Well you go do it your way and i'll do it mine, Lord knows the Deplomacy is working GREAT so far
THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT INTERESTED IN THE TRUTH,TALKING,OR COMING INTO A AGREEMENT. THEY WANT YOU TO STOP KILLING ANIMALS THEN EATING THEM PERIOD
.OPEN YOU EYE'S AND SEE WHATS GOING ON AROUND YOU. THE MEDIA IN LARGE IS THERE BEST WEAPON
I think this misses the point. I gave a real life example where the diplomacy HAS worked
What major inroads have been made, what hunting methods or opportunities have been saved by hunters being arrogant, antagonistic, or acting entitled? None.
The NTA has made major legal/political headway in keeping trapping related issues off the chopping block, and that video they made exemplifies why their approach actually works, not in theory, but proven in real life. TBL is right... thumping your chest and proclaiming "I'm not gonna take it anymore!" might make you feel better for five minutes, but it's self destructive to our way of life, because long after the "I'm not belly crawlin' for no one" rhetoric was worn thin, the anti's will still be playing to win, and we'll be too busy blaming them to look in the mirror and realize it's our own @#$% fault for not playing to win ourselves.
The Beagler's alliance and several other hunting advocacy groups just successfully won a major battle against the anti's on the proposed ban on coyote dog training pens in Indiana. They won the battle by being SMART, by being DIPLOMATIC, and by using the system to their advantage.Nothing is 100%, you'll always win some and lose some. But the diplomacy appraoch has and does work for hunting issues more often than not when done right, it's a proven fact.
And I am not throwing any hunters under the bus!!! I'm a licensed hunter, a licensed trapper, a field trial judge, I've worked in conservation professionally, I've taught hunter ed, I've taught National Archery in the Schools programs, I've worked with law enforcement, political bureaucrats, journalists and with media consultants. I'm a dogger that has actually seen the machinery... from the inside... I'm just telling you how it works, and how we can win using that machinery instead of always assuming it's a lost cause and that it's always the "enemy".
Both the media and the political process CAN be used as tools for our side. Why? How? It's simple, again TBL is right. We and the Anti's are both very small minorities. We don't have to eat tofu, and we don't have to convert the Anti's to our side. All we have to do is focus on the MAJORITY, on John and Jane Q Public and the politicians that 'represent' them.
The obvious truth is that the average person isn't a hog dogger, but the average person does eat meat. They're not hunters, but they're also not anti's... most people are just reasonable folks just trying to get by... meaning they don't have strong feelings for or against either side. So if we do what the NTA has done, and instead of simply throwing up our hands and saying, "we can't use the media, the media is the anti's weapon against us" we should realize that a good knife cuts both ways. We CAN follow the example of the NTA and use the media to support our cause and win the battle of ideas for average America.
We can beat the anti's, but we'll only beat them by turning it around on them, by fighting smarter than they do on both the public opinion and legislative fronts. If we're going to succeed on those fronts, we're going to have to stop with the posturing and shallow "don't tread on me" rhetoric. Obviously, we're inevitably going to have some blowhards among our ranks, and it's a free country and anyone can choose to go that route. But the blowhards won't be the ones saving our heritage and our way of life. Instead it's going to be those of us that have the wisdom to look around, and see the societal landscape for what it is (not what we wish it was) and actually get to work on learning how to use media campaigns, political lobbies, and grass roots popular support efforts to OUR advantage. That's how it works. You simply have to make a choice. Choose not to fight to win, and be left holding the (empty) bag. Or choose to accept that you don't have to like it and you don't have to agree with it, you just have to choose to be willing to work the system.
