The Atrocity of Man

[Note One: Merriam-Webster offers several definitions of "murder." Included amongst those definitions are the following: something outrageous or blameworthy; to slaughter wantonly. Keep these definitions in mind as you read.]

[Note Two: Information for the writing of this blog post was gathered from multiple reporting sources, including Foxnews.com: NBCnews.com; CNN.com; The Huffington Post, and the StarTribune, the local newspaper media in Minneapolis, Minnesota.]

I generally try to stay out of political or moral debates on these pages, I really do. My purpose here is to share sarcasm, cynicism, songs, stories and whatever else may come to this overactive mind of mine. On occasion, though, a topic arises upon which I cannot help but comment. The murder of the African lion named Cecil is just such a topic.

Here are the facts as I've been able to gather: Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer paid in excess of $50,000 to travel to Zimbabwe to hunt and kill a lion. He hired "professionals" to assist him in this task. The lion he killed was a protected animal: Cecil, one of the two male heads of a lion pride residing on a protected reserve. The lion was lured from the reserve with another animal carcass. Once Cecil left the reserve, Walter Palmer shot Cecil with a crossbow, failing to kill him. Cecil wandered for over forty hours until he became so weak he could no longer flee. At that point Palmer and his hunting guides caught up with Cecil, shot him, killed him, and allegedly beheaded and skinned him. Evidence shows that Cecil's hunters attempted to both remove and destroy the GPS collar Cecil was wearing. Walter Palmer said nothing of these events until more than three weeks after he killed Cecil, and only after his name came to light as the man responsible for Cecil's death.  And only after his name came to light did Walter Palmer claim remorse or regret, stating "…I deeply regret that my pursuit of an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally resulted in the taking of this lion." [Keep that quote in mind as well.]

Something outrageous or blameworthy.

To slaughter wantonly.

Sorry, Mr. Palmer. By those dictionary definitions, the act you committed in killing Cecil was nothing other than murder.

For me, big-game hunting is one of the epitomes of the atrocity of which man is capable. Walter Palmer is an embodiment of that atrocity. He can attempt to spin this in any manner he chooses, but he cannot escape the fact that what he has done, in this instance and forty-three (yes, forty-three) other times, according to the StarTribune, is to hunt and murder defenseless animals for no other purpose than the "sport" of it.

And therein rests my outrage. No, Mr. Palmer, there is no sport in hunting animals at the top of the food chain, animals that have no natural predators other than the ignorance and vanity of man. There is no purpose in what you do. You are not hunting to quell overpopulation. You are not hunting for food. You are hunting for trophies. And that makes you a despicable human being.

You, Mr. Palmer, admit that doing so is an activity that you love. This is an activity that you love. So, you love the senseless and pointless destruction of other living creatures. You love the fact that you are hunting and killing animals that have no expectation of being hunted. You love that fact that you wounded an animal, forcing it to wander and stagger, injured, bleeding and in pain, for over forty hours until it could no longer bear the stress you placed upon it, so that you could catch up to it, kill it, skin it, and chop off its head for your trophy. This is what you love? And you love it so much you've committed this heinousness forty-three other times. And you claim that you do so "responsibly."

There is nothing even remotely responsible about what you do. It is deranged. It is sick. It is one of the worst examples of human depravity that exists. It is anything but responsible.

I've already been called a hypocrite for my stance on this matter because I've not similarly decried the treatment of animals raised for food slaughter, or expressed my outrage at yet another mass shooting at a theatre. Why have I not? I'm not going to pretend that I'm going to offer an explanation of my thoughts on those topics right now. I'm talking about the actions of one man who admittedly finds pleasure in pointless murder for sport. But he claims to do it "legally" so all is forgiven, right?

Wrong.

