I read a diary today that disturbed me a little, regarding this Cheney thing - but it brought up a point I want to go into a little more detail about. This is not about calling anyone out, I won't even link to the diary. But I'm disturbed. More on the flip.
Essentially, the poster in this diary took issue with the notion that the birds were hunted in such a way that was unfair to the birds. Fine, I won't quibble with that. I have four birds myself, and I enjoy watching them do bird things - I don't want to see them die. I enjoy watching wild birds, too - I don't particularly like to see them die either, especially at the hands of humans without even giving them a fighting chance.
But this poster went on about the bad things that he would like to see done to the person who is actually doing this kind of hunting. In a bit of detail.
This was disturbing. This person basically took the position that the lives of 400 birds were worth more than one human. The argument that a life is a life and neither should be taken is a compelling one, but the argument that the people who kill birds in this manner should be killed themselves is strangely hypocritical and somewhat disturbing. Is this what compassion means to some people? Kill the human and leave the animals? No wonder some people confuse the words "animal rights" with "left-wing nutjobs".
I'm not defending Cheney nor am I defending his hunting practices. I don't think it was right. Eat what you kill, and he's not going to eat 400+ birds. I hope he gets brought up on felony charges for his disregard for the life of his fellow hunter. But I also hope that those here can be careful of the kind of revenge they want - are those of you who think hunters of birds should be killed themselves pro death penalty? I doubt it.
OK, I'm off my soapbox now. I'll put up a tip jar so you can flame me if you want. At least think about it.
Updated to fix a grammatical error.