Modern hunters are masters of self-deception. They pretend, when they go hunting, to live close to nature like their hunter-gatherer ancestors. They pretend to have a respect for nature, like our hunter-gatherer ancestors. They pretend they are rejecting, at least for the duration of the hunt, the artificial life of modern industrial civilization. However, the truth is that they are not hunting out of necessity like their hunter-gatherer ancestors, but for the pleasure of killing or trophy-collecting. They still make use of the technology of industrial civilization: 4X4 vehicles, high-powered rifles, compound bows, binoculars, camouflaged clothing and so on, all the products of industry. Indeed, it is even called the hunting industry. Usually hunters are aligned on the right of the political spectrum with the accompanying baggage of values. The hunt is seen as a moment of male bonding, although women are sometimes allowed to participate as some kind of honorary male. In our hunter-gathering past, hunting may have been a necessary evil, now it is no longer necessary...
5 Comments
Yamaan
2/27/2013 01:43:53 am
What about hunting a maneating tiger or leopard? Is that ethical?
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Alan
2/27/2013 03:05:33 am
To use the language of rights, one has the right to defend oneself. However, one has to ask why the big cat has become a man-eater. Usually it is because it has lost the power to hunt wild animals because of its age. But often, unfortunately, it is the fault of humans, since they have destroyed the habitat and the natural prey of the big cats, because of human agriculture and over-population. One has to see these cases in a broader context.
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Yamaan
2/27/2013 03:45:12 am
Yes, i see what you mean Doctor. I was very fortunate to come upon a Hunter's book who described his experiences hunting man-eating tigers and leopards. It is like you said that often it is because of old age, however there were other cases where hunters shot a tiger and wounded it by not killing it. In retaliation, the wounded tiger became a man-eater a few months later. A quite terrifying prospect i assure you, to be hunted by a big cat.
Gerhard
3/2/2013 01:13:40 am
It's also about industry. It generates some benefits as it produces things cheaper, but for the sake of creativity. In this case, of course, it makes it pretty easy for us to hunt. And even the weak persons can perform it, pretending that they are strong and finally show their trophies.
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Alan
3/2/2013 05:26:37 pm
This confirms my belief that hunting in the industrial and post-industrial Age is a pointlessly cruel activity and part of a backward idea of masculinity, a false consciousness. This is so despite the Deep Ecologists who claim that hunting brings men (sic) closer to nature. Ecofeminists criticise the androcentricism of Deep Ecology.
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November 2017
AuthorI'm Alan (an anagram for "animal"), an ethical vegetarian. Our colour vision can be traced back to our distant relatives, the fruit-eating, tree-dwelling monkeys, who benefited from colour vision when looking for (ripe) fruit.
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