As many here might be aware of the news lately in regards to this lion who was hunted down, first he was ensnared and injured using a bow and arrow then hunted for 48 hours to be killed. Anyway I skimmed the heading a day or two ago but didn't bother with it much other than giving it a cursory glance, saw a few posts on social media and ignored it again. Until today when I had to use the tube/underground for more than an hour, I picked up a metro and I spent some considerable time and reading this article and especially the comments.
I am not for animal cruelty don't get me wrong, but reading this article and the comments in the paper and especially the uproar it has caused made me feel utterly appalled and disgusted, seriously one lion matter so much ? What about all those innocent children and women murdered around the globe for no reason ? I don't see such a uproar for them.
This pretty much sums up my thoughts on this matter, brilliant post by a brother taken from fb.
Quote:
Bit embarrassing to talk about animals when tens of thousands of human beings are being mowed down across the world.
But the same style of thinking, which is at the heart of Western modernity, that seeks to dominate nature and instrumentalise/exploit it in unprecedented ways, which sucks the sacredness and mysticism out of it, also happens to have a political and military face.
It might appear a long stretch, but I can't separate between the American dentist who spends $55,000 to shoot a lion with an arrow, allows it to suffer for 40 hours and then skins and beheads it in the name of an exotic adventure... I can't separate that from the historical Western adventurer, the European company, the American military contractor or hedge fund investor all straddling along in their power suits and 'dominating'.
They're always pushing, conquering, trampling and taking. They're ripping the innocence out of the land and its creatures. There's no respect. Nothing is sacred.
Maybe I'm wrong and have let my imagination run, but from my end, I can't make that separation. Can't separate between the rifles that colonised a continent (and beyond), and the rifles used on hunting tours by wealthy Americans and Europeans in Africa today
But the same style of thinking, which is at the heart of Western modernity, that seeks to dominate nature and instrumentalise/exploit it in unprecedented ways, which sucks the sacredness and mysticism out of it, also happens to have a political and military face.
It might appear a long stretch, but I can't separate between the American dentist who spends $55,000 to shoot a lion with an arrow, allows it to suffer for 40 hours and then skins and beheads it in the name of an exotic adventure... I can't separate that from the historical Western adventurer, the European company, the American military contractor or hedge fund investor all straddling along in their power suits and 'dominating'.
They're always pushing, conquering, trampling and taking. They're ripping the innocence out of the land and its creatures. There's no respect. Nothing is sacred.
Maybe I'm wrong and have let my imagination run, but from my end, I can't make that separation. Can't separate between the rifles that colonised a continent (and beyond), and the rifles used on hunting tours by wealthy Americans and Europeans in Africa today
For those who haven't read the story you can read it here :
www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/walter-palmer-killed...
metro.co.uk/2015/07/29/protestors-bombard-cecil-the-lion-...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/30/the-guardia...
www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/29/cecil-the-lion-call...
