You cruel, sadistic, redneck bastard! OK, so not the way I would describe myself however I was labelled as such a little while ago by the wife of a friend of mine. She wasn't joking either. Let me explain. She, let's call her Mrs. Judgmental, was referring to the fact that I engage in the following: Hunting, culling and the shooting of firearms in general.
We were sitting in a cafe having a nice Sunday brunch catch up with the four of us, my wife and I and my mate and his wife who we haven't spent that much time with. My mate is not a shooter preferring to pour all his efforts into car racing which he's really good at. Anyway, my bro asked what was going on lately with me and we started talking about shooting: Culling and competition stuff. He asked a little more about the culling which is usual as many people don't actually know what it's all about and why it's necessary and I was explaining all of this, albeit minus any real graphic detail, considering the company I was in. It wasn't long before Mrs. Judgmental found her voice and started (tentatively at first) voicing her opinion on the matter and whilst, at that stage, she hadn't gone on full attack I could see where it was going.
"Those poor animals. What do you feel when you pull the trigger. Are you proud of yourself. How inhumane. Why do you feel the need to do this" that sort of comment...
Just for a little perspective she was tucking into a lovely breakfast of bacon and eggs all the while.
So, after making some attempt to change the subject with no real luck, and her comments getting more attacking (and irrational) I asked her if she ate meat. She looked at me quizzically, looked at her plate and said something like, "well obviously," to which I replied "then you better shut the fuck up about shooting animals then huh?"
My mate started grinning immediately however after a sharp, "you asshole, you'll pay for that later" look from Mrs. Judgemental he stopped. With not much to say in return other than trying to argue that HER meat was killed humanely (which it's not generally), she turned to my wife and sought some support. Background on my wife...Vegetarian, hates me shooting animals but understands the need to cull on farming properties; She's also a very good rifle shooter being deadly accurate out to 780m on a dinner plate-sized steel gong. Shoots guns with me regularly and knows how to load, make safe and disable every gun I have: Shotguns, rifles and handguns (semi -auto's & revolvers). So...Not a lot of support coming from that direction Mrs. Judgemental. (Image shows my wife with one of my rifles)
Rather than leave it there she persisted however changing tact slightly and going down the guns kill people track citing many cases in America to support her argument. In these moments I usually simply back down as people who don't shoot guns, have never shot a gun, have never seen a gun in real life, who don't live in America or a war-zone, understand the Second Amendment, or have any real clue about logical discussion are not worth wasting my time on. So, that's what I did. I kind of backed away from the anti-gun argument and suggested instead that she re-evaluate her understanding on how meat is produced and understand how it makes it's way from the womb of it's mother to the supermarket and the little white plastic tray it's purchased in. I offered to send her some YouTube videos taken inside an abattoir to show her how her bacon made it to her plate however she declined.
So, it was around that point she decided to call me a cruel, sadistic, redneck bastard. She is entitled to her opinion of course.
From there I suggested we change the subject which I promptly turned to fishing, a past time Mrs. Judgemental and my mate enjoy together. It worked and the topic shifted. During THAT conversation I asked her how she thought the fish felt getting hooked in it's mouth and dragged, fighting all the way, to the surface and then pulled from the water where it can breath into the air where it can't breathe, and then held up for a photo before being tossed into a small container of water to gradually die with the previous catch. And I'm cruel?
She didn't have much to say about it from there.
I guess my point is that everyone is entitled to an opinion and due to the social-media world we live in many feel completely within their right to push it upon others even if it's unfounded, inaccurate and not based on fact or any real truth. People also like to jump on the band wagon in respect to the latest politically correct or fashionable topic. That's fine of course. It's a free world. However, when confronted with a counter-point based in fact being judgemental is not productive, nor is name calling.
I think political correctness destroys freedom of speech, logical and healthy debate. But that's just my opinion.
Oh, if you have an opinion about shooting (culling/killing) animals and you use ANY product that contains animal products you better check yourself prior to voicing your opinions and judgements on people who do the killing. Go and Google products that contain animal products to see if you do...You'll be surprised.
[- Design and create your ideal life, don’t live it by default -]