Palmer has attempted to blame his hunting guides, says that he relied on them in his belief that the hunt was legal. There are two major flaws in that reasoning. Firstly, borrowing from Dr. Malcolm in Jurassic Park, is the basic concept that the fact you can do something doesn't mean that you should. That Palmer sees nothing wrong in big-game trophy hunting in the first place is in and of itself appalling. Secondly, what you did in this instance was, in fact, illegal. Cecil was illegally lured from the preserve, whereupon you shot him. Just as the getaway car driver cannot claim innocence in a dime-store robbery, you may not claim innocence here.

You "deeply regret" your actions here? I call bullshit, Mr. Palmer. If you deeply regretted your actions, you would have immediately reported the matter, three weeks ago when you shot and killed Cecil and discovered his GPS collar. You would not have skinned and beheaded the animal. You would have accepted responsibility for your actions and contacted the authorities. Instead, you waited three weeks until, in an epic twist of ironic fate, you the hunter were hunted and discovered. Only then did you suddenly express remorse. There is no greater remorse than that of getting caught. Nothing about what you've done here was responsible or legal, and your failure to report the matter makes you an accomplice. But hey, as long as you love it….

Frankly I'm surprised that we've not yet heard an impassioned plea from Mrs. Palmer telling us that her husband is a good man and imploring us to just leave their family alone. I hope the reason that we've not is because she doesn't think her husband is a good man. I hope she is realizing what a despicable, reprehensible human being her husband is. I hope for their children's sake she runs as far away from this man as she possibly can, removing these poor children from the spotlight of their father's atrociousness, and his influence.

I doubt that is the case, though, as she has apparently remained complacent as her husband has done this sort of thing at least forty-three other times, and one occasion plead guilty to illegally hunting and killing a bear. Yes, I pity those two children, having a father who loves to kill for no reason and a mother who stands by such actions. No child should be subjected to that kind of upbringing.

Sadly Walter Palmer is but a cog in the atrocity-churning machine that is big-game hunting. Blame falls upon the poachers who helped Palmer illegal destroy the majestic Cecil. Blame falls upon the morally corrupt governments of the African continent that allow big-game hunting to continue in an effort to selfishly garner tourism dollars for their impoverished nations. Blame falls on my own government for allowing people like Palmer to return to our borders carrying trophies of the senseless murder they've committed. Something outrageous or blameworthy. To slaughter wantonly.  This is what is collectively condoned.

I am appalled. I am disgusted, outraged, and I am heartbroken. Palmer's actions in murdering Cecil, and in murdering forty-three or more other defenseless animals, make me ashamed. I am ashamed at him, at our government, and all those involved. I am ashamed to be a member of a country that allows this to continue. I am, in this moment, ashamed to be a member of the human race, a race that is not only capable of committing such atrocity, but in Palmer's case, admittedly revels in it.

You'll reap what you sow, Walter Palmer. You already are. From what I understand you've been eviscerated in the media. Your dental practice is closed. Your websites are shut down. You been made a societal pariah. And you deserve all of it. Your idyllic life as you knew it is over. Wherever you go, you will now be known as the despicable human being that you are. The world now knows the name of Walter Palmer, the man who murdered Cecil. And when, as I'm sure you will, you lament and decry what you'll perceive as misperception and mistreatment, I'll hold no sympathy. I hope this haunts you, though I'm sure it won't, because though you claim to regret this particular death, you express no remorse for your love of killing for sport.  

Nevertheless, I hope that when someone calls you names, expresses their disgust in you, that you are reminded of how you wounded Cecil, let him wander through the wilderness pained, injured and alone, and then murdered him. I hope your dreams are filled with images of Cecil's skinned corpse coming for your soul, but that assumes you have a soul in the first instance. You'll never receive the justice you deserve for your actions while you draw breath. My hope is that your eternity, your Hell, will place you in the position of each and every animal you've stalked and killed to bolster your own pathetic ego and vanity.

Does it belie my Catholic faith to wish such a fate upon you? Probably. I can atone for my sin. You'll never be able to say the same.

© 2015 J.J. Goodman. All rights reserved.