Comedian and UFC announcer Joe Rogan took to social media recently to address the outrage that certain people feel when a hunter posts a picture of their catch. Here’s the photo he posted of the wild turkey he shot in Northern California:
Along with the photo, Rogan had this to say regarding the unsettling feeling that people sometimes get when looking at pictures of a hunted animal on Facebook or Twitter:
“There’s a hierarchy of animal life on social media. It depends upon the type of animal and whether or not it’s been cut up and cooked. Cut up and cooked animals generate very little social media hate. Butchered raw meat is slightly more disturbing to the faint hearted amongst us. Intact dead animals freshly killed cause the most enthusiastic negative reactions.
As for dead, whole things, fish seem to be the easiest for people to accept. Cut up fish causes almost no negative reaction. Dead birds are slightly more disturbing than dead fish.”
Rogan followed up the post with another, showing the same bird, gutted, plucked, and ready to cook. He had this to say:
“In keeping with my hierarchy of dead animals theme, here’s that same turkey gutted and plucked. Slightly less disturbing to those inclined to express social media outrage - especially if they eat meat themselves - because it now looks like groceries.”
The point he makes is certainly valid, and exposes the hypocrisies of people who are outraged by pictures of dead animals that have recently been killed by hunters. Do those people feel the same outrage when they see an animal presented in a more grocery-friendly way? If someone is going to eat their catch, how can you possibly be upset from seeing a carcass? The people who are upset at these images are the same ones that eat three helpings of turkey on Thanksgiving, which doesn’t make a lot of sense.
That’s not to say, however, that you should never be outraged by a picture of an animal carcass. Remember the shit storm that Texas cheerleader Kendall Jones created when she posted photos of her and the big game she killed in Africa?
Whether you support hunting for sport or not, it can be very unsettling to see such beautiful animals posed with some teenage goody goody. Do you believe in hunting purely for sport, or do you cook and eat everything that you eat? Let us know in the comments what you think about Rogan’s rant.
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