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I assume most have seen this about an internet-based (as opposed to reality-based?) hunting outfit that is going to try to let you hunt and kill animals (deer, antelope, and wild pigs- not fuzzy kittens and cute rabbits) all over HTTP. It's very easy to exhibit outrage at this because it makes hunting easier.
I am outraged because it takes all the fun out of hunting.
I have only gone "hunting" once* (if you don't count having slogged through Faulkner's "The Bear"), but from friends who have gone and such documentaries as The Deer Hunter, I understand the appeal of getting out into the wild, going with friends, etc.. And certainly, a roasted haunch of fresh venison is delicious.
But this takes away all of that- you do it from your air-conditioned cubicle; in front of the CRT we all already spend too much time in front of; and by the time the meat is packaged and shipped to you, it's no different from the mystery-meat you can find in the cooler at the supermarket. The only reason you'd want to do this is if you really feel the need to kill something. And I think that's a message even the nut-cases at the NRA don't want to spread.
Ultimately, the user end of this little operation is no different from the other game that came with the original nintendo, Duck Hunt (pictured above). And, if you're really fixing for a hit of that, further proof of the beauty of the internet.
*When I was a fifth-grade city-kid I was sent to tag along with my (older) second-cousin, Lance, as he went out to the barn one night on his family's farm in South Dakota, to go clear the barn of whatever small annoying birds were roosting in there and scaring the cows or something. I was a terrible shot.
new orleans will be underwater soon anyway, thanks to texan energy policies
Posted by: sp on November 17, 2004 10:23 PMBut think of all the handicapped people who can now hunt. And those people who live in countries where they can't own guns. And poor people who can't afford the cost of a real trip. This is enabling technology.
And, seriously even, I don't think there is any moral difference between shooting an antelope from 50 feet or from 5000 miles. An elephant would be a different matter, though let's not kid ourselves about its chances of trampling you.
This reminds me of that recent website, can't quite remember where or how, that promised to put down a cat if Kerry won the elections (humanely, of course). Or was it if the owner's Pay Pal account did't have a certain amount of money? Something like that. No difference.
Posted by: Stefan on November 17, 2004 11:00 PMthis is the best part:
"He said an attendant would retrieve shot animals for the shooters, who could have the heads preserved by a taxidermist. They could also have the meat processed and shipped home, or donated to animal orphanages."
animal orphanages?
Posted by: sp on November 17, 2004 11:50 PMStefan, are you vegetarian? If not, how is the cruelty of my killing an animal different from the cruelty animals undergo in the modern industrial-agricultural complex?
Posted by: mike on November 17, 2004 11:58 PMI'm not anti-killing, I'm anti-pain. A wounded deer bleeding to death in a forest over two days because of a bad shot by some fat fuck who can't run after it is not as good morally as a cow that has to be stunned by law before being killed in a slaughterhouse (as is the case in Sweden). Of course, Swedes love to hunt reindeer and elk, so they have entirely different problem: Hypocrisy.
Posted by: Stefan on November 18, 2004 12:16 AMThe world doesn't have a sufficient number of real problems that we need to worry about this?
Anyway, deer sure aren't rocket scientists but they're not totally brainless - as soon as this robot thing takes its first shot, the deer aren't going to approach anywhere near it.
Posted by: Sterling on November 18, 2004 12:17 AMSP, these animal orphanages must be where orphaned bambis get fed reconstituted mommy and daddy, like Soylent Green for animals.
Posted by: Stefan on November 18, 2004 12:22 AMI grew up down the road from one - the Popcorn Park Zoo. It's a big animal shelter, 7 or 8 acres - stray dogs and cats, maimed wildlife, neglected livestock and unwanted circus animals.
It's kinda like the PETA colony on South Park. When I was growing up, the surplus food from the school cafeterias went to Popcorn Park. My seventh grade English teacher was one of the people who ran the place. (She was a heavyset woman who inexplicably wore bullet bras in 1983 - we called her "torpedo tits" behind her back.) I think Popcorn Park still puts out a forklift palette of elephant shit every day, for people to take and use as fertilizer.
Posted by: Sterling on November 18, 2004 05:44 AM