Saturday, November 23, 2013

Just A Girl With A Gun; Not A Gratuitous Killer

By Ilana Mercer

"... and Esau was a man who understood hunting, a man of the field."
— Beresheet (Genesis), 25:27

The place: a South African secondary school.

The setting: an English class.

Lights, camera, action:

The teacher is quizzing the class. One senior—she happens to be my sister—provides the rapid-fire reply:

Teacher: "What is a taxidermist?"

Sister: "a motherf-cker."

That was a long time ago, but I have no doubt that my witty sibling would extend similar linguistic niceties (adapted to the fairer sex) to Melissa Bachman.

Ms. Bachman is described by OutdoorLife.com as a big-game hunter, host of the hunting reality show, "Winchester Deadly Passion." The controversy that continues to eddy around Bachman "began when she posted a picture of herself with an African lion on her webpage and Facebook page. She wrote of the trophy pic: 'An incredible day hunting in South Africa! Stalked inside 60-yards on this beautiful male lion. What a hunt!'"

South Africans were disgusted by the woman, seen here grinning (or, rather, grimacing) from ear to ear, as she crouches beside the dead beast. They want to ban her from their country.

"It's perfectly legal," roared the conservative pack animals stateside. Especially eager to exhibit their macho-girl credentials were the younger chicks of this silly species.

As an example of "this-was-a-good-kill-carried-out-with-a-permit" argument, I've culled the extravagant rhetoric of a member of the unthinking herd at Townhall.com.

The writer chalks up the public's general disgust at Bachman's proud pose to "animal rights activists and general public ignoramuses." Deploying more cut-and-paste action than writing (a lost craft in said circles), she goes on to enumerate the benefits to Africa of “conservation through sustainable hunting.”

This is partly true. The Maroi Conservancy that unleashed Ms. Bachman on the lion would not survive without ugly Americans like Bachman. The money this private preserve generates from selling rights to stalk and kill cornered game helps sustain a community which would otherwise poach the animals.

Plaintively, the game farmers of Maroi Conservancy pleaded with their critics:

"If you are not a game farmer and struggling with dying, starving animals, poaching and no fences in place to protect your animals and crop, please refrain from making negative derogatory comments."

Maroi should have added that some values are uniquely Western—like the worldview that wild life has its own intrinsic value independent of man. In Africa, unless animals are a commercially viable resource—a source of hunting and eco-tourism—they are driven to extinction by their main predator: the indigenous, not-so-sapient Homo sapiens.

Concluded the twit of Townhall.com: "Hunters have done more for animals than any animal rights group ever has. The healthy animal population and economy in places like South Africa, [sic] proves it."

In addition to her grammatical offenses, the news editor at Townhall.com offends the truth with factoids about the husbandry of animals and economy in South Africa. Taken as they are from the second most corrupt government in the world—these factoids have the veracity of president Pinocchio's "you can keep your health-care plan if you like it" promise.

More to the point: an act that is legal is not necessarily moral.

At best, these "conservative" screeches can lay claim to an impoverished, utilitarian philosophy, whereby such gratuitous, showy killing is condoned because it reduces man's evil incentives to kill unprovoked.

Another gargoyle with a gun is teletart S.E. Cupp. Here Cupp is seen sprawled over a bear's carcass, facial featurs deformed in Dionysian ecstasy.

The statement must first be qualified: I am a girl with guns. The writer's weapon of choice is the Smith and Wesson 686P .357 4". This gorgeous piece will fend off most wild beasts. But certain bedrock principles—arguably a true conservative mindset—dictate a respect for life. A life-conserving sensibility means that guns are meant for self-defense, not for needless killing.

In other words, this gun owner is no gun nut; but a right-to-self-defense fanatic. I'll take aim to defend myself and my family.

While this girl's guns are meant for self-defense; her epistolary boots are meant for walking—walking all over the dumb distaff that dominates American TV.

And Cupp is a leader of the pack, a luminary in the Age of the Idiot. The "intellectual" forte of this low-watt woman is to gesture wildly and grimace, while parroting the talking points and mind-numbing banalities disgorged by every other Bush bootlicker before her.

"The secret to becoming a successful right-wing columnist-cum-circus animal," quipped Canadian conservative writer Kevin Michael Grace, "is to echo the mob while complimenting yourself on your daring. The rest is exploitation of the sexual masochism of the American male—he just can't get enough of the kitten with claws."

Those libido-driven males (for they are not men) who've deified "Duck Dynasty" also lap up the antics of America's boneheaded Lolita. Watch this heathen skin a small bear. Watch Cupp whip out the little creature's innards and offer them up to the camera, as she salivates about the fun she's having.

