Thursday 15 May 2014

OF VEGETARIAN POLITICS AND DECEPTION

The Master Chef of vegetarian politics is at it again, this time admitting the cynical nature of his activities upfront.

The website of Greens’ firearms spokesperson David Shoebridge advises that the ‘Animals in the Wild’ photographic competition has been launched as, “part of the Greens’ campaign against recreational hunting, and in particular, the photographic hunting competition run by Narooma’s pro-gun and pro-killing “Huntfest”.

The message is very clear; the Greens are not pro-gun or pro-killing. My question is simple, is this proposition a brazen lie, or a subtle manipulation of the truth aimed at deceiving the residents of NSW?

Animals in the wild promo Shoebridge website

The Greens claim to be pro-environmental protection, and if that is so, they must accept that the Australian bush is seething with feral species that are causing great harm to the environment, devastating native species many of them rare and endangered.

So if The Greens are not pro-killing, I challenge David Shoebridge to divulge the details of his plan to domesticate or re-home:
  • 7.2 million red foxes,
  • 200 million rabbits,
  • 150,000 water buffalo,
  • 2.6 million wild goats, and
  • 23.5 million pigs. 
We can catch up about his plans to not-kill 200 million cane toads, 300,000-plus camels, 300,000 brumbies and 5 million donkeys at another time.

Of course The Greens have no plans to re-home these creatures. Oh yes, they denounce the "pro-killing HuntFest" and they willingly mislead people by playing the emotive “they kill things” card at every opportunity, but in fact The Greens own policy position on feral animals includes the use of professional “killers” and poisons such as 1080, which has been denounced as cruel by every animal welfare agency in Christendom.

The garnish on this Master Chef’s tabouli of deception is the use of native Australian animals on the competition’s promotional material. The inference is clear, don’t let the big bad hunters slaughter kangaroos, koalas and kookaburras, all strategically chosen for their Aussie icon status to adorn their deceptive propaganda.

It is illegal to hunt such animals in NSW, as every hunter knows. Poachers, on the other hand, will do what they will, just as they have done through the centuries. If The Greens ever decided to work cooperatively and respectfully with law abiding hunters to stamp out this limited yet deplorable activity, they’d find us willing partners in possession of very useful expertise. Alas, The Greens’ fanatical bigotry makes this impossible.

The Greens are definitely anti-gun, but they are very much pro-killing, despite their efforts to deceive you into believing otherwise. Like the Borgias they favour poisons, which are notoriously difficult to target at a specific species, are by no means painless and always wasteful because the otherwise free-range organic meat cannot be consumed....except perhaps by carrion eaters, many of which are natives themselves, and so the gift just keeps on a-givin'.


The Greens also favour the use of professional hunters whose activities, despite their accreditation, render their victims no less dead than an amateur hunter’s gun or bow.

But there is an enormous elephant in the room of Greens’ deceit; something they are more than happy to be very vague about. 


They vocally condemn Australia’s white Anglo-Saxon hunting traditions, but they are silent on the matter of Aboriginal traditional hunting, which includes the harvest of native species. Is the abolition of Aboriginal hunting practices next on the Greens’ agenda, or does their cultural bigotry extend only to white folks?

Aboriginal Australia has long been a key supporter of The Greens. Perhaps it is time to seek assurances that your traditional hunting practices and your rights are not also on The Greens' chopping-block. 

Anyway, I'll get outaya way now....

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3 comments:

  1. It has been brought to my attention that The Greens are not totally silent on the issue of Aboriginal traditional hunting. Rather, it appears they're simply prejudiced against the hunting traditions of all other cultures.

    See below, in particular item 21 under the heading, The Australian Greens want:..."

    21. The rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to sustainably hunt, fish and gather native flora and fauna in line with traditional cultural practice.

    http://greens.org.au/policies/aboriginal-torres-strait-islander-peoples

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  2. The Greens prefer poison and professional hunters because there is no 'fun factor' in either. They are not wholesale against the killing of animals but they are do not want anyone to enjoy doing it. In short it is not the act but the enjoyment of the act they can't stand. Hope this insight into 'greenthink' might help you in trying to bridge the divide.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the insight. I have in fact heard that position before. However, I have never heard a hunter refer to hunting as 'fun'. This appears to be a Greens' interpretation of why hunters hunt....an extrapolation based on the fact that hunters claim they 'enjoy' hunting perhaps? As a rescue worker of some years, I can tell you honestly, that I enjoy my work. That is not to say that I derive pleasure from seeing a person impaled by a steering column. The enjoyment I derive is born of satisfaction in mastering a useful trade and being good at what I do.

      I believe this is what hunters mean when they say they 'enjoy' hunting. It is not the thrill of the kill as the intellectually simplistic Green and/or anti-hunter would opportunistically interpret it. Rather it is the 'joy' in mastering the use of a bow, the assembling of arrows and the practical application of both to preserve an ancient tradition in a world where such skills have been all but forgot. In short, the enjoyment maybe better summed up as 'pride' than 'fun'.

      I know many aboriginal people who advise that they derive a great deal of 'satisfaction' from practicing their hunting traditions. I do not interpret this satisfaction as fun or joy derived from killing things, but rather as joy derived from ensuring that their cultural practices are not erased from memory at the hands of intolerant racist who would like them to 'evolve' and behave more like superior white folks who believe that anything they consider unnecessary in today's world, is a worthless anachronism that should be abandoned.

      Again, thanks for your input, and I hope this insight into my 'hunterthink' was useful.

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