this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2024
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Unpopular Opinion

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I'm not talking about the consumption of animals here, to be clear. What I'm talking about is spending days and a bunch of money planning to kill something, doing the killing, and skinning/eviscerating what was killed, and often displaying the stuffed corpse. Hunters and fishers refuse to admit they're obsessed with taking pleasure in killing something.

Miss me with the "tradition" stuff, it's just peer pressure from the dead and a fallacious argument. Don't tell me it's to eat, like I said, I'm not talking about the consumption here, so please prove to me you are literate by not bringing up that point. And don't tell me you're respectful to the animals you kill; I don't believe the planning, stalking, and killing is a good way to show respect.

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[–] masterspace@lemmy.ca 39 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (14 children)

I'm not talking about the consumption here, so please prove to me you are literate by not bringing up that point

You can not talk about it all you want but you're being intellectually dishonest by refusing to do so.

Eating meat that you know comes from a factory farm, a literal SAW like tortured life of cruelty, just to be on a conveyor assembly line to be slaughtered and you to eat, feels less psychopathic in the moment but in reality is just disassociating yourself from the literal torture you are causing.

What I'm talking about is spending days and a bunch of money planning to kill something, doing the killing, and skinning/eviscerating what was killed, and often displaying the stuffed corpse. Hunters and fishers refuse to admit they're obsessed with taking pleasure in killing something.

Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll sit in a boat and drink beers all day.

The majority of the time spent hunting and fishing is spent hanging out in nature with your friends. There's lot ls of reasons to enjoy it, even if you don't enjoy the actual killing.

And if you're going to eat meat anyways, then forcing yourself to nut up and kill the animal yourself arguably leaves less suffering in the world than plugging your ears and contributing to factory farming. Both require disassociating from the evil you're committing, and our brains are good at that because disassociation from violence was an unfortunately necessary part of our survival.

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[–] ptz@dubvee.org 38 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

Agreed as far as sport hunting goes.

I grew up in the boonies where this was commonplace (and expected), and I realized early in life that there was just something "wrong" about trophy hunting and the people who relished in it. Don't get me wrong: I hunted in my youth and still go hunting on occasion, but I eat everything I kill and find taxidermy distasteful.

On the flip side, there is a legitimate population control aspect for hunting seasons. Left unchecked, deer population explodes to become a nuisance to humans (causing car accidents, eating crops, etc) as well as limiting resources for the deer (hence the strict laws / regulations surrounding it). So, it does have its purpose, but it also seems like it appeals mostly to the "psychopath" types you're describing.

I realize this doesn't cover fishing, but I don't have a horse in that race. Fishing is so damn boring that I could never get into it. But I'll agree with you on trophy fishing as it's the same mindset.

[–] Harvey656@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago

I grew up in a small village, and there are far less hunters there now, in a place where deer have no natural predators left. This means the deer population has exploded, which sounds like a good thing until you consider there are too many deer now.

The deer are all dying of disease and hunger now at a much higher rate than with hunting. This is the price of 'hunting bad' mentality, at least in that particular area of America. Humans have destroyed nature, so because of that it's our job to ensure it doesn't deteriorate further, hunting serves its purpose for this, and must be considered.

[–] zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, deer do have a real impact on environments. Japan has an interesting relationship with them, too, that I learned about recently https://youtu.be/tYuGeqBVXFk

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[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 31 points 7 months ago (10 children)

Miss me with the "tradition" stuff, it's just peer pressure from the dead and a fallacious argument. Don't tell me it's to eat, like I said, I'm not talking about the consumption here, so please prove to me you are literate by not bringing up that point.

Well you're clearly not literate.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer_management

The population is managed through hunting to as to avoid the overpopulation of deer, which is catastrophic for the ecology.

Not because every single hunter is some sort of psychopath. What a childish notion.

[–] the_strange@feddit.org 8 points 7 months ago (3 children)

This is a manmade problem though. We exterminated all or most of the predators that would usually do the duty of population control in our stead, because said predators didn't differentiate between livestock and wild animals.

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 16 points 7 months ago

What of it?

Would you happen to have a time machine so we can go back and change history so humans never replace said apex predators, or does the fact that "we did it" mean that we don't need to keep hunting and we can just let species overpopulate and destroy the ecology completely, even for themselves and other species of plants and animals?

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[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago (3 children)

This entire thread is giving me deja vu from a thread I thought I read on Reddit years ago.

Not saying this one was, but I wonder how many posts are copy pasted from old reddit posts and placed her now. The comments all seem familiar as well. Maybe I'm just tired.

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[–] zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for not bringing up eating! I really appreciate it.

Yes, population management is a real thing. Not denying that, and I probably should have mentioned it.

I still find the people that want to participate in it for fun very creepy.

