Cecil And Samson

                First off, let me say that I am an animal lover. I fought back tears at the end of “Old Yeller,” and “Born Free.” Really. I’m not kidding. I love dogs and most other animals and treat them more than humanely. I love to fish, but release almost all of them. If a fish has swallowed the hook, I go to unparalleled lengths to find ways to allow them to survive. If it costs me a little bit of tackle- and therefore money- I don’t care.

                That said, this full-throated world-wide outcry of anger over the “slaying” of Cecil the lion is over-the-top and sadly illustrative of our misplaced values and priorities. In my local paper today, in huge block letters above the fold on page 1 of the ‘A’ section, the headline read, “Lion killing case goes to court, furor grows.” The accompanying photograph of the many protesters outside of Walter Palmer’s  dentist’s office  was filled with people carrying signs stating, “Let The Hunter be Hunted,” “Love Not kill Wildlife,” “Murderer, Scumbag, Leave Town!!