It seems the new parasitic class of Chinese millionaires are not content with merely making millions through exploiting the Chinese working class. Increasing numbers of them are now choosing to spend these millions to pay for the right to kill animals all over the world, spending up to 498,800 yuan (about £49,880) on a single hunting holiday. Both the business owners and top ranking government officials are reveling in this new opportunity to act like complete wankers.
Chinese Hunter
A luxury polar bear hunting holiday in Canada for 14 days (which I've heard includes getting your own arse wiped for you) is the most expensive package hunting holiday available for this Chinese elite. But if you don't fancy that cold weather you can always go to one of the many African, European or Oceanic retreats available through the same tour operator.
This is no ordinary hunting holiday company that provides these bloodthirsty adventures though, it is also an extremely stupid one that defines hunting as the "hunters and government cooperation in the protection of animals."
I'm not a massive animal rights nut (although I'm not much of a meat eater), but I'm not fan of hunting for a laugh. It seems that the rich from all corners of the globe love it though. Don't they get enough pleasure out of making everyone else's lives miserable? Do they really have to pay so much money to go and do this just so they can hang an animal's head on their wall and gloat to their other rich chums about it? Fair enough if they fought without weapons, but we all know that the parasite class never play fair like that.
So they can afford to pay this £50,000 animal killing expedition but paying decent wages for their workers is out of the question. In a country (of 1,347,350,000 people) where 36% of people live off less than $2 a day ($730 a year) and almost 16% of people live on less than a measly $1.25 a day ($456.25 a year), they just simply can't afford to take on more workers to reduce the grueling hours most Chinese workers have to work, or give them a wage that they can reasonably live on.
This is the same country that has one of the highest suicide rates in the world because life for workers and peasants can get so unbearable. The country where workers have no option but to fight back against the business elite and the corrupt government that protects them, contributing the 180,000 'mass incidents' each year. Then there's the well known human rights record of locking anyone up who they see as a dissenter for years, or simply make them 'disappear'.
Love China, hate its parasites.
(Just to point out that my shoddy attempts of Photoshopping China's richest man on the body of a hunter does not neceassarily mean he goes hunting, but he's still definitely a cunt)
Comments
Quote: I'm not a massive
Just to point out that in the US, hunting is predominantly a rural working class phenomenon. This isn't to say that fox hunting in the UK should be defended on that basis, but that in the States right-wing politicians use the exact opposite arguments: "Look at these haughty-taughty West Coast city liberals who look down on at your family tradition of hunting..." (Not that I think your article reinforces this, btw)
Chilli Sauce
Chilli Sauce
How much of that is purely recreation btw? I was under the impression that it is done to actually eat the animal a lot of the time (as well as enjoying the actual hunt). I may be wrong though.
25-30 years ago when I used
25-30 years ago when I used to go bushbeating* to get a bit of pocket money, the wealthy foreign nationals doing the shooting were mostly Arabs. Just goes to show, etc.
To partly echo what Chilli says, there are types of hunting (ferreting, lamping, pigeon-shooting) that are the near-exclusive preserve of the UK rural working class. However, these are seen as pest-control (some farmers even pay you to do it -- sweet), rather than hunting 'proper.' I for one would love to see a Chinese millionaire up to his knees in shit, trying to retrieve a ferret from a rabbit hole. :)
* For townies with dirty minds, this involves walking through fields and woodlands making a lot of noise so that the birds take off in the direction of the guns
I've seen gypsies in the UK
I've seen gypsies in the UK hunting for rabbits, but that would of been for food rather than fun that costs a hefty wad of money. I think a lot of urban working class people in the UK are more attracted to the clay pigeon shooting these days, rather than the real thing as entertainment (my dad and his mates did this a lot).
I think the blog post wasn't written as it should of been actually. I was meant to concentrate more on rich people wasting money doing pointless crap rather than come from an animal rights angle (as I'm no animal rights activist). But, oh well!
Hey, I wouldn't worry, what I
Hey, I wouldn't worry, what I got from it was more the angle of conspicuous luxury consumption by people who scrimp and save on their labour costs, which it seems is the angle you were going for
apologies for the source of
apologies for the source of the link. I remember seeing the story somewhere but couldnt find it anywhere else.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3806600/Whos-the-bigger-beast.html
Lots of animal-rich poor
Lots of animal-rich poor countries do this trophy hunting thing. Most southern African countries have reserves where rich folk can go and shoot animals, and it's always for the thrill - they're not going to eat a lion afterwards. At its worst it is "canned hunting" where a tame animal is realeased in a pen for a rich person without any skill to shoot. For all the talk of decadence theory, this to me is about as decadent as it can get.
Hunting in itself is usually for subsistence or occasionally for cash (fur). While these may be controversial they reflect material needs. Trophy hunting only reflects the material need of wealthy inadequates to exercise their sociopathic tendencies.
Regards,
Martin
Bulmer, your point came
Bulmer, your point came through, I apologize if I've derailed things.
As for it being recreation, it is mostly a combination of that, hunting for food, and a cultural thing.
That said, some really fucked up things happen, too. There's "spotlighting" which consists of driving around in a pick-up truck, flashing the lights into the woods to stun deer and then shooting them from the bed of the truck. I don't think that meat's typically used for sustenance...
No, you didn't derail it. It
No, you didn't derail it. It deals with a couple of issues but I just meant I wanted to go into a bit more detail about things I didn't because I forgot to :wall: