. Don't tell me that it's only the extremist zealouts that did it because I sure didn't see any press releases within the next few days decrying the pointless vandalism.
Because this has involved me in a personal way I'll give due warning about what I'm going to say. I'm bitter about it. That colors my view of things, I admit it. That being said, let me get out the box of Tide.....
<soapbox>
Yeah, causing well over $600 in damage to the pickup of somebody they've never met really helped me see PETA's side of things. Yep. The error of my ways have become clear to me. I'm certainly the evil one here. They were not at all in the wrong for what they did, even if it was unprovoked and pointless. They had every right to appear one night, slash my tires, smash my window and deface my property JUST BECAUSE I WORKED AT A HUNTING GOODS STORE. I've never done anything like that to them, but I'm the bad guy in this tale, so whatever they have to do to obtain "justice for the animals who cannot obtain it for themselves" is perfectly okay.
It seems to me that it's become fashionable to find some particular cause that seems unjust to one party or another, take it up and just tear into the opposition. It's easy when somebody does something you don't agree with or find distasteful to skew the view and make it a personal crusade, to justify the exact same type of bigotry and misdeeds you accuse them of acting out because "you're right and they're in the wrong." It's simple to turn them into some sort of cruel and heartless ogre. Societies from ages long ago learned that if you dehumanize the enemy in a war long enough then eventually the rest of the public will start chipping in because they believe the hype, too.
Descrimination does work both ways.
</soapbox>
-Feren
"We use them for divine retribution."
There will be extreme jerks on either side of any given issue. Usually they perform acts which neutrals find annoying, disturbing, or horrifying, even.
Sometimes I don't know what side of an issue I want to take, because of all the hatred on each side. (Which is why I continue to be in the middle on many issues.)
Smile! The world could use another happy person.
But don't you know hunting is *bad*? Its so much better to let all those deer starve to death from overpopulation than to get shot! ... oh wait, its not.
Nevermind then.
I hope you are trying to be sarcastic.
Since you focused on Deer, go here:
http://www.league.uk.com/cruel_sports/pack_of_lies/deer_and_deer_hunting.htm
And what did animals do to before there were people to shoot them? They managed to regulate their population perfectly.
Lets not forget that hunting culls out animals when they are in thier prime, I've seen it, deer that had been shot and were now hanging from a tree bleeding from the nose, and they were young and healthy.
I really don't have a problem with hunting, but this is an old, stupid sawhorse. Think for a moment. What did deer do before humans came hunting them with guns? It's not like rifles have been part of the ecosystem for millenia.
There *is* a greater problem with overpopulation now without hunting than 200 years ago, but the reason is that humans screwed with the ecosystem by removing most of the natural predators of the deer. And, yes, I *do* have a problem with that; I'm sympathetic to the emotional reaction farmers have against the Big Bad Wolf, but the reality is that domestic dogs take far more livestock than wolves. (This is going by reports from the current reintroduction program in Idaho. If I'm recalling the numbers correctly, the cost of all wild predators combined to livestock pales in comparison to factors unrelated to predation, chiefly disease.)
The problem is that it's not the neutrals who write policy or get attention. The extremist jerks are the ones who get the most attention because they're the most active.
Are hunters unfairly singled out? In my opinion, yes, and so are smokers. But that's a whole other topic...
-Feren
"We use them for divine retribution."
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