Social Media and Morality

Many of you, by now, have probably heard the news that broke out yesterday regarding Cecil the Lion's death, but, if not, you can update yourself here .

Many large animals are collared or tagged by researchers who wish to study their species for behavior patterns, and Cecil was one of these, beloved by many for his appearance on documentaries and as an object of safari sightseers visiting the Zimbabwe wilderness preserve on which he roamed.

The fact that he was lured away from this preserve onto legal hunting grounds by a common tactic used by big game hunters, in which a carcass is placed as bait, and subsequently killed, has outraged many, but even this wouldn't have made it past animal rights media outlets if it wasn't for the fact it was Cecil that was the victim and if it wasn't for the fact that it was a rich American dentist, named Walter Palmer, who paid $50,000 for the permit rights to hunt a lion in Zimbabwe.

But even this was exacerbated by the fact that this was all done merely for sport and trophy, and is commonly done for such. This type of hunting isn't hunting for meat, population control, or elimination of threat. Palmer belonged to groups such as the Pope and Young Club and Safari Club International , which encourage hunters to list their competitive accomplishments in hunting animals such as rhinos, elephants, giraffes, leopards, lions, and polar bears.

All legally of course. And this is the problem. Palmer, while he admits he is the one who killed Cecil, does not admit to knowingly doing anything wrong, and probably didn't from a purely legal perspective, despite his guides being arrested in Zimbabwe for it. It is perfectly legal to hunt all of these large animals, even if just for sport, with a permit and on legal hunting grounds.

But morally?

Palmer has subsequently been the subject of an international firestorm that has seen his Facebook accounts hijacked with thousands of livid messages and comments calling for his own similar death, his dentistry indefinitely closed due to calls and protests, not to mention hundreds of resulting negative Yelp reviews, and his whereabouts of him and his Minnesota family of four in hiding. All in a mere day.

Is it possible that social media, for all its negativity it receives for this type of thing, played a positive role this time in bringing morality to something that otherwise is considered legal? And therefore does a more efficient job in promoting positive change from time to time? It is doubtful that Palmer will ever look at hunting the same, or even participate, and, more importantly, members of such organizations may begin to look more inwards at what they are doing, not to mention see dwindling numbers of memberships as a result of the media frenzy unsympathetic to anything he may say in his defense.

On one level i disagree with sending death threats. And i disagree with the guy having to be in fear of his famalies life.

But then again, the emotional side if me says that it was an an animal acting on instinct so the guy deserves everything he got and more. Part of me actually wishes 50k could be paid to shoot the twerp.

But then part of me says its wrong thoughts to be had i should practice empathy and step away from emotion.

Im truly torn apart over this.

This too shall pass.

Remember the guy who won a ticket to shoot a (white?) rhino?

After the media storm calmed down, he went out and finished it.

If you paid attention to Palmer's statement, he said he was sorry for being involved in the death of "this" lion.

So once another scandal boils to the top of the pile of media, and this storm blows past him, he'll open his business and go hunting again.

After all, I'm sure at least some of his regular clients are familiar with his hobbies and don't disagree.

Evil

Would it be wrong to cut off the guys head and mount it on the wall?

All trophy hunting & sports fishing for total catch weight should be outlawed.

Oh Look Sweaty Teddy has chimed in:

"As outrage continued over the killing of tourist attraction Cecil the lion by a hunter in Zimbabwe, National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent called the controversy "a lie" and a "joke," adding, "God are people stupid.""

Ted is brain dead.

I wouldn't advocate anything like that, but the good thing coming from all this media frenzy is the awareness it has raised, which will hopefully lead to more worldwide legislation against the practice.

There are people who kill for fun. I have never understood why.

It would be nice if this 'incident' proved to be a catalyst for change but unfortunately i doubt that it will.

There is no wrapping my mind around why people are still 'hunting'. There is no need for it as we can buy our food at markets now, so the only reason is what they call 'sport hunting' which is false because in any sport the opponent always know the game and the rules and willingly accept to play the so-called sport..

Death threats if I read correctly to the man that did it is a little far out there, but should have never happened to begin with in my opinion.

When I was living outside of Fairbanks in Alaska, during bear hunting season, one of the bars kept a scoreboard of how many hunters killed bears and how many bears killed hunters. The bears always won.


In the 1950's there was a bounty on wolves. I think it was fifty dollars for the head and you could sell the pelt too. The wolf population was pretty much wiped out. The problem that arose was the karabo who the wolves fed on had a population explosion (balance of nature and all that) and there were more karabo than there was food. They had to pay professional hunters with high powered rifles to thin the herds that the wolves had been thinning for free.

How else do we protect our fragile go's when there are no bears to kill?

I dont actually support this or agree with this. But as a male, I do understand the ego.

If he had gone head to head against the Lion unarmed, man vs animal, I would be more sympathetic, but I believe he cheated.