Now For Something Different

Facebook is a target rich environment for idiocy. Maybe that’s why it’s so popular. OK - That sounds a little elitist and condescending but OTOH, there just doesn't appear to be many MENSA candidates lurking there. Of course, from what experience I have had with MENSA candidates, only other MENSA candidates want to hang with them anyhow!

Still, FB does provide a window on what passes for the soul of our fellow citizens. For that reason alone, we have ample cause for worry.


I’ve long been fascinated by the sheer absence of reason causally revealed on Facebook; even more astounded when some of these pearls of expression are posted by certain individuals I know personally and considered pretty savvy-- only to discover I may have given them way too much credit.

If for some reason you can’t see it, the picture here is of a dead giraffe and the big game hunter who killed it while on safari in African. The caption reads: "SHARE if you want a global ban on trophy hunting. What senseless waste. Why kill such a gentle creature? For 'sport'?!?"

The post was made by a girl-now-woman with whom I attended high school so I felt compelled to post an answer to her “Why”.

I wrote: “There are several reasons Why, Lynn. For example, Many people don't understand this hunter paid thousands of dollars to fly there and thousands of dollars for the permit; that giraffe was divided up among the local tribes and eaten. The only thing the hunter got is that photo. Not a single part of that animal went to waste; everything was used. The hunter didn’t get a trophy head to bring back home, no hide, no nothing. In Africa, they eat giraffe like we eat venison. So along with his investment, he fed a couple of entire villages. So what's the problem?

But there’s more to it than that.

In many cases, these animals are of an age or have other issues that sentence them to an otherwise horrible death from disease, starvation or natural predators. Hunting provides a humane termination without the torture Mother Nature often provides. Rarely does she permit them to "go gently into that good night.". The substantial funds raised from limited hunting permits go to fight poachers, the real bad guys and a serious problem for giraffes and other wild creatures.”

Without excessive back-patting, I thought that was a diplomatic, well-reasoned reply – especially for Facebook. I startled by my high school friend’s response:

“So I've been told - I prefer the progressive method.”

My best take was she just refused to consider the crushing reality of her preference. Starvation is hardly a “progressive” way for any living thing to die. The body ingesting itself from the inside out defies description. Diseases that weaken the animal make it easy prey for hyenas, lions, leopards even crocodiles. How is having an aged giraffe eaten alive a “preferred…progressive method” but a single bullet causing instant death is cruel and barbaric?

Unfortunately, we can't ask the animals...