# karma is a knife welding cock (of the avian kind) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 8, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karma-is-a-knife-welding-cock-of-the-avian-kind/570652 "2011-02-08T15:39:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karma-is-a-knife-welding-cock-of-the-avian-kind/570652/41 "2011-02-10T03:39:36Z")
It’s, I say, it’s justice. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karma-is-a-knife-welding-cock-of-the-avian-kind/570652/42 "2011-02-10T03:51:02Z")
Foghorn Shivhorn ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karma-is-a-knife-welding-cock-of-the-avian-kind/570652/43 "2011-02-10T12:00:45Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Just out of curiosity, what’s wrong with cock fighting? I mean, I understand people being upset at dog fighting, because dogs are pets, but chickens are just chickens. They’re not particularly smart, they’re not particularly cute, and they’re all going to end up being killed and eaten anyway. So other than it not to being to a lot of people’s taste, what’s wrong with it? I think it was Hemingway who once said something to the effect that cockfighting wasn’t cruel because ‘what the hell else did a gamecock like to do?’ ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karma-is-a-knife-welding-cock-of-the-avian-kind/570652/44 "2011-02-10T16:27:37Z")
I’ll wait for a cite to that attribution before I slag on the late Mr. H. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karma-is-a-knife-welding-cock-of-the-avian-kind/570652/45 "2011-02-10T17:39:55Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > I think it was Hemingway who once said something to the effect that cockfighting wasn’t cruel because ‘what the hell else did a gamecock like to do?’ I really don’t think Mr. Hemingway should serve as anyone’s moral compass. ---
**Author:** ![stretch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@stretch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stretch)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karma-is-a-knife-welding-cock-of-the-avian-kind/570652/46 "2011-02-10T17:41:03Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > I think it was Hemingway who once said something to the effect that cockfighting wasn’t cruel because ‘what the hell else did a gamecock like to do?’ Strut around eating and lording over his harem. Like so many males… ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karma-is-a-knife-welding-cock-of-the-avian-kind/570652/47 "2011-02-13T12:21:29Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I’ll wait for a cite to that attribution before I slag on the late Mr. H. I no longer have any of Hemingway’s books so can’t look for a cite. Besides which, I did say “I think.” However, in _Islands in the Stream_, he speaks of cockfighting in not unfavorable terms but I’m running on memory and, as I said, I don’t have the book. In that book, his comments re cockfighting were a comparison between cockfighting and a fight between two cats. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karma-is-a-knife-welding-cock-of-the-avian-kind/570652/48 "2011-02-13T12:26:46Z")
On further thought, the words I attributed to Hemingway were instead attributed to Hemingway by A.E. Hotchner, in a book detailing his experiences with Hemingway; the two were good friends. I don’t remember the name of Hotchner’s book, either. In any case, it hardly matters to the topic. Cockfighting is cruel and shouldn’t be condoned. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karma-is-a-knife-welding-cock-of-the-avian-kind/570652/49 "2011-02-13T12:29:10Z")
> [@stretch](#): > > Strut around eating and lording over his harem. Like so many males… While waiting for a younger gamecock to come along and dispossess him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karma-is-a-knife-welding-cock-of-the-avian-kind/570652.md?page=2)