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.

If you post a pIcture of yourself on social media because you’re proud of what youve done and are inviting comment, then you can’t complain if the comment doesn’t go your way - as long as comments are also within the law.
I find these posts by trophy hunters truly vile and detestable. I have noticed that the comments and the outrage gets more aggressive, shall we say, when it’s a woman. I presume most trophy hunters are men, but I think women are more targeted here. Which is probably unfair but tbh that’s one Eg of sexism I’m not going to get too excited over.

@KeflavikAirport

I don't think you can claim the moral high ground when you're joining in a massive worldwide pile on.

Not really on a par with killing a harmless herbivore and having its heart cut out to pose with it for fun, though, is it?

The woman who then cut out the giraffes heart and gave it to her partner for valentine's Day? That sicko should be sectioned as she is obviously very unwell. Did you know in America there are states where you can marry a 13 year-old with just the parents permission and the child can't even divorce her abuser? Do you think they don't deserve to be shamed because it's legal?

The dentist who shot Cecil the lion was also shamed online. I don't have any sympathy for people who kill animals for fun and photos and then claim it helps protect wildlife when the system is corrupted and barely anything goes towards preservation and is mostly pocketed

I’m sorry but there are plenty of practices globally that are legal in that country and are abhorrent to everyone else. Plenty, and yes I believe it should be called out. The fact it’s legal in that country doesn’t change that. It doesn’t matter if you’re hunting a giraffe or stoning a woman to death. Call out the culprits, those who carry it out.

No one “needs” to hunt giraffes. It’s a choice.

And fgm is not illegal everywhere, it’s legal in mali, Liberia and Sierra Leone. India is also one of the few countries who says it’s illegal but passed a law that never mentioned it specifically like other countries do. Many other countries passed laws but simply don’t enforce it.

I don't think many people understand how these trophy hunts work.

The populations of endangered species are controlled by the park/reserve wardens. This includes culling the old members of the herd/pack to enable the younger members to flourish.

So instead of shooting them themselves, they allow some rich idiot to pay £1500 (in this case) for the priviledge. That money then goes into the reserve's funds. Surely this is a good thing?

Posing with an animal's heart is vulgar and just shows these idiots for what they are, but it makes no difference to the bigger picture. The animal would have died no matter who shot it.

@KeflavikAirport

Ok i will hold my hand up to piling on the monarchy. I think they can take it. Compare and contrast with the religion in schools thread.

Cherry picking

I don't think a petition is shitty behaviour but it's your right not to sign it if you don't want to. I'm not sure which part of murderous scum you disagree with? The murderous - well she killed an amazing animal for absolutely no reason but to impress other people with her pathetic FB photos. And the scum - well she killed an amazing animal for absolutely no reason but to impress other people with her pathetic FB photos. So to me if the glove fits...

Legal does not = moral and vice versa.
Hunting animals for fun is immoral, IMO.
Maybe it will change some peoples opinions of hunting for fun.

A lot of wrong things used to be "legal" until enough fuss was made to change the law- and to create the fuss, you need the awareness and enough people opposed to whatever it is you want to change.

This is nothing new.

There have been two other instances of women shooting giraffes in the last two years and as far as I'm aware no-one wants to 'ban' the persons themselves.

therainforestsite.greatergood.com/clicktogive/trs/petition/Giraffe-Extinction-TRS

I agree biddybird

I agree with naming and shaming in this case.

I think intensive animal farming is morally wrong. I don't see hunting big game as any different. I am assuming the majority of people here don't eat animal produce.

@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.

Are you always so obtuse? There are plenty of legal practices which are morally reprehensible. Do you condone conversion therapy, FGM, payday loans, offshore tax havens, etc etc?

@Erkrie

I think intensive animal farming is morally wrong. I don't see hunting big game as any different. I am assuming the majority of people here don't eat animal produce.

Hunting for food is completely different than hunting for sport/fun.

