Posted by Tailspin on July 13, 2001 at 19:22:53:
In Reply to: using your quote... posted by JohnB on July 13, 2001 at 09:52:46:
I don't hunt, personally. Nothing against it, I just never learned to do it, either on land or under the water. I don't even fish, for that matter, and moreover, I consider myself a conservationist, in that I don't approve of trophy hunting, or leaving spears hanging out of protected fish, etc.
I do have a strong conviction that an individual human life is more important than any individual animal's life. This is important. This means that if you are faced with a choice of ruining the livelihood of 1400 farmers or providing more water for a suckerfish, you choose the humans...every time. You don't put hundreds of people in Oregon out of business to protect the habitat of an owl. To me, the well being of a community of human beings is more important than the well being of a certain species (subspecies or group, really) of owl.
I will not try to approach the eloquence of Bill who posted earlier on this subject, other than to say that I agree with him, and to note that in six thousand or so years of recorded human history, those societies that elevated animals above humans, perpetrated terrible cruelties both upon their enemies and upon their own people.
The extreme environmentalists see humans as a blight upon the environment, and they seek to limit human access to it.
I believe differently. To extrapolate from this that I believe in wholesale slaughter is to misstate the issue and the argument.
Now, I'll go back to my peaceful lurking until I see another opportunity to stir the pot.