Murder, Revisited
Sherry,
I was going to comment on your comment on my last post, but I was afraid that due to my long winded nature that a post would be a better move.
Thank you for your well researched and well written comment on my concerns regarding the recent bison hunt news story from Yahoo. In short, my problem is with unnecessary hunting in general. I do not regard hunters in a stereotypical way. Based on your comments, I'm afraid you might think that I do, so I want to clarify that straightaway.
The bison hunt outrages me so much because it just isn't necessary. Rules aside, I have a problem with the whole thing. In very few cases, I imagine even in Montana, though it is one of the nation's poorest states, is hunting an essential element to daily survival. There are exceptions to everything however. If a person were starving and had the means to procure meat for their survival, that is a different story. This is just 'sport'. Unnecessary. Even in the hunting culture in which you live, the hunting of bison itself is probably not a necessary means 'to feed their families in an economical, socially responsible way'. What is the purpose of this? This particular hunt has no purpose. What it does do however is feed into the fallacy of man as doers of whatever we want, to whatever we want. Let me be clear, if my family was starving and I had a gun and a buffalo were standing in front of me, he would be dinner that night. I don't have a problem survival hunting, especially when the game in question is abundant in number. I occassionally go fishing. Hunting with a hook. No problem.
You are correct, I'm no vegitarian. I love beef, chicken, fish, pork you name it. I don't care to address the issue because I frankly don't care if people eat meat, vegetables or themselves. My outrage is not at meat eating or the great state of Montana. I never directed my frustration at either one. The other Western states should be equally exposed I suppose, your state just seems to have been unlucky in the news coverage.
You are also correct that the bison, especially in your neck of the woods is not an endagered species...anymore. What is the logic here? As soon as a creature that has escaped extinction is out of the woods, we have the right to start hunting it again? My outrage also extends to the historical brutality this whole thing conjures up. You and I know both know the role the near extinction of buffalo played in the U.S. governments plans of moving Native Americans from their land. Kill the buffalo, you kill the Native. People more liberal than I consider that an act of genocide, I do not. But I am reminded of history and the symbolic role buffalo played in the settling of the west and the diminishing of Native peoples. The recovery of some bison populations is supposed to represent American penance, our learning from our mistakes. And as soon as it becomes numerically possible, we fall back into old patters. That kind of mentality sickens me. I'm sorry, history haunts me.
As far as the cattle industry goes, it is abhorrent. But it is what it is. Those animals have a purpose, to be consumed. Just like the 'live' Christmas tree I buy every year, it is raised with one particular goal in mind, to find its way into my home. As a side note, our family frequently buys free range meat.
I do not care if the boy who bagged the first bison missed a school day or not. I don't believe I voiced outrage at that either and I'm not sure what his being a good shot has to do with legitimately missing a school day. Parents have the right to do whatever they want with their kids, including taking them out of school for a good ol' bison hunt or to take them to LegoLand for the day.
Though some of your statements border on hostile, I think I understand where you are coming from and I certainly know you don't mean them in that way. Such are the limitations of digital communication.
Here is my question, do we have to kill everything? Why can't we leave some things alone? It is a uniquely American perspective that when it comes to the environment(including wildlife) that we have this perogative, nay, mandate to subdue to the point of extinction whatever we want. (I know the sophisticated people who read this blog will not bombard me with biblical references that are out of context) . For me, that is where my outrage comes from with this most recently publicized bison hunt. This hunt represents this larger human deficiency and arrogance that just drives me nuts.
Thank you for you intelligence and friendship.
Peace.
6 Comments:
I'm off and running this morning, no time to totally digest and respond, but one quick question. How have you concluded that this hunt is for sport, whereas other big game hunting is for food on the table? People in rural areas very frequently buy a whole or a half a steer from a local rancher and have it butchered for the year's meat.
Last year's moose gave us four hundred pounds of meat. The hunters I happen to know would be thrilled to put their name into a hat and hope to be drawn for a $75 buffalo, which provides even more meat than a large steer--800-1000 pounds or so--plenty to feed the family all year and have enough to share with friends (which hunters do regularly).
Just curious.
More later.
Sherry, refer to my section of the post where I discuss my historical and ethical problem with unncessary bison hunting.
I honestly don't care how much moose you and your neighbors eat, just as you don't mind if I eat as much hormone injected chicken that I want. The real issue for me is the historical difficulty this raises as well as the character of the human heart it illuminates.
I don't know that we will ever see eye to eye on this one, Michael. And yes, electronic discussion is difficult, at best.
