Ok I'm going to try and address all of these in one post. The focus of this article is about an incident that happened in Zimbabwe not the entire continent of Africa. Aide given in Ethiopia or Kenya has nothing to do with Zimbabwe so this aide to Africa shit just further illustrates this dismissive and marginalizing of an entire area to fit lazy thinking. The reason I keep refocusing the conversation back to Zimbabwe is because that's where this took place, its the same annoying thing I see in this country when we're talking about a shooting in Philly some dick bag feels the need to bring Chicago into it let's stay on topic. I never said that there was absolutely no compassion for Africa in particular Zimbabwe what I did say was I saw a visible and more empathetic reaction to the death of this lion than I have for the starving impoverished citizens of that area. I guess it's akin to the same kind of thinking here where people go absolutely ape shit over a dog getting locked in a car but treat homelessness as normal byproduct of living in a society. And the reason I brought up Kimmel was that he's representative of something I see illustrated so much from people, Westerners particularly, where they have this astute connection to the suffering of an animal but turn a complete blind eye to human suffering. I also guarantee the vast majority of people upset about this are meat eaters who could care less about the cruelty that goes into their food. It's laced with so much hypocrisy and it's weird that so few people see it. Let me be very clear I don't agree with how they killed this animal but as someone who considers themselves an ally to the oppressed its weird to see this kind of emotion over a lion when most people go through life not giving a fuck about other people.
wow. You don't know what the he'll you are saying. So many untruths ...go on thinking that ish... Not even worth continuing setting you straight.
Someone tell TDK that scientists estimate we've lost 60-70% of ALL ANIMAL SPECIES on the planet(aquamarine and land based) in the last 40 years. Thanks, homosexual sapiens.:smt030 We're in the middle of a mass extinction on this planet and when the animals are gone, humans aren't that far behind. So yeah, it might be in your humanist interest to be concerned about a trophy hunter contributing to the decline of an endangered species. What I and others don't understand about your logic TDK is that being outraged about the gratuitous slaughter of this lion somehow means most people aren't concerned about the suffering of our own species. This isn't a Mike Vick situation where we have folks IRL who put dogs and humans on a similar level of importance in society(they aren't.) Dogs aren't an endangered species. Lions are. And if a guy on your block was killing cats and mounting their heads on his living room wall, you'd think he needed to be institutionalized.
One more time for the slow kids I am not saying it's not wrong. IT WAS WRONG TO HUNT AND KILL THAT PARTICULAR LION FOR SPORT. All I am commenting on is the visible empathy for this lion but I don't see the same empathy exuded for the people there. And trust me if we really gave two shits about the extinction of certain animals we'd change how we farm and cultivate vegetables and how we get our meat, how we produce goods and deal with the waste. Sport hunting ain't doing a thing in comparison. It's like tell a kid to not chop down a tree when the fire is blazing and swallowing most of the forest.
My friend, that is the extreme right wing take on this and its clearly not true. You can be concerned for more that one thing at a time Take very little effort to look up what is ongoing outcry and concerns and efforts in the region. And there are constant outcry for the human atrocities, you may have to ignore regular news outlets for that as you know very wel how news work. What you see is a reflection of "news" selling a story, not the reflection of peoples faulty concern it doesn't reflect peoples concern and that is easy to find that's outcry, concern and effort its on TV, and internet every day. Every day. But just because of that, i will find a Zimbabwe cause on Kiva I can help with. Used Kiva for years The other stupid argument the extreme right is using is that the money from these hunts go to the local economy . that is not true, the contribution of such hunts ( extremely little is done legally) contributes to, in this example Zimbabwe's GDP, I saw some statistics and it was less than a few percent. The money is going to lining the pockets of local poachers, who are very rich comparatively. And as boba said, the concern is that when you take out apex animals, you fuck up the balance and the area will be over run by grazers who will severely fuck up things for locals, so it is also a concern for local human beings, not animals that this needs to stop and most people concerned about this understands that. Concerns for the Zimbabwe people (and Africa) goes hand in hand with the local flora and fauna that can't take much more mucking up with. Both poaching and deforestation ( which btw, is mostly done on forreign interrest and that needs to be a freaking urgent outcry) it needs to stop now or humans in Africa (and Zimbabwe ) will suffer more than they already do. The rest of the world following. Its in all our interest to stop it and it goes directly hand in hand with direct efforts to help people directly. I certainly understand that " symbiotism" and that it goes directly hand in hand with direct human support and concern. I think most people concerned about this case are already humans that are very, very aware, concerned for human issues innthenarea. I wager to say that the people more concerned for animals that humans are a small minority. Most people assume that its understood that both poaching and deforestation is a part of the fight to help people of Zimbabwe and Africa. Sorry for the repitiotion, seemed essesary. Don't buy into to the right wing silly strawman argument
Well said and I largely agree but like I said it's more about what I observe through social media and the internet. It reminds me of the riots in Baltimore where people seemed to be more concerned about the business owners and the businesses that burned down during the riots. All I could think was where was the concern when things were fucked up there for years. 40% unemployment, high violence rates, horrific education and literacy rates and no one seemed to care about that but a CVS burns down and everyone loses their minds. It's like singular instances matter far more than the actual problems that create this shit. Just sad to see.