@Erkrie

I think intensive animal farming is morally wrong. I don't see hunting big game as any different. I am assuming the majority of people here don't eat animal produce.

No. Shall we bring back Hunting with Hounds, then? You don't seem to want the contribution that people who eat meat/animal products to banning the practice, after all.

Whilst we're at it, lets bring back bear baiting, legal dog fighting and cockfighting and industrial/commercial whaling for pet food, environmentally friendly oils and plastic replacements. None of these would have become things of the past without people who eat meat and other animal products also agreeing that they are wrong.

The message you're giving out is that people might as well not bother. The consequences of that would be that some would not bother as a consequence of being told you don't want their input. Which I don't think is actually what you want - you want everybody to be bothered to the extent of becoming Vegan. Well, you won't get that by dismissing any hint of somebody caring even a tiny bit.

I'm wondering where all the lefties are, they've gone very quiet ?
You know, those who think that such affluent entitled people have no right to indulge their hobby and should be taxed off the face of the planet so the poor can have 'bread & circuses'...

Puts tin hat on

@Keepitnerdy

The woman who then cut out the giraffes heart and gave it to her partner for valentine's Day? That sicko should be sectioned as she is obviously very unwell. Did you know in America there are states where you can marry a 13 year-old with just the parents permission and the child can't even divorce her abuser? Do you think they don't deserve to be shamed because it's legal?

This. So many things are legal in part of the world or in history. Law makers should be shamed to action but those participating in them should also be shamed. Its push and pull to get to the right place OP

I'm assuming she posted this on her facebook in order to provoke a reaction. She got a reaction. I think she'd be disingenuous in the extreme to try to pretend that she didn't think the reaction she's getting wasn't eminently foreseeable, or at the very least, highly probable. What's the problem?

After all, it's not like she's a critically endangered species, whose had its life needlessly taken, so really, quite hard to get worked up about a troll being trolled on social media.

If you've all quite finished handing me my arse sorry been busy. This thread has actually been very useful in letting me hone my thoughts on the issue. Which are:

1. it's irresponsible journalism for The Independent (where I first saw this) to post the pictures on FB for clickbait. People have been hounded to suicide over this sort of thing. No great loss, some of you might think, but this woman presumably has a family who love her.

1. FB slacktivism is actively harmful because it gives the illusion of activism with none of the actual impact. If you care about FGM, or indeed hunting, calling people who do it names on FB isn't going to change anything. Target your anger more productively.

1. Internet witch hunts are symptomatic of a wider social issue in looking at shades of grey: damaging social polarisation.

1. Actually, critiquing the royal family with valid arguments on MN is not the same as joining in an internet pile-on where you're just mud-slinging. Sorry whoever it was that brought that point up.

And I'm actually a rather nice person. Now back to your regularly scheduled arse-handing.

* And I'm actually a rather nice person.*

With an epically astonishing ability to accept that you may, just May, not have been entirely reasonable.

But nope. Your 4 points just focus on all the ways you were right.

not to accept

As I said, nothing new here -

www.cbsnews.com/news/giraffe-killed-by-american-woman-tess-thompson-talley-sparks-outrage/

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/us-huntress-larysa-switlyk-condemned-for-glorifying-in-shooting-of-scottish-goat-lrcj3nll2

(from 2018)
These women are sponsored by gun manufacturers, that's why they are always blonde and slim with long hair.

Which I don't think is actually what you want - you want everybody to be bothered to the extent of becoming Vegan.

Not really, i can't imagine people being bothered enough to become vegan. If they were, then there would clearly be more vegans, which there isn't. However as giraffe is often on the menu then I would say the shooting of the giraffe in the wild (so to speak) is far more preferable to the nature of intensively farmed animals for meat. To think that intensive farming is ok but shooting the giraffe isn't, seems pretty hypocritical to me.

OP: AIBU?
Majority: yes and here's why
OP: No I'm not. You're all handing my arse to me but here is why I'm still right.