You are certainly right that this is not basic survival hunting. Most of the families I know do earn a living wage and could buy all of their meat at a grocery store. But is a grocery store necessarily a morally superior choice? What about the thousands of years of human history--even continuing to this day in many parts of the world--when the supermarket (or other source of farm-raised meat) was not an option? Is the decision to hunt more wrong now than it was then?
Moving on to the history of the buffalo specifically: The decimation of the buffalo population was indeed a brutal and terrible part of our history. It served human cruelty, displacing the Native peoples of the plains and destroying their culture once and for all. It also served human greed, skinning buffalo for their valuable hides and horns and leaving the meat to rot on the prairies. The memory of this weighs heavy on my social conscience.
But an annual, well-regulated hunt of 1% of a herd (when normal growth rates should average 10% or more), by people who plan to consume the meat responsibly does not, in my mind, constitute "falling back into old patterns." The old patterns were destructive to both animal and human populations. The old patterns were motivated by wanton greed, with a calloused disregard for anything else.
A strictly-regulated hunt involving 1% of a population does not come anywhere close to what you refer to as a uniquely American "perogative, nay, mandate to subdue to the point of extinction."
What I see as unique, unfortunately, is a consumerism-driven culture, preached strongly in the suburbs from whence I came, that teaches us to be content to pay a string of middle-men for all of our products, rather than thinking or doing anything resourceful on our own.
This is probably the biggest difference I have seen between suburban and rural culture, since I've been here.
You point to "this larger human deficiency and arrogance," and "the character of the human heart (this hunt) illuminates." But quite honestly, from my perspective as one with a degree in intercultural studies, I believe this is a cultural mind-set, not a strictly moral one.
If you were to come here and interview people randomly, you would find a very different mind-set than that of the suburbs--not less educated, just different.
You would find a people who refuse to bow down to what they see as corporate greed--people who don't want a Starbucks or a McDonalds or a Wal-Mart. They want small farms and local business to be viable enough to support a local economy.
You would find a people who are concerned for the well-being of the local native peoples and ashamed of how those peoples have been treated historically.
They would tell you of their concern for the preservation of historical sites and the natural environment.
And yes, you would find a people who believe it is irresponsible not to hunt, when God has provided the abundance to support it. They would be appalled at the idea that it is somehow better to spend more money for poorer quality meat. It is a simple matter of stewardship in their minds.
They would tell you that you would only have to get one mule deer to equal the meat in three white-tails, and that you would only need to get one moose to equal the meat in three mule deer. Following the logic, the buffalo, as the largest land animal in North America, would be the ultimate game animal, one animal that could feed several families for a year. That's just math to them, not morality. That's why the native peoples valued hunting buffalo in the first place--because it's smart.
But, most importantly, you would find a people who dispise the sport hunters from far away cities, with their new safari hats and top-of-the-line gear, who come here just for the thrill of taking down a big animal, and then go back home to brag of their conquests. That is the one point, perhaps, that you would both agree on wholeheartedly.
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I have lived in the city; I have lived in the suburbs (in three different states), and I now live in a rural setting. The people of whom you speak are my neighbors, my friends, my relatives, my fellow brothers and sisters (yes the sisters hunt here,too) in Christ. I am starting to see things a little differently, now that I know them and live among them.
But our differences in opinion don't change how I feel about your lovely family one bit. You know that.
I just like a good debate. It's not often that I get the chance to jump into one with a level-headed, rational thinker. I enjoy every bit of it. Thanks for playing.
Sherry, I appreciate you now more than ever. Peace and love, friend.
Wow.
I missed all this. As a meat eater, I don't really know what I think of hunting...animals aren't human animals, we use them for food, the slippers I'm currently wearing, medical testing...most animals probably die in pain, or starve, or freeze. Getting shot, odd as it sounds, may be a better option. Do animals grieve the loss of others? Some do, and I can't say that doesn't move me. I don't know about bison.
One thing I do have an opinion about, though, is hunting predators. Mountain lions are starting to maul and kill humans in Ca because they're protected. They should be hunted back as they were for decades to minimize their threat except in preserves.
Plenty of people in the Sierra agree with me; some think I'm dead wrong. But I'd like to see lions hunted, for sure, and sorry to say this, but I'm glad someone shot the grizzlies out of the mountains I now live in or they'd be a very different place.
t
Happy Thanksgiving in advance, Mr. Funkiller! :) Peace, blessings and good digestion to you all...
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