Originally Posted by
Gramps
Originally Posted by
SilverMallard
I hope fish are really, really smart. I know they don't have much in the way of pain receptors in their nervous systems. And I know their brain capacity is crude and small. But I sure hope they learn from experience.
On the other hand, the law of natural selection predicates that we catch mostly the dumber ones and that the smartest survive the longest and eat the best...thus get biggest. It is actually far more likely that the "smart old fish" that haunts your favorite hole has never been caught than it is that he has learned from being caught.
But I like my quarry to be worthy and provide me with a challenge. The smarter the better. Doesn't bother me in the least. But I will say this...
Fish are smart enough not to sit around agonizing about how they treat their food and if they're being "fair" to all the other little aquatic critters.
Why don't you give them a real chance? Catch them with your hands.
That's two posts on this subject that you insulted some members of this forum. Is that your style?
Actually, I've done that. It's challenging, alright. But too messy.
There is only one person whom I addressed specifically and nothing insulting was said in any of my posts except for that single "dumb question." The fact that I find it silly and even arrogant that we question the "ethics" of our predatory nature need not insult you...or anyone else. It's merely a different perspective from the way you view the universe and man's role in it. You see, I believe man is an animal...the most highly adapted and sophisticated of all animals, but an animal. I believe that man was created to be a predator and...as such...need make no apology for predatory behaviors. To ME, to question the "correctness" of this fundamental reality is arrogance against nature/the Creator...thinking more of ourselves than we have a right to. A lion doesn't feel sorry for the gazelle...either the ones he kills, or the ones he harasses and lets get away. Neither does he feel uncomfortable with is role in the universe. He's a lion.
It's like the old story about the farmer and the snake. The farmer finds this baby snake and makes it a "pet." Years later, the snake bites the farmer. The farmer says to the snake, "I took you in, raised you, fed you, kept you safe all of your life. And this is the thanks I get? I'm going to die!" To which the snake replies...
"What did you expect? I'm a SNAKE!"
Only overly-civilized people think like y'all do on these two threads. The vast majority of the people of planet Earth would find this discussion silly, too. Be glad that you are among the pampered minority...as am I. But I will not apologize for finding soul-searching about the "ethics" of hunting/fishing (in the abstract) silly. There are all sorts of "ethics" WITHIN the scope of hunting/fishing we can talk about intelligently. But to entertain the notion that hunting/fishing are somehow INHERENTLY unethical is...to ME...the height of arrogance. If that offends you...tough.