THE BIG LIE

by Dino DiGiacomo

(c) 1996

skunks11@aol.com

 

People who enjoy killing animals have long tried to disguise their barbarity in a cloak of respectability they call "sporthunting".  The fact is, sporthunting does not exist.  It never has.

 

All sports share certain conditions to ensure a sense of fair play and create equal opportunity for all participants.  What the animal killers call sport hunting meets none of the conditions of real sports.  Let's take a look at some of the criteria that define sport and why so-called sporthunting fails every one of them.

 

Willingness to Participate - In any sport, all participants choose to be there.  Both boxers want to be in the ring that night, the players on both football teams want to be on the field that day, and both tennis players agree to meet on the court at that time.  Sporthunting fails on this point because the animal is never a willing participant.

 

Knowing When the Contest Will Start - All basketball players are aware of the starting time of the game, giving them time to prepare.  Golfers know what time they will tee off.  Wrestlers know what time the match will start.  They don't expect their opponent to break into their home and hurt or kill them while they are sleeping or having breakfast with their family, which is what happens to animals because this sporting condition is not met.

 

Even Chance - All participants are given the same equipment with which to play the game.  Both boxers have equally weighted gloves and protective gear, as do football and hockey players.  Bowlers are only allowed to throw one ball at a time while all rowers use the same numbers of oars.  Sporthunting fails here also because the hunters have airplanes, automatic weapons, high-powered scopes, steel traps, etc., while the animal has only the equipment it was given at birth.

 

Equal Prize - The criterion here insures the same prize is awarded to whichever team or player wins the contest.  The prize itself may be a trophy, belt or an award, but the commercial and athletic value of that prize is the same for each potential winner.  Sporthunting fails miserably on this point because the prize is life itself, but it is not an equal prize.  The hunter can only win or draw while the animal can only draw or lose.  The hunter wins by killing the animal or draws if the animal manages to escape.  Conversely, the animal draws by getting away or loses by being killed.  The animal cannot win.

 

Some hunters say that once in a while the animal wins by killing the hunter but that only happens on rare occasions with all the odds stacked against the animal, who is never a willing participant anyway.  I have heard some hunters ay that hunting is not about the animals at all.  It is, they insist, an awareness of self.

 

Once and for all, let's not buy into their facade.  Sporthunting is not a sport.  It is simply an excuse for unhappy men and women to go out and kill.  How do I arrive at the fact they are an unhappy lot?  Look around you!  Happy people do not take time away from their happiness to go out and kill something.  The real shame is that sporthunters pass this travesty onto their children who will come to believe that killing is a sport.

~~~~~

(c) 1996

Dino DiGiacomo, my best friend, wrote this and I helped get it submitted in a Friends of Animals publication for him years ago.  Since anti-hunting is such a big issue more now than usual, he has given me permission to promote this article in any way that I feel that it can help.

With the passing of time, the broad strokes of anti-hunting campaigns shall be enriched and the means to these ends made in silver clarity.  As you can see, we propose a major undertaking, but the time for such a thing is long past and there may never be the opportunity for such an advance again.

If you will stand with us there is nothing we cannot overcome.  If you do not already belong to Protect R Wildlife, do so now, for this effort will take numbers as well as resources. 

We have the good will of the public in our hands.  We must grasp it and forge an armament aimed and warred with such dynamic might that our enterprise deals a fatal blow to hunting.

You are permitted to cross-post, but must get permission from protectrwildlife@aol.com to publish it in the media or other web sites.  We want to know where and when it is going to be published so we can get a copy.  It is published on www.ProtectRWildlife.org.