Recently there was a hunter hate type post here at DK. They occur once in a while though thankfully rarely. I read them and am usually amused, seldom do they elicit anger. Usually such diaries are of a type. What is sad are the people who respond to the hate and stereotyping with more of the same. I guess progressives are after all human.
I view the hating anti hunter in the same light as I view most people who hate entire groups of people. Racists, misogynists, homophobes, anti this or that religion, and all the rest are most often motivated by fear, fear of the other, even fear of the other they fear might be within themselves.
Most of America approves of hunting, polling has shown around 80 to 85 percent of the general public generally approves of hunting, maybe fifty percent strongly approve. Of those who don't ten percent are ambivalent and only around five percent disapprove under all circumstances, they are anti hunters. Of that quotient of anti hunters only a small portion are so vile and filled with hate that they work to stir others (over 150 in this case) to also hate.
Some antis like many hate mongers in other instances use fear to stir up hate. Hate and fear are very potent emotions, just ask, you know, Godwin. Most humans are fairly reasonable people, they don't hate other groups of people much. Under the right circumstances however we are all Hutu looking for Tutsis and their Hutu sympathisers. History has shown us this over and over again. All that lacks for any of us to turn into Red Khmer is enough hate and fear and to be a part of a manipulated group.
A portion of antis are simply anti gun, anything gun related is hateful, and hunters have guns. Guns are scary as well they should be, dangerous they are. Sometimes unnecessarily scary, like fear of bird hunters who are a quarter mile away. Shot simply doesn't travel that far. In my state we usually have hundreds of thousands of hunters, yet usually more people die annually from lightning strikes. Many more by avalanche.
Anti hunting tales often follow the same script, a recantation of stereotypes with loathsome behavior thrown in for good measure. Lawbreaking, misuse of firearms, drunkenness, disrespect for game animals. Did you ever hear Reagan's tale of the woman on food stamps in the Cadillac who buys the vodka?
Another oft repeated meme is the "some of my best friends" one. What the "some of my best friends" claim is used for is to explain away how someone can say something hateful and untrue about a whole group of people. Like it's impossible to really hate all martians if you had a real live martian acquaintance once. A variation is the "I was once a hunter or my dad/uncle/whatever was. I like these best when they are told with the necessary recitation of what a great and ethical hunter the teller or his dad/uncle/someone he heard about, was. Heart shots at half a mile on the run, animals dropping like their legs were cut out from under them. Only to feed the family, unlike these horrid trophy hunters. What I always wonder was what species the teller actually harvested this year, because they really aren't a hunter if they don't hunt. Thier imaginary father, uncle, grandfather, etc, isn't here to speak for themselves, and if they were more than likely they'd box the tellers ears for fibbing.
Another fear elicited by hunters is the fear of the wild, the fear of a time without laws, a time of the deep dark woods. It's no coincidence that most anti hunters are either city dwellers or recent arrivals to the countryside. The woods road is ok for walks, and it's nice to have so many birds, and sometimes deer are on the front lawn, but then those doggone hicks run around shooting stuff in the fall, and they walk in the woods, they could be anywhere, just like I saw on Deliverance and stuff. What if they decide to shoot me?
So no, despite being vilified by anti hunters I don't hate them. Instead I try to understand where they are coming from. Similar to other haters such as racists and homophobes the hate comes from simple ignorance and fear. As with other bigots sunlight is the best disinfectant. As with other bigots I wish that one day they can lose their hate and come to understand that just because someone is different is no reason to fear.