There is nothing wrong with hunting for food and harvesting the animal humanely, discreetly and respectfully. This, however, is the hedonistic handiwork of an Aztec priestess.

You already know what my sister would call S.E. Cupp.

And here's what the Node Beyehuda, an authority in Jewish law (1713–1793), ruled: "Hunting for sport is a barbaric practice suited for Esau, Nimrod and their ilk, and not for the merciful people of Israel."*


IMG_4920

* The reference I owe to another South African relative: my brother the rabbi.

ILANA Mercer is a classical liberal writer, based in the United States. She pens WND's longest-standing paleolibertarian column.  ILANA is a fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies. She is the author of "Into the Cannibal's Pot: Lessons For America From Post-Apartheid South Africa."  ILANA's website is WWW.IlanaMercer.com . She blogs at www.barelyablog.com

Copyright 2013 Ilana Mercer

17 comments:

  1. Aww... Ms. Mercer's tender sensibilities got offended... AWWW...

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  2. You know, with all the problems people are facing on the economic front we have idiots concerned about an animal getting shot? Animal rights people....shut up! Who gives a shit?

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    1. Mike: "Animal-rights people" are those who advocate a legal remedy for the cruelties inflicted on animals by the "not-so-sapient Homo sapiens." As perhaps the only paleolibertarian to have defended Michael Vick on propertarian grounds, I do not qualify as an "animal-rights advocate." (Here http://www.ilanamercer.com/phprunner/public_article_list_view.php?editid1=75 & http://www.ilanamercer.com/phprunner/public_article_list_view.php?editid1=74). Moreover, from the fact that we face economic peril, it does not follow that libertarians should not ponder other issues, including this vexing topic.

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  3. Her sister is witty for responding "motherf-cker"? What razor sharp wit! When my dog barks its disapproval is that being witty too?

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    1. Anon: If you ask your dog what a taxidermist is and he replies "motherf-cker," then I think you have a keeper---a witty dog indeed. But all your dog does is bark. (My parrot, on the other hand, talks. He makes a lot of sense too.) More discussion on the topic is here http://barelyablog.com/just-a-girl-with-a-gun-not-a-gratuitous-killer/. Best wishes, ilana mercer.

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    2. I assume he meant spouting out vulgar language from a vulgar person is as common as a dog who barks. I assume that was not the first time your sis used those words. Finally, I see no humor in it, as taxidermists don't literally have any special relations to "motherfuckers," unless said taxidermist happens to be a father.

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  4. I'm torn on this one. I haven't hunted or fished since I was a kid. I don't even like to pick live lobsters out of a tank for consumption -- I prefer to let other people do my "dirty work." If I had to hunt for food, I'd definitely do it, but hunting for sport doesn't suit me. However, I'm against any laws that would keep other people from doing so.

    Since so many people hunt for sport, I have to think that it's better for the animals as a species if places like hunting game reserves exist. People hunting the socialized animals -- i.e. the ones belonging to "everyone" and "no one" at the same time -- will most likely lead to their extinction. So, even though I sympathize with Mercer's instincts, I think her conclusions are wrong.

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    1. Unknown: To what conclusions to you refer? I offered no legal remedy. I agreed that private property (ownership of the "resource") conserves it. That's old hat. Nothing new about all that stuff. Does private property eliminate the ethical issues raised? No it doesn't. The column takes an ethical stand. That's all. Node Beyehuda was right in this column's opinion. "“Hunting for sport is a barbaric practice."

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    2. ...and the industrial animal slaughter isn't?

      How about some intellectual honesty?

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    3. http://barelyablog.com/halibuts-heart-in-a-harpys-hand/November 24, 2013 at 6:36 PM

      Right you are. Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are the intensive rearing facilities in which the animals we eat live wretched lives and die a grisly death. I have mentioned these CAFOs quite often, not lease here: http://www.ilanamercer.com/phprunner/public_article_list_view.php?editid1=74:

      "Arguably, commercial pig farming is crueler than dispatching dogs, then-and-there, as Vick did. These 'Babe' look-alikes wallow for ages in their own waste, in pig pens so cramped, the creature cannot even collapse when exhausted. The animal’s skin often ulcerates and its muscles and bones atrophy. Food farming can involve practices such as tail docking, tooth-clipping, 'castration, branding, debeaking, and other painful processes.' I solve this ethical problem by patronizing farmers whose animals roam and graze, not by agitating for government to criminalize commercial farmers and hurt the multitudes they feed."

      Another example is the blog, "A Halibut's Heart In A Harpy's Hand. The URL has been provided too.

      Why level a charge of intellectual dishonesty before doing some digging?
      Best,
      ilana


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    4. Your conclusions are that commercially successful animal hunting operations and preserves are bad for the species, and that people promote them are twits.

