there is something in Guns Germs and Steel about this but I don't remember it well enough to recount it exactly correctly. But basically when people finally came across the landbridge they went buckwild on unsuspecting north American landbeasts.
― five six and (man alive), Monday, 3 August 2015 18:15 (eight years ago) link
Ok I just read this and I am pretty grossed out now. Sorry for being a dick about this, (although I will still shit on the face of anyone who uses the hashtag #lionlivesmatter):
https://www.facebook.com/captpaulwatson/posts/10153393430140932
― five six and (man alive), Monday, 3 August 2015 19:17 (eight years ago) link
This story makes me feel depressed and misanthropic, maybe for reasons that aren't ethically consistent. The lion was so beautiful, I feel sick contemplating the mindset of someone who would take pleasure in hurting it.
― Treeship, Wednesday, 5 August 2015 04:06 (eight years ago) link
Also the fact that he deliberately went after a celebrity lion, a lion with a name -- according at least to the link man alive posted -- makes what he did seem akin to murder. A sentimental distinction sure but it's hard to wring sentimentality out of morality and I'm not so sure we should want to (kant to the thread)
― Treeship, Wednesday, 5 August 2015 04:40 (eight years ago) link
he kant
― e-bouquet (mattresslessness), Wednesday, 5 August 2015 04:56 (eight years ago) link
all this sentimentality is just so much kant
― playlists of pensive swift (difficult listening hour), Wednesday, 5 August 2015 05:01 (eight years ago) link
anyway everything about this story is basically an emile cioran quote in narrative form imo
― e-bouquet (mattresslessness), Wednesday, 5 August 2015 05:03 (eight years ago) link
This provides interesting context:
http://www.ianscoones.net/Blog.html
In brief, the large hunting estates were usually in the hands of white landowners prior to the major programme of 'land reforms' Mugabe introduced. Unlike much of the farming land, which for the most part went to the poor, the hunting reserves were given to a handful of well-connected Zanu-PF / military figures who are subject to less scrutiny. While there's a case for saying that game hunting can contribute to local communities, it tends not to be the case in these situations.
― I wear my Redditor loathing with pride (ShariVari), Wednesday, 5 August 2015 08:07 (eight years ago) link
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/opinion/in-zimbabwe-we-dont-cry-for-lions.html?smid=tw-share
― Songs that sound like SimCopter (sleepingbag), Wednesday, 5 August 2015 16:17 (eight years ago) link
MY mind was absorbed by the biochemistry of gene editing when the text messages and Facebook posts distracted me.So sorry about Cecil.Did Cecil live near your place in Zimbabwe?Cecil who? I wondered. When I turned on the news and discovered that the messages were about a lion killed by an American dentist, the village boy inside me instinctively cheered: One lion fewer to menace families like mine.My excitement was doused when I realized that the lion killer was being painted as the villain. I faced the starkest cultural contradiction I’d experienced during my five years studying in the United States.
So sorry about Cecil.
Did Cecil live near your place in Zimbabwe?
Cecil who? I wondered. When I turned on the news and discovered that the messages were about a lion killed by an American dentist, the village boy inside me instinctively cheered: One lion fewer to menace families like mine.
My excitement was doused when I realized that the lion killer was being painted as the villain. I faced the starkest cultural contradiction I’d experienced during my five years studying in the United States.
― Songs that sound like SimCopter (sleepingbag), Wednesday, 5 August 2015 16:20 (eight years ago) link