Disturbing

[Ronny Nilsen]

From Gamergate to Cecil the lion: internet mob justice is out of control

[spidermike]

It is becoming all too reminiscent of a case in UK a few years back where one of the tabloids insisted on printing the names and pictures of convicted paedophiles, justifying it on the grounds that because UK does not have an equivalent to Megans Law they were giving the public the information to keep children safe. Of course all it did was stir up a similar mob justice which ended up with some illiteate moron mistaking 'paediatrician' for 'paedophile' (as if a paedophile would advertise their practices!!) and driving a well-respected doctor from her home.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/aug/30/childprotection.society

The internet provides merely another means of similar 'justice'

[MrImprovement]

It is quite a useful distraction, especially for US politicians like Newt Gingrich, considering that

- Jon Corzine of MF Global, stole $1 Billion USD from segregated client accounts, and never went to jail

- The US banks stole over $1 Trillion from people's savings accounts, by the Fed's artificially depressing interest rates at a special rate given only to banks

- The Greeks are being turned into slaves, and yes, some have died as a result of the EU/ECB's fraudulent banking practices using the Greek govt as a front to give money to the German and French banks, which otherwise might have collapsed

- Zimbabwe, where Cecil was killed, has seen its homicide rate go from 7 per 100K population in 1999 to 11 per 100K in 2011 - for a country of 14 million, this means that during the 1 week time period we have been hearing about Cecil, some 30 or more Zim *humans* have been killed - but let's all rage over a lion that is just one of many, many that are poached each year.

Yes, the dentist was an idiot to not check out that he was killing the wrong lion, then again, because he paid $55K he probably thought it was all on the up and up.

[AlterEgo]

- The Greeks are being turned into slaves

that was their free choice - they had a chance to flip a birdie, but alas they long lost any spirit...

[spidermike]

It is quite a useful distraction, especially for US politicians like Newt Gingrich, considering that

- Jon Corzine of MF Global, stole $1 Billion USD from segregated client accounts, and never went to jail

- The US banks stole over $1 Trillion from people's savings accounts, by the Fed's artificially depressing interest rates at a special rate given only to banks

- The Greeks are being turned into slaves, and yes, some have died as a result of the EU/ECB's fraudulent banking practices using the Greek govt as a front to give money to the German and French banks, which otherwise might have collapsed

- Zimbabwe, where Cecil was killed, has seen its homicide rate go from 7 per 100K population in 1999 to 11 per 100K in 2011 - for a country of 14 million, this means that during the 1 week time period we have been hearing about Cecil, some 30 or more Zim *humans* have been killed - but let's all rage over a lion that is just one of many, many that are poached each year.

Yep, let's all use the case of a shot lion to make some tenuous links, indulge in some dodgy conclusions and indulge in some political grandstanding.

[Tim Lookingbill]

Just saw on the news that the ones at fault should be the global animal conservation agencies that should've put exotic animals such as the lion on the endangered species list since we're down to about less than 50,000 world wide.

But how many lions do we really need to have their population conserved? How many is too many to where we want trophy hunters to control their population?

[AlterEgo]

But how many lions do we really need to have their population conserved?

shall be there a difference between male lions and female ones in that particular case ? a can of worms

[NancyP]

All that being said, bow hunting does take some skill, and furthermore, if you are hunting a predator with a bow, it takes some gonads (assuming that there's no gun to hand).

[amolitor]

Lions are down to about 20,000, and that's a pretty dicey number already. If there is to be a long-term sustainable population (absent some scientific breakthrough) there's not a whole bunch of downward motion that's going to be sustainable.

That said, the apex predators are pretty much toast. The music has stopped and there are no chairs. At this point it's a question of delaying the probably-inevitable for, well, for a handful of reasons, as well as the hope of some sort of simultaneous breakthroughs in economics, cultures, and science, that will allow the situation to reverse.

It sucks, and I sure hope we don't find out that the whole damn thing collapses without the apex predators (and the every other thing we're wiping out)

[spidermike]

Lions are down to about 20,000, and that's a pretty dicey number already. If there is to be a long-term sustainable population (absent some scientific breakthrough) there's not a whole bunch of downward motion that's going to be sustainable.

It isn't so much that there are 20,000 it is that that population is spread throughout Africa and the population in each is getting pretty thin, with some populations in-breeding heavily.

