Mmmm. No. You’re wrong

Aaron Sorkin at the Huffington Post condemns Sarah Palin for hunting Caribou on a reality show.  Gee.  Who could have seen that coming?

They call hunting “hunting” and not “shooting” for the same reason that they call fishing “fishing” and not “catching”.  It’s surprisingly hard and the animal (and fish) have a lot to say about what your chances of success are.  In my decades of hunting (long ago now) the only thing I ever rustled up was some frogs (the amphibious kind).  Having a rifle supposedly makes hunting easier than using something like a spear, but I wouldn’t know because it didn’t help me much at all.

Sorkin tries to deny hypocrisy about being an omnivore while condemning hunting. But the attitude that condemns killing for sport where the meat is harvested is just around the corner from condemning killing for work (evil blood for profit!).  I suspect that not only does Sorkin not hang out with any who works as a butcher in a meat packing plant, from where his carnivorous yearnings are sated, but he would be averse being around them in general.  They would be ‘unclean’.  But of course, he won’t mind if they continue to supply him with culinary treats from a distance.

It is the attitude so prevalent today of people who want the benefits of civilization but don’t want to see what actually goes on to make it happen.  More commonly, they condemn what actually goes on to make it happen.  ‘Cultured’ people can admire fine automobiles.  But they claim superior moral standing because they condemn the petroleum industry that makes it go.  They would be enraged if the lights don’t go on when they flip the switch, but protest every facet of the infrastructure that powers it.

Sorry, to condemn hunting but accept the whole animal husbandry industry is hypocrisy.  The chances of that caribou dying of old age in bed surrounded by family and friends (because most liberals’ knowledge of nature comes from Disney) is zero.  The most likely destiny of that animal was to be torn apart by wolves or other predators, during which at some point, it would mercifully die.  A good clean shot is infinitely quicker.  So if Mr. Sorkin really wants to keep animals from suffering slow painful deaths, he should encourage more hunting.

Of course, one suspects that his interest lay less in the welfare of the deli on the hoof than gratuitous Palin hating.

“…there was an insert close-up of your manicure while you were roughing it in God’s country. I know exactly how many feet off camera your hair and make-up trailer was.”

Had he listened to the story, he would have known that they were in camp for a grand total of two…got that…two whole days.  Arrive one day, leave the next…maybe less than 36 hours on the ground.  Color me gullible, but I’m betting manicured nails don’t fall off in two days.  I knew women who worked in factories that wore manicures.  It’s the style of the times.  If anything, the nail disprove his claim.  Sarah Palin’s main occupation now is public speaker.  Ya’ know…dressing up in girlie clothes and getting all dolled up and manicured like she worked in an office or something.  If they had tried to present her a Tarzana, they would have cropped the nails to support the part.  Instead, it looked like she had taken two days off from the office to go hunting.  Surprise! That’s how it was presented.

“That was the first moose ever murdered for political gain.”

Apparently, Mr. Sorkin has never heard of Teddy Roosevelt.  Oh, and we’ve established that he can never be president.  As we know from all the haters jumping on any misplaced word as proof that someone isn’t qualified to be president, it wasn’t a moose.  Sorkin cannot be president.  QED.

And for the critics who say she looked like an amateur, the purpose of the show was not to present her as The Great White Hunter.  It was to present her as learning from her father, a major theme in her book Going Rogue and a concept unimaginable to so many today, including apparently, Sorkin.

Update: Hot Air’s Quotes of the Day picked up on the same theme.  It was not about her hunting skills.  It was about a father and daughter relationship.