Just what would YOU know, anyway?
Europe is a culture that is in severe decline.
Americans are MUCH more appreciative of the role horses have played in the advancement of Western Civilization.
Posted on 02/24/2005 1:05:27 PM PST by Willie Green
Explain please to this "moron" the relevance of your hysterical slavery reference to a conversation about slaughtering feral HORSES.
Horses are not in any way equivalent morally to human beings. It sounds like youve watched too many episodes of "Mr Ed", bunny hugger.
Well I hadn't really thought of it from that perspective...
But yes, I suppose at a philosophical level it DOES reflect our society's obsession with short-term consumption and complete disregard for long-term commitment to productive assets.
Everything has become disposable, including America's wealth.
Just how is a FERAL horse either a productive asset or part of America's wealth?
Same as all our other natural resources.
Just what would YOU know, anyway?
Europe is a culture that is in severe decline.
Americans are MUCH more appreciative of the role horses have played in the advancement of Western Civilization.
That is the crux of this matter. Those of us who have horses and more importantly, find an inner peace with them, even the ornery ones, perceive suffering in the way the whole process of horse slaughter is done. The mustangs should be bolted upon the prairie that has been their home. A "Slaughter Truck" could be fabricated and the mustangs rendered meat on the hook in place. It simply takes the bureaucratic will and ingenuity.
As for domesticated horses, I am against their slaughter upon no other grounds than I consider it an offense to my soul to summon a horse that has borne my weight and compel it by its tameness, to suffer un-humane transportation to a slaughter house. The only reason, IMHO, for a tame horse to be put down is illness and suffering. To send a horse that has worked or played with you to slaughter is somehow, immoral to me.
Let me add that this "sentimentality" is not limited to horses, nor do I believe confers upon my character a "weakness". To the contrary, just the opposite. It has been my experience from battlefield to the hay field that the lack of empathy was a good indication of a lack of courage.
One last point, the American shipping millionaire, Henry Bergh, started the ASPCA in New York in 1866 because of the mistreatment of horses. He also went on to found the SPCC in 1874. That was the Society to Prevent Cruelty to Children.
Those who are cruel to their animals are cruel to their children, and vice versa. Harvesting, culling herds, being predators ourselves, are all peripheral to the point of actual contention which is cruelty and forced suffering. To the animal and to ones own character. We all, man an animal alike, would like to pass through this life with as much unnecessary suffering as possible.
No! I have no obligation too. Furthermore, don't let me catch you on my land or around my horses. Is that clear?
Grow up.
I may be European born but Im a US citizen. But judging by your tagline I guess you're a Pat Buchanan fan so that doesnt mean much to you.
Oh, by the way, posting a picture of the Budweiser clydesdales really clinches the case for the value of feral horses.
Exactly, Willie. The horse has carried more of our burdens than beer. Cannon, shot and powder by caisson in the middle of battle, swordsmen from Ghengis Khan to the last charge of cavalry by the Polish Army against the Germans in 1939. I was at a WWII Air Corps Officers burial at Arlington last year, and his remains were given the "honors" deserved by being borne on a caisson pulled by horse. What the "morons" don't get is that the horse has earned a particularly venerable place in human history and not just warfare. The horses has done more for mankind than just about any other natural object except wood. It's not the slaughter that offends me, it's the torture that is inflicted prior to. We can do better than that.
You may be an American citizen, but you have little regard for our culture.
"Lighten up, Francis."
~ from the movie Stripes
Well said!
...but your not from Ireland.
...Clydesdales really clinches the case for the value of feral horses.
So....you're kind of a feral human?
Excellent post elbucko...
I object to slaughter of the domestic horse for the reasons you stated. It is a betrayal of the trust we asked them to put in us when we first haltered, or first climbed on a horse and said "trust me, work with me, and I will not hurt you". We have their cooperation in life, and when we injure them from our use, or have used up their working years, they deserve better from us in return than a crammed slaughter truck to a terrorizing end at a factory slaughter house somewhere. I think we have a contract with them, and we are better for holding ourselves to it.
Betrayal is not the same in the case of the Mustang... they don't know us, really, though some of these unwanteds are certainly broke to halter, even if they've been returned to BLM as too hard to handle. Their attitude toward us is probably not different than our contract with cattle. I must concede that not all these Mustangs are suitable for placement in homes, it's a rare horseman who desires and can handle the training of a wild horse. And there are probably not a lot of people out there willing to take on a horse that can't be used... aside from the few afforded by refuge groups who will put them to pasture.... larger holding pens...
Your idea to make shorter work of them by at least bringing the slaughter to the horse is as good as any. But it is an abomination of nature that we have let this situation grow into a problem of this magnitude. There is no excuse for creating a scene where this many animals will die. It certainly can't be called management. It's just cleanup after mismanagment. People have really screwed this up, to have managed this into a situation where 10,000 animals need to be slaughtered. It makes me sick. And I am not ashamed of that, I like the me that cares about them. I certainly wouldn't like the me that felt nothing.
Better ideas for the future are needed.
Witty. You've stepped in your own manure and now you can't shake the smell off your own boots. Next time, give some consideration to your response. FR has consensus, but it is also one that can be contentious to the unthoughtful. There are many kinds of "Conservatives" here and not just ones that want to conserve only money. If that is what you think conservative means, another code word for cheap or selfish, you are going to be disappointed.
LOLOLOLOL
Just to piss off the people who want to tell others what they can and cannot eat, I'm going out of my way on my next trip abroad to eat some dog, some cat, and some horse. Who knows, I might even find that I like them.
"but your not from Ireland"
Oh yeah? How do you conclude that?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.