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vivid
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Re: Elephants & tigers & hens & other Tory targets
Nov 15, 2010, 21:40
GLADMAN wrote:
vivid wrote:
Vivid: Sorry if I came across as arrogant. I live in the country and also have a certain amount of tolerance towards some village men I know who, whilst shooting, say, magpies and rabbits for conservation purposes, also have owl boxes etc. and would hate to think they'd performed anything but a 'clean kill'. I've taken injured water fowl to such people and they've been very helpful. I also know several who I'm damn sure go badger baiting, hare coursing etc., who are cruel bastards. I'm not a sentimentalist about this.

With regard to your comments about working on the divisions, well, I can't separate out humans from animals and the environment because I just can't. For me they're linked but please don't mistake this for animal versus human rights' position.


No, I probably didn't express myself properly.... not suggesting you are arrogant. My issue re arrogance is with absolute positions... the 'I am right and that is that' position some people have. These leave no room for manoeuver except via brute force, which solves nothing. We need a lot more open dialogue between town and country people to break down long held stereotypical divisions. My experience has shown that most stereotypes we hold of the 'other' are just that... fantasy. The occasional nutter on either side proves the rule since it is rare to meet them.

We need to try and find common ground that everyone can live with or we'll never change anything...the best way is to go and talk to people... what do they think, what are their issues? The Northern Ireland situation is an obvious analogy, I guess. The militant vegan berating everyone for not following his/her lead and refusing to entertain argument is not going to help discussion any more than Lord Wotsit ordering you off his land with a shotgun because you are a dirty oik.


I agree we all need to try to talk these things through in a reasonable manner Gladman, no matter how emotive the subject. Yes, the north of Ireland/Northern Ireland issue is a good example, though I think further huge leaps for the benefit of future generations could be made if mixed schooling were to become the norm, as opposed to the (mostly?) segregated-by-religion systems currently in place. If children were to sit side-by-side from a very young age, I can't see how friendships and tolerance couldn't naturally develop. Or am I being naive?

A friend of mine teaches year 6 (10/11 year olds) at a primary school in Sheffield, where many children are from 'deprived' families or families who are seeking asylum etc. and he often tells me about heartwarming moments, e.g., where he told a young Afghani boy that he'd need some tracksuit bottoms for PE and the lad turned up in half-mast pink tracksuit bottoms for the next class. My mate said not one child laughed at him as you'd imagine they might. They probably ripped the piss behind my mate's back, but I like to think those kids are growing up with a vastly increased awareness about the plight of other people around the world/world situations merely by attending such a school.

Cheers.
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Re: Elephants & tigers & hens & other Tory targets (GLADMAN)
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