Tuesday 9 April 2013

THE DOCTRINE OF HATE


Yet again the guardians of morality, decency and ethics spread their malignant message of hatred, encouraging people to slander and destroy a man whom they do not know, for actions, the details of which they know little about.

Yet they consider they know Robert Borsak well enough to call him evil, sub human and scum, while attributing all manner of antisocial intent and criminal culpability to his activities, though no legitimate court has tried him let alone found him guilty of any crime.

Were it not for the fact that Borsak shot an elephant, these same people might be demanding that his right to a trial by an impartial jury of his peers be respected at all cost. But in this case they're willing to make an exception because it serves them better to demand that he be burned at the stake on hearsay 'evidence'.

His critics are nothing if not adaptable to circumstance, their battle cry being "These are our principles, steadfast and uncompromising. If you do not like them, we have others!"

Let’s cut through the emotive, self-righteous pseudo-intellectual bullshit shall we...

They don’t like Borsak; they hate what and whom he represents, and they hate his culture. So much so that they will deny that it is ‘culture’ at all. They will call it a sickness and an evil and by doing so they will seek to obfuscate responsibility for the demonisation of that culture, which their hate campaign facilitates.

This is the nature of the zealot in the 3rd millennium; the social media lynch-mob, the angry villagers armed with virtual pitchforks and burning torches, the new-age Green Dominicans looking for witches to burn; the facebook trollers, the haters whatever their cause…and may the Gods have mercy on those subject to the justice they would preside over!

The belief that personal hatred justifies your actions and makes them righteous is the very essence of intolerance, prejudice and bigotry. It's what drove the Nazi death camps. It’s what drives the KKK to the conviction that African-Americans are sub human and can be treated - even killed - as animals.  It’s what made it OK for first settlers to shoot Aborigines. It’s what justified the theft of a generation. This politically expedient malevolence encouraging society to hate people because of their particular philosophy and culture, is what fuels the wars in the middle-east and anti-Islamic sentiment here at home. 

 

The people who peddle this poster encouraging the community to hate Borsak, do so in the belief that their perspective on hunting and animal welfare is the only  perspective worthy of respect, giving them the right to persecute and promote hatred with propoaganda contrived for that sole purpose. Yet Borsak’s activities are legal, whether the haters like it or not.

He obtained a licence to hunt the elephant, from the government that had jurisdiction over the animal and the hunt. He used a licensed firearm prescribed for the task. No ivory was imported to Australia as a result of the hunt. What then, has he done wrong, aside from daring to display pride in his culture and legal hunting activities?

From the very small amount of information contained in an article about the hunt, written by Borsak himself, these promoters of intolerance and execution by social media have taken it upon themselves to lash out in spiteful revenge for the death of the elephant and the pride of the hunter. In doing so they have thought about and determined that the inevitable pain and humiliation their public hate campaign will cause Borsak’s family is wholly justified. No doubt they'll claim that it's not their fault if his family is stupid enough to relate themselves to him.

High Priestess of Hate Sylvia Raye and her Minions of Malevolence have judged Borsak guilty of a offence against their sensibilities, so it goes without saying that his partner should be spat on in the street, his children persecuted and ridiculed at work, and his grandchildren marginalised and bullied at school.  The people who promote hatred and persecution are never responsible for the violence their actions foster.

When the mentally unstable person embraces this hate campaign as justification for blowing up a movie theatre during a screening of Life of Pi in order to make some obscure statement about hunting tigers in India, it won’t be the fault of Sylvia Raye and her ilk who encourage people to shoot messages of hatred into every office and bedroom, every tablet and iPhone, every street-corner and every schoolroom.  No-no, it will be Borsak’s fault for forcing them to resort to a hate campaign.

If he’d just bent to their political and social blackmail by agreeing to abandon his culture, to stop hunting elephants never again to represent the rights of people whose culture Ms Raye detests so fervently, everything would have been different. “Why did he make me do it”, she’ll cry on the stand, “Whyyyyyyyyyy?”

And the villagers who eat the elephants and other game animals that the likes of Borsak pay a fortune to legally hunt in Africa, what of them...does poverty absolve them of guilt for consuming the noble elephant? 

And the villagers who use the money derived from the legal hunt to fund community development initiatives at the coalface of poverty, hunger and despair, what of them? They promote the big game hunts and provide the guides, bearers and skinners without whom Borsak's hunt would not have been possible.