[AlterEgo]

All that being said, bow hunting does take some skill, and furthermore, if you are hunting a predator with a bow

plz don't tell us that he was alone there with just a bow, w/o proper rifle/bullets to take out the relevant game and w/o guides (more then one) with such weapons too activng to safeguard him ... between F16 pilot and ISIL fighter on the ground - who has more gonads ?

[pcgpcg]

All that being said, bow hunting does take some skill,

Yes, and apparently he didn't have enough of it, as his prey was still walking around with an arrow in it 40 hours later. He claims to be a responsible hunter, but a responsible hunter does not risking wounding an animal so that he can claim to have killed it in a more challenging fashion. Ego trumped responsibility. He also is alleged to have shot it at night while it was spotlighted. Criminal.

[Alan Klein]

Bow hunting appears to have become big as it tests hunters ability and courage more than rifle hunting.  Getting within yards of dangerous animals that can charge and attack you is a lot more riskier than shooting them with a rifle at two hundred yards.  Here's a short video advertising the hunting group the dentist belonged too.
http://www.scifirstforhunters.org/videos/index/mirandavideo

[Robert Roaldi]

Bow or rifle, the entire thing seems like an anachronism to me. There were guides around, presumably armed with rifles, in case things went wrong. If I were a guide, I'd have a rifle. So how dangerous is it these days? How many "big game" hunters have been malled lately? Did he even have to pitch his own tent or cook his own food? I don't completely disregard the adventure value of the kind of Hemingway pre-WW2 "safari"-like hunting trip, but is that what this was or was it just a cartoon?

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Seriously, people!? Four pages over a hunting anecdote? It should be much more about the internet mob "justice" and the rise of the no-life, judgmental freaks that comprise it. Some people seem to think that their likes and dislikes are so universal and morally superior that they need to be shoved down the throat onto everyone else.

[Alan Klein]

I don't know about hunting - I never did it.  But I enjoy fishing having done it since I was a kid.  It's getting out in the wilderness (and shooting my camera at the same time), it's challenging although not considered dangerous, tests your skill and patience and is exciting when you catch a nice one.  It's not about the eating of it for me although that can be done.  If I ever caught a record size, I'd probably mount it as a trophy.  (Well, my wife would have a say in that I suppose.)  With fresh water fish, I throw them back.   But some die too in the process of catching them and wind up as food for other fish and animals.   With salt water I usually give it to the other fishermen to keep and eat. )  Am I also an anachronistic throwback?  Am I being unfair to the fish?  Am I a murderer?  What's he difference between me, a fisherman,  and a hunter?

[Alan Klein]

.....But I enjoy fishing having done it since I was a kid.  It's getting out in the wilderness (and shooting my camera at the same time), it's challenging although not considered dangerous, tests your skill and patience and is exciting when you catch a nice one.  It's not about the eating of it for me although that can be done.  If I ever caught a record size, I'd probably mount it as a trophy.  (Well, my wife would have a say in that I suppose.)  .....

Hmmm.  Interesting.  I can say the same thing about when I go out to shoot a landscape or nature picture.  It has many of the same characteristics. Planning and getting into nature, challenging, skillful, test your patience and when you get a good one, you frame it and mount it on the wall like a trophy.

So photographers are like hunters and fisherman.  They all want a trophy, stroking their egos in different ways.

[amolitor]

It's the coffee corner, Slobodan! People talk about what interests them, and there's no denying that the dentist is in the zeitgeist.

To be sure, he's not the problem. The Chinese obsession with eating endangered animals, global poverty, and a handful of other factors are the underlying issues that actually matter. Still, a little outrage on the internet might actually move the needle on Chinese culture, and that's not a bad thing.

(as a side note, why anyone ever bothers with actual rhino horns and so on is a bit of a puzzle. ground up fingernail clippings are just as effective, and much easier to obtain.)

[Isaac]

To be sure, he's not the problem. The Chinese obsession with eating endangered animals, global poverty, and a handful of other factors are the underlying issues that actually matter.

So our lifestyles are not the problem? We don't need to change!

[AlterEgo]

btw didn't one startup-turned-mutibillioner founder claimed to eat what he kills for a year... now I know what I do not use that product at all