Monday, February 13, 2006
Like a Virgin
From my e-mail, I understand that some readers of this bilge are waiting breathlessly for me to snark about Dick Cheney's hunting weekend. I'm sure there must be a world of funny jokes to be made about it, but I can't get the bat off my shoulder. A lot of websites are discussing the fact that the White House decided not to tell anyone about it, but that's the least newsworthy event since the sunrise. Of course they didn't.
The most interesting comment I've seen about the shooting came over at Pharyngula (a blog fast moving up on my list of must-reads), noting that Cheney favors the sort of hunting where you go onto a preserve and shoot animals that have been raised for the express purpose of being killed by hunters--which a lot of hunters consider unethical. I'm not opposed to hunting, but I used to tease a hunter friend of mine by saying that I would consider deer hunting a sport when they armed the deer. He responded that the deer have countless advantages over the hunter--speed, stealth, sense of smell, and knowing the territory among them--and so the contest is actually a fairly even match. If that's true, hunting can indeed be considered a sport. However:
Recommended Reading: If you have time to read only read one blog per day, skip this crappy one and read Pandagon instead. On some days, it's the best blog there is. Amanda Marcotte's feminist analysis of the TV show Bewitched is the kind of thing I wish I was smart enough to think of; her post this morning on how conservative men hate feminism because it cuts down their supply of nubile, compliant virgins is more of the same. So go read already.
From my e-mail, I understand that some readers of this bilge are waiting breathlessly for me to snark about Dick Cheney's hunting weekend. I'm sure there must be a world of funny jokes to be made about it, but I can't get the bat off my shoulder. A lot of websites are discussing the fact that the White House decided not to tell anyone about it, but that's the least newsworthy event since the sunrise. Of course they didn't.
The most interesting comment I've seen about the shooting came over at Pharyngula (a blog fast moving up on my list of must-reads), noting that Cheney favors the sort of hunting where you go onto a preserve and shoot animals that have been raised for the express purpose of being killed by hunters--which a lot of hunters consider unethical. I'm not opposed to hunting, but I used to tease a hunter friend of mine by saying that I would consider deer hunting a sport when they armed the deer. He responded that the deer have countless advantages over the hunter--speed, stealth, sense of smell, and knowing the territory among them--and so the contest is actually a fairly even match. If that's true, hunting can indeed be considered a sport. However:
Blowing away a horde of pen-raised animals, released in front of you to scurry into your gunsights, is not a sport. It's disgusting bloody-mindedness, a lazy, cowardly, vicious sort of abuse.If the shoe fits, yes.
They say that torturing and killing helpless animals is one of the signs of a sadistic sociopath. Somehow, it's fitting that our vice-president is the kind of guy who takes glee in unfeeling butchery.
Recommended Reading: If you have time to read only read one blog per day, skip this crappy one and read Pandagon instead. On some days, it's the best blog there is. Amanda Marcotte's feminist analysis of the TV show Bewitched is the kind of thing I wish I was smart enough to think of; her post this morning on how conservative men hate feminism because it cuts down their supply of nubile, compliant virgins is more of the same. So go read already.