Do you plan to orchestrate a hate campaign against "sub human" African villagers who help kill elephants too, Sylvia?

If anyone is interested in the objective facts about legal big game hunting in Africa (as opposed to illegal poaching which no responsible hunter condones) along with its many benefits to the elephant and human populations,  you could do much worse than starting with program below from the UNSW series The Hot Seat -  "They shoot lions don't they?"

Anyway, I'll get outa ya way now....


14 comments:

  1. Thanks for this post. I saw the poster the other day and wondered how to respond. I am surprised at just how much venom people have inside them. Twitter and Facebook have certainly allowed us to view into peoples souls. There is only a very thin film of "civilised" as it turns out. Strange that those of us who are the "merchants of death" have been the ones most placid. The outrage from the anti gun/anti hunting crowd once we started to stand up for ourselves has been a real eye opener for me.

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  2. Garry, this is a puzzling post for me. I think it misses the more important point: What we know and feel to be a right or wrong thing to do does not always fall within what is 'legal' or 'illegal'. I think citing something as being within law does not necessarily make it right to do.

    Speaking personally, I object to any person killing another animal without the need to (i.e. for 'sport') and I find it particularly offensive when such a person also feels the need to disrespect the creature further, by taking and displaying a trophy photo. Leaning the rifle used to kill the animal against its dead body, I think, is a particularly gruesome gesture of disrespect.

    I also want to address your comments about the 'witch hunt' against Mr. Borsak. I agree that Mr. Borsak should be afforded the presumption of innocence and that the matters of his interests and his (alleged) actions should be treated separately.

    However, I take strong issue with your likening of this 'campaign' to genocide. I think the kind of thinking that allows people to assume that they are superior to and dominant over other people, common in colonial contexts (where genocide has often taken place, e.g. Australia) is surely more akin to the kind of thinking that allows people to claim a right to control and objectify other animals. The simple 'us' and 'them' thinking that never helped anyone.

    Hatred from any side of an issue is not helpful. I would like to see BOTH sides be a little more constructive.

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    1. Simon - "right" is such a subjective concept isn't it? I think it is wrong to persecute people for their culture, but those who do it consider it to be "right" and this is why we rely on the law as a more objective measure. I do not subscribe to the philosophy that what is right ends where my feelings begin.

      At no point do I compare the hate campaign outlined above, with genocide. That is a simplistic and emotive interpretation of what I have said, very-very clearly –

      “The belief that personal hatred justifies your actions and makes them righteous is the very essence of intolerance, prejudice and bigotry.”

      If intolerance, prejudice and bigotry did not drive the Nazis, Pol Pot, Mugabe et al to their genocide ends, what did…allergies perhaps?

      It is the notion that a little hate is just fine if the cause is noble, that is so insidious and dangerous, for mighty hate crimes from little prejudices grow.

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    2. Garry, thanks for replying. I'm glad the opportunity exists for discussion even when there are clearly deep philosophical differences. I don't mean to hijack the comments here, but I would like to just question where a sense of righteousness can come from without a feeling? I think it most likely that both our arguments are emotional and based on our feelings. I don't think attempts at objectivity (an impossible goal for a human) really cut it when we're dealing with life and death. I prefer to honestly and constructively engage with the deeply engrained cultural 'baggage' my decisions come with rather than pretending to have an opinion that is without bias.

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  3. With respect, Simon, I wonder if we’re taking about the same issue? Have you read the poster that the haters are demanding all and sundry make viral? There is not a word on it, or on the associated call to arms, that champions the elephants’ cause on the grounds that it is an endangered species or anything of that kind. The poster and the campaign itself, have one focus – we hate Robert Borsak because he is sub human thrill killer, and therefore should not be permitted to hunt in national parks.

    Now given that elephant numbers over here are comparatively lite-on, it seems unlikely that the campaigners’ focus is on preventing elephant slaughter in the South East Forests National Park. Their focus is on ending all hunting, wherever it may be, and their strategy if to demonise the person they blame for hunting’s resurgence as a part of Australian culture. The poster was not designed, nor the campaign initiated for its impact on African embassies throughout Australia, but for its impact at a no hunting in NSW national parks rally in Sydney.