Well, that is an issue that pisses me off. Media only shows up there when its bad and very little was covered on how the locals formed safety barriers for the local business and other important positive things taking place during that. There was a nice piece covering the whole issue from the very beginning but it had very little penetration. a similar piece was on the local news about the 50 year " anniversary" of the Watts riots tonight
Refuse to continue to entertain his warped thinking. He doesn't give two shits about the people of Zimbabwe but is accusing others of it. Spare me. On a different point, l disagree with you on Vick.
TDK, You are looking at this Cecil the lion thing the wrong way. Instead of condemning the "lack of empathy" for Zimbabweans, you should see this in a more positive light. For a few brief moments in time, humanity came together as a collective to condemn a practice that has been going on for a long time. Maybe some in that collective researched the issue to learn more. Maybe some of those decided that they would donate to a worthy cause that is trying to fight poaching and maybe those organizations saw an uptick in donations during that very brief 1-2 weeks where humans came together to hate on something meaningful. The mere fact that a lion that was killed in a far off country that most people probably couldn't find on a map made people look away from their smart phones for a few moments should be looked at as a "positive" thing. There are people in these far off countries who are DYING trying to stop poachers and who are doing what they can to help bring awareness to this issue, and if Cecil had to die to bring more awareness to the issue, then that can be viewed as a positive. As for homelessness and poverty, there are not enough resources or money in the world that can fix those problems. There have been homeless people and poor people for millennia and there will forever be homeless people and poor people. You cannot fix that problem. But what you can do is write to your local, state, and federal politicians to get them to increase funding for mental health facilities. But, anything you or I do is only basically using a garden hose on a forest fire. You cannot help everyone. You can't. It's impossible. But all of those wonderful people and organizations who are working to make even a tiny dent in those issues around the world should be revered because they are doing what they can and that's all that the collective to hope for. Start at home. Raise awareness in your local community and get people to care more about the issues that matter to you than their small little worlds and smart phones. But you will not ever fix the problem completely.
Bliss you have no clue what I care about. Again people like you can't tolerate any opinion outside of your own. I clearly said from what I observed.... never mind
I completely disagree with that. We collectively make a choice not to help. A third of the food we generate isn't even consumed it's wasted or destroyed. We have more vacant homes than we have people. It is literally a choice to leave these people starving and homeless. AND as far as humanity coming together to bring awareness.... I won't be cynical I'll just say let's wait and see because we seem to move on and forget very quickly #icebucket challenge #bringourgirlshome #occupywallst. Etc
But apparently you know what everyone else cares or doesn't care about. It is you who can't tolerate others opinions, unless the focus is on what's "important" to you. And to be frank, your focus has NEVER been on Zimbabweans, so cut the crap.
So if you think no one is working on it, then maybe YOU should run for office and help. Give me a break. Your myopic vision of the world is truly staggering. Here, learn something about world hunger and what's been accomplished so far: http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world hunger facts 2002.htm
I said using social media and Internet comments as an indicator it sure as hell appears that way. So the only way I can comment is if I donated money to Zimbabwe. Shit by that horseshit logic no one can talk about wild life lions in particular without a receipt.
I feed people in my area locally. Now if every working person saw it as responsibility to buy a couple cans of food every paycheck we would have far less hungry. My vision isn't myopic I pay attention. You have any clue how many cities make giving food to the homeless a crime now?