Normally I don’t mind the religious. Like smokers, it lets me know who around me is an idiot and I can avoid them.
Occasionally though, religious types the world over decide to force their belief system and rules on others. Any resistance marks us as infidels, devils, unholy. Whatever.
Today I see that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has granted an Indian tribe permission to hunt andkill bald eaglesfor their feathers.
Apparently, they’re necessary for religious ceremonies.
Great. Suppose my religion, say Pastafarianism, says I should cut the thumbs off my male children? Oh, wait. We already have that. Free intelligent countries have outlawed mutilating your childbecause your god said so.
But what about marijuana? Many groups and religionsclaim it as part of their religious freedoms, but try playing the Rasta card while smoking a fattie in front of the fuzz.
Sorry, no can do. In agonizing pain from cancer or something? Fuck you. No pot for you.
Want some pretty feathers from our national symbol?
Shoot the fucker and have a nice day!
No, don’t ask the hundreds of keepers of injured raptors around the country for a feather or two that have fallen out. Don’t pull or clip a feather from a flightless bird on display somewhere. Just head outside and start shooting.
I despise hypocrisy almost as much as religion. Way to go, Feds.
Unlike a few decades ago, the bald eagle population is pretty healthy. I have a hard time getting all bent out of shape about this exemption for a small group of people. It’s the least we can do for taking their land and killing most of their eagles in the first place.
I was ready to defend the native Americans, but then I saw this in the article:
You don’t have to kill anything to print a bible, you utter dumbass, it’s not equivalent. If to print a bible you had to slay a rare rhino for its horn, then you might have a point.
Based solely on that stupid quote, I’m now against the native Americans and for the eagle.
I know we’re not in GQ, but does anyone know if the specifics of the religious beliefs involved here mean that the bird has to be killed? In other words, does the OP’s idea of pulling a feather or two, or gathering already-fallen feathers, satisfy the requirements of this particular belief system?
Native Americans were able to get it legal to use peyote, so killing a bird is not THAT much of a stretch (even if I have issues with it). They also have been able to get some whale hunts legalized I believe.
If also restricted to period-appropriate slings and bows, instead of guns, then I wholly endorse their requirement for traditionalism.
Similar to a couple of Pac NW tribes here who are still allowed to go whaling, I think it’s fine if you do so in a rickety little dugout with hand-thrown weapons without modern life preservers or modern protective clothing. Have at it!
Native American tribes get an additional degree of latitude from the US government in some of these things on account of that whole “We’ll be taking your land now but you can live here and be a sovereign nation, oops, we need that too but sign this and you can liv— wait, no we need that and we’ll kill you to get it but here’s a patch of scrubland where you can be free nation” thing.
Because Native Americans and their cultures are relics of the past and can be assigned to a distinct period in history, like Whigs, once the white man came around and made them obsolete? Maybe we should tell people who want to “play Jewish” that we’ll only let them do so if they wander around a desert like an Israelite 6,000 years ago.
If the eagles are no longer in need of protection, then those against the killings seem to be just against the symbolism of the bird which is like saying “don’t burn the flag because it represents something more in my mind” or “don’t kill the cow for meat and leather because it’s against my ethos”. They’re emotional responses to a situation that doesn’t need the hyperbole.
That said, it’s still a stupid reason to kill the birds.
No, I see it as stupid to play the “integral critical component of our traditional religion without which our whole belief system collapses” card and then expecting any limitations of the modern world to be disregarded and society to acquiesce. As another poster suggested, replace the practice with a representative substitute, start a “Zoo Friends” program to ship them extra feathers from captive animals.
I don’t think Native Americans need you to tell them what represents authentic developments in their spiritual practices in the face of historical, political, and technological changes and what is just an end-run around environmental regulations. Or how you think their spiritual and cultural practices ought to evolve. Especially considering that I doubt you have any particular expertise in this area beyond a cursory reading of Wikipedia.
And, guess what, perhaps you haven’t noticed, but these individuals do exist in the modern world.
And this:
Nice way to play the “put upon white guy” card. Those sneaky Indians! Won’t anybody think of the white people!?!
I’d have the same disdain for any granting of exemption from the greater laws and practices of society when solely for religious ritual and not filling some other necessary survival need.
It isn’t a “white guy” thing. Example, I have the same feeling toward Christian Scientists seeking exemption from basic required health services for their children under the guise of religious untouchability.
As much as we’d like to think otherwise when it serves us, the Native Americans, at least some of the tribes, are recognized by negotiated treaty as a semi-sovereign entity with a degree of separation between their tribe and the US government. They do possess some rights to use the land as they see fit beyond the normal US citizen under strictly US government form of control.
Some mention of the whale hunt above. With the Sea Shepherds doing a good job of preventing the Japan whale hunt, perhaps Japan will cease and the Sea Shepherds will bring their ocean going vessels to harass the Native Americans in their tiny hand made row boats in their next season.