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago (5 children)

I still find the people that want to participate in it for fun very creepy.

Some are rather weird, but I can understand liking nature hobbies in which you are alone or with a few buddies if you've had social problems. (Talking about some people I know.) But yeah. Some are weird. But also, some aren't. I don't think killing an animal means you're a psychopath, per se.

Most of the hobby isn't about the kill. Hell, most of the year killing them isn't even allowed.

Since you mentioned eating though, I'll say that I actually really enjoy game meat. It's relatively cruelty free. An optimal killshot might not still instantly kill (as in you don't aim for the brain, but the heart), but at least they've lived an actually free life, unlike powerfarmed cattle, from which you can almost taste the misery. (I'm a flexitarian and try to make somewhat moral choices at least most of the time.)

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[–] 4lan@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You seriously think they are hunting because of a population issue? That is just why they are allowed to hunt so freely....

The hunters do not give a fuck, just want to kill some shit

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 13 points 7 months ago (8 children)

You don't know a single hunter, nor did you grow up in the country.

That's painfully obvious.

You don't even know what country I'm in.

You're beyond arrogant, simplistic and naive.

They aren't allowed to hunt freely here, there's a very specific amount of felling permits.

You don't know shit and you're not willing to learn.

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[–] SnokenKeekaGuard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (6 children)

This is kind of a weird argument to make. Are specifically talking about only hunting/ fishing where the animal is killed and not consumed in any way?

Since I've personally never seen that as someone who's been hunting a couple times and around people who hunt.

And how do you not expect people to bring eating animals when that's basically half the purpose. People don't just go around hunting without the intent to utilise the meat.

Also do you kill roaches or worms etc. In which case what makes the thoughtless killing of one better than the other.

Also I personally love it as an outdoor activity which I rarely get.

Personally I don't see anything immoral with taxidermy either.

Upvoted for actual unpopular opinion tho.

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[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 9 points 7 months ago (4 children)

What about catch and release fishing ? Or is that just animal torture ?

Sticking a hook into something to drag it around and then temporarily suffocate it, yeah, that doesn't seem pleasant.

[–] 4lan@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I always thought catching release was fucked up. Just find a real hobby

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[–] Gladaed@feddit.org 6 points 7 months ago

That's so much worse. Why are you going fishing if not to eat your catch? That's just animal cruelty.

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[–] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 8 points 7 months ago

Finally, an unpopular take.

[–] Macaroni_ninja@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I agree, also here in Europe in many countries hunting is a hobby for rich people, and it has nothing to do with respecting nature. Its more about killing and showing off the trophies.

Big cars, expensive weapons and over the top attitude. Wish they would ban it.

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[–] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 7 points 7 months ago (3 children)

You sure nailed unpopular, although I'm on the fence about of its unpopular or your set of rules and refusing to hear the argument about eating is what's unpopular.

Either way going to the grocery shop and buying meat is a purely psychopathic trait.

Knowing the animal has farmed for the soul purpose of being consumed, its entire life spent in a small enclosed area awaiting death.

The amount of disassociation that must go on for you to do this is insane.

And miss me with the sustainable farming and ethically farmed story. I'm not talking about that, just the torture and slaughter of millions of animals so you can have a burger from the shop.

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[–] FatLegTed@piefed.social 6 points 7 months ago

Not an unpopular opinion here. I'd go as far as to include fishing just for the catch/photo/competition and horse riding, and most certainly horse racing.

[–] BrundleFly2077@sh.itjust.works 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Wow. Really leaning into the unpopular. I can dig it.

“It’s just peer pressure from the dead AND a fallacious argument.” Man, this is great.

Let’s ignore the dead people in the room (are they with us now?) How is it fallacious?

Literally the appeal to tradition, an informal fallacy.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I'm not talking about the consumption of animals

So you're totally cool with outsourcing the killing of animals so that you can eat them, but draw the line at harvesting the meat yourself, eh? Animals from factory farmed meat plants live absolutely miserable lives. Participating in that industry is far more psychopathic than being willing to expend the time, and money to harvest your own meat, and being willing to be close enough to the process to completely understand exactly what you're doing when you eat that juicy steak.

Don't tell me it's to eat, like I said, I'm not talking about the consumption here

There are hunters who eat what they harvest, and trophy hunters. Trophy hunters are far more rare these days. They're pretty open about the fact that they're pursuing a trophy animal to kill them for sport. They're probably not reading your post, and they don't care what people think about what they do. Are they psychopaths because of that? Probably not, but they definitely lean more towards the apathetic side of the emotional spectrum.

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[–] Nunar@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

With your logic, accidentally killing an animal with a car is the best thing. No premeditated thought, no planned anything. Just BAM! Finally some amino acids.

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