    Do you really believe that if you turned up wearing a Deer Hunters’ Association of Australia t-shirt you would be embraced as a fellow elephant lover and your particular hunting discipline quarantined from their hatred and their demands to end hunting in NSW?

    Among the greatest dangers of this campaign is the stratagem that leads some hunters to believe that they can unite with the haters for the common good of the world’s elephant populations, and end the banning campaigns there.

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    1. I think the wording and angle of the poster is in unhelpful, but it does draw attention to the broader issue of 'recreational' hunting. My arguments are not based on the conservation status of the animal, rather on the rights of all animals to not be killed without legitimate purpose and then humiliated after death. I think this particular photo says a lot about the culture of 'sport' hunting.

      Note that I separate killing for fun and killing for food (although I should declare that I choose to do neither). As for 'volunteer conservation hunting', which is the popular spin for the O'Farrell government's deal, how about we call it what it really is? If there is conservation value in this practice then please show me the data. Otherwise let's call it killing for enjoyment and *then* decide if that's an appropriate use of national parks to the exclusion of all other recreational activities.

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    2. Simon - I do not disagree substantially with anything you say, in terms of your personal decisions about taking life etc. This is a decision about personal philosophies, which all of us must make. However, my criticisms have been very clearly aimed at the message of hatred that is promoted by the poster and its sponsors.

      I cannot foresee of any circumstance in which I might hunt an elephant, nor can I foresee any circumstance where I might label you “sub human” if you did hunt an elephant. Nor would I attempt to incite hatred of an entire people/country (e.g. “I should imagine that if one has the money anything could be legal in a country like Zimbabwe") just because I don’t like the cut of your jib and object to the fact that Zimbabwe failed to object to it along with me. But if you do not think that hate and dehuminisation is the nature and objective of the poster and campaign I guess we will have to agree to disagree.

      You might find some of the information featured here, relevant to the debate…then again, you may not: http://www.brad-lucas.org/hunting-for-facts/

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  4. A hateful debate about hateful despicable behaviour. Its irrelevant that its legal, in China its legal to beat a dog to death, in some countries they set flame to bull's horns and thats legal, and in some countries they allow dogs to maul chained bears to death and I assume thats legal. What is relevant is the lack of consciousness around what is ethical treatment of animals and what is not ethical treatment of animals, and I dont think the latter exists on this occasion. It would be very difficult to argue that the person concerned looks as if he had any realisation of what is right or wrong when it comes to the treatment of such a wonderful animal as the elephant. Its certainly not perceived through that gross photo. What a big shot and trying to "defend" with counter attacks. Its a hunt, kill, big bwana trophy mentality!

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  5. wow the nut case who wrote this article just proves that they should not be allowed to even own a gun . they are freaks

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    1. Steve: The "freak" who wrote the article, as you put it (there's always an insult from your ilk, isn't there) does not own a gun, nor a licence to use one, nor has he ever shot at an elephant or a native Australian animal.

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  6. Its 2013 why are we debating this, were going backwards people, for the people who kill animals for sport and pleasure, have you ever shot and killed another human being? Because if you have and you still think murdering things is fun you have head issues and should get some professional help.

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  7. I don't think it's hate as much as disgust that's being "peddled" by that poster. Anyone in their right mind would be appalled that someone could derive some kind of pleasure from killing a magnificent and endangered animal in the 21st Century. The time when the hunting of these animals was condoned has passed, and making an argument for moral relativity (because you feel differently) is pointless. Modern, civilised society regards this kind of "sport" as repugnant, and none of your rationalisations in favour of it will change that. Vanessa

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  8. The Moral relativists always amuse me. Because human beings always live in the here and now they always regard the past as irrelevant and think they are above all that !! I wonder if they believe that the electricity will never be cut off, they will always have a mobile phone to call for help , the police will always be there . There will always be plenty of neatly wrapped meat on woollies shelves that someone else has conveniently killed for us, and they will never be starving and have to kill something just to stay alive ? History tells us a different story.

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  9. Unknown....you probably should read this link

    http://www.brad-lucas.org/hunting-for-facts/

    or watch the above video to get a realistic concept of this.
    Now If you are a vegetarian I can understand your stance and IMO you have every right to debate but if you are a meat eating leather shoe wearer then what gives you the right to criticise. Is killing and eating a lamb any different?

    cheers
    Mark

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