to think internet shaming people for legal behaviour is shitty behaviour

[KeflavikAirport]

My FB is awash with petitions to ban some South African woman for posting pictures of giraffe hunting. People are calling her murderous scum and all sorts. Now I'm not a fan of trophy hunting personally but like it or not, it's legal. AIBU to think that joining a baying internet mob to hound a woman who has done nothing illegal is pretty shitty behaviour in its own right? And no I won't be signing your petition. Lobby to make trophy hunting illegal if you care that much.

A few years ago, someone suggested the quickest way to save giraffes was to develop a taste for the meat, and farm them ...

Although I suspect the reason we don't is that it's probably not that tasty.

Thinking that what is ok is defined by what is legal is the ethical thinking level of a ten year old. In an adult, it's idiotic.

It's legal to rape and marry children in some places does that mean we accept it? NO Carry on naming and shaming a d being outraged it is only if you make a noise that this disgusting behaviour will be banned

She is a murderous scum. And you are defending murderous scummery, which makes you just as bad OP. HTH.

@hatedbytheDailyMail

Thinking that what is ok is defined by what is legal is the ethical thinking level of a ten year old. In an adult, it's idiotic.

but the reverse is also true - what is illegal isn't necessarily immoral or unethical either.

.

Until recently it was legal for a man to rape his wife. If you'd heard a man proudly describe how he had raped his wife, you'd have been fine with it and expected people not to call him 'rapist scum' because it was legal?

Morality isn't dictated by the law. Plenty of things are and have been legal that are morally unacceptable. We don't have to accept something that we disagree with just because it's legal. Child marriage is legal in some places, FGM, marital rape, doesn't make it ok.

Morality does not equal legality.

That's the internet for you. Yes I think it's wrong. But it's impossible to stop people doing this stuff. Some people are cunts and the internet is their stage.

There was a programme by Stacey Dooley that addressed this issue btw. It shone a different perspective on big game hunting which was food for thought.

I think its the fact that the trophy hunters are going from a country they cannot hunt these animals to take advantage of the laws in poorer country that gets people. For this reason they should be shamed, as were sick men who used to brag about taking advantage of young girls in Thailand because they could get away with it there.
That said I'm not anti hunting as such, and think it's disgusting that legal pheasant shoots and farm are targeted by trolls, usually for political reasons.

Legality is not a good yardstick of morality. Beating your wife used to be perfectly legal. Racism, yup, perfectly fine. This woman chose to do something inexplicably cruel and posted a photo of herself in the act on the internet thus inviting comment. And comment they have. I imagine she gives no fucks and will continue to post photos of the animals she gratuitously kills in order to get a rise out of people. I have little concern for her.

@KeflavikAirport

I presume you mean opprobium not approbation Laurie! Sorry but I disagree. I think being slagged off worldwide is vastly out of proportion considering that the practice is legal.

She shouldn't be showing off her "kills" online or anywhere then and no one would know .

Eh? I’m not one for piling on, I’m usually the pilee not the piler on here as recent threads will demonstrate

The legality is moot when the vast majority of people think it's abhorrent behaviour.

People who trophy hunt are scum, in my opinion. The laws of the country they killed in mean absolutely nothing to me. They're still cowardly arseholes & I hope they suffer.

Being legal is no excuse. Raping or being violent towards your wife is legal in many countries, you really wouldn't judge? We have problems with our laws too - remember how upskirting wasn't illegal until 2019?

The woman in question posted her pics to get a reaction- it's one of the few times my SM feed had pixelated images. (The only other time is children in an image who are unrelated to the story) The images are grotesque and it's sickening how proud she is in the pictures.

Would I voice my disapproval of legal but immoral activity? Yes if it was local and might make a difference. Not if it was something on the other side of the world where me posting “murderous scum” from the comfort of my own home made no difference. If it was something I felt strongly enough about I would pitch my activism where it mattered. And sorry but I think trophy hunting is more of a grey area morally than marital rape or FGM,

I mean if it was legal to line up people and shoot them, would you feel the same?

Just because it’s a different species, it doesn’t make people feel less enraged. It comes down to the moral aspect.

The vast majority of the comments shaming this woman are also perfectly legal.

Which means you’ve really just started a thread to internet shame people for legal behaviour yourself. Can you honestly not see that?

It is also legal to marry underage kids in some countries, is it morally right? No! Should they be shamed, yes! Same thing as in both morally wrong, just a different species!

Legal and moral are different things.

In some countries it is legal for adults to marry children. In the UK it wasn't that long ago that rape within marriage was legal.

If you were giving the example of facebook busybodies uploading photos of someone cycling through the village who doesn't live there (despite there being other places close by and zero sign of covid law breaking) then I'd say anyone piling on needs to get a life, but if someone posts themselves trophy hunting then they're inviting comments and they know it's a controversial subject.

Black slavery in america was legal if it wasnt for people standing up to it which litrally caused a war it would still be legal.

Legal doesnt equal right, lots of things have fallen through gaps in the law but people still need to know they are not socially acceptible they only know that by being exposed to the outrage that action causes.

You can be fired from jobs for 'legal' actions or you can be kicked out of your rented home from 'legal' actions and much more you are never free of consiquences to your actions weather technically 'illegal' or not.

There are loads of things that used to be legal before people realised they were wrong. Meth, child labour, drink driving, domestic violence, slavery...

Nothing changes unless people speak up.

I’ll hold my hand up and say ok i am just as bad if this thread goes viral and attracts thousands of comments worldwide. Somehow I doubt that will happen.

Anyone interested in the moral case for trophy hunting could read this for instance: www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/trophy-hunting-killing-saving-animals

I’m not a fan, it’s not something I would do personally in a million years, but I think it’s not all that black and white.

There was a video of a man hitting a woman on a public bus posted on the internet. Domestic abuse is legal in that country and no one did anything. The man was utterly shameless and people just watched. I wanted to rip his fucking head off. I feel the same about people who kill defenceless animals for no other reason than trophies. She obviously sees it as something to brag about, which is awful.

YABU. I'm not that bothered about it myself, but people can think something's unethical/gross even if it isn't illegal.