      "Maroi should have added that some values are uniquely Western—like the worldview that wild life has its own intrinsic value independent of man. In Africa, unless animals are a commercially viable resource—a source of hunting and eco-tourism—they are driven to extinction by their main predator: the indigenous, not-so-sapient Homo sapiens.

      Concluded the twit of Townhall.com: "Hunters have done more for animals than any animal rights group ever has. The healthy animal population and economy in places like South Africa, [sic] proves it."

      In addition to her grammatical offenses, the news editor at Townhall.com offends the truth with factoids about the husbandry of animals and economy in South Africa. Taken as they are from the second most corrupt government in the world—these factoids have the veracity of president Pinocchio's "you can keep your health-care plan if you like it" promise.

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  5. Yup, Mercer's conclusions are wrong.

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  6. "There is nothing wrong with hunting for food and harvesting the animal humanely, discreetly and respectfully. This, however, is the hedonistic handiwork of an Aztec priestess."

    What a joke! Unless Mercer has ever killed her own meat to put on her own plate, who is she to judge? What is wrong with pride in your hunt?

    "Humanely, discreetly, respectfully"

    I guarantee an animal that has been hunted was treated with mountains more respect than one that was farmed and slaughtered. Further, once it is dead, is there such a thing as "discreetly" skinning your deer for food preparation? What does that mean? "Skin your deer politely," if you want to please Mercer.

    Get real.

    I am shocked Wenzel posted this, as reposts usually = agreement. Smart in many areas, but just asininely ignorant in others. As we all wish Krugman would STFU about issues he knows nothing about (economics) I think those critics of hunting should study it (go hunting once) more to learn the actual facts about their prey first. What does it feel like to kill an animal? Especially one that will feed either yourself or others (the workers at the preserve)? There may be some pride and some respect. But a word of warning, don't take any pictures to document your experience or Mercer and Wenzel will think you are impolite and may write about it.

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  7. "There is nothing wrong with hunting for food and harvesting the animal humanely, discreetly and respectfully. This, however, is the hedonistic handiwork of an Aztec priestess."

    Again what a joke. I just watched the "hedonistic" video. If Mercer knew anything at all about the subject with which she has taken pen to paper, she would know that you do not quarter an animal to carry it out of the field if you don't plan on eating it, or feeding someone else. Therefore they meet the criteria of "hunting for food." I guess the real crime is Mercer didn't want to watch. To that I say, don't! Or perhaps it's pride in the hunt. Let me tell you something, field dressing and quartering a bear in the field is hard work and takes some skill! It is educational to see someone do it properly, and I think we'll deserved slap yourself on the back pride in doing the job well.

    My advice to Mercer, become a vegan or go hunting, but whatever you do, don't learn about what your favorite meat market did to that cow you are eating (guess what, quartered). Oh, I guess if they do it in the storeroom in the back it is "humane" but if they do it behind the counter it is "inhumane."

    Again, what a joke!

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  8. What does the author think about whole roasted pigs, as done for thousands of years through many cultures inhumanely, indiscreetly, and disrespectfully, if those words can apply to such things.

    In America this common from Hawaii to New Orleans.

    Second question, what does the author think of boucheries, which are quite public butcherings as seen on the latest episode of Top Chef? Isn't that indiscreet? What about roasting a pig in the oven? Isn't that disrespectful to the pig?

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  9. C'mon Robert, is this what you think of hunters? Did you post it because you agree with it? Personally, I do not hunt for sport, and I will not kill an animal that I will not eat, although I would make an exception for self-defense (i.e. a threatening bear). However, as an ardent supporter of the second amendment right, and the other natural rights of humans, I have no moral qualms about trophy hunters. A lion would have absolutely no remorse in killing and eating any of us. Absolutely none. Privatization of herds has saved many species from the brink of extinction. We should applaud people like Ms. Bachman for saving lions and other wild species from the tragedy of the commons.

    In addition, if the author of the article is a meat-eater, then she is one massive hypocrite. Have you ever seen the inside of a slaughterhouse? I have. Hunters in the wild are downright humanitarian compared to the modern agricultural machine. Also, as a Jew, I regret to inform Ms. Mercer that kosher butchering is even worse. It usually involves slicing through the throat of a animal and letting it bleed until it passes out from lack of oxygen to the brain. It is no more humane than a heart or lung shot. The meat from Ms. Bachman's lion will either feed people or other carnivores on the preserve. One would think that , of all people, a libertarian could have an appreciation for the benefits of private game preserves instead of a knee jerk reaction and fuzzy feelings for furry animals.

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  10. http://mises.org/daily/6660/Endangered-Species-Private-Property-and-the-American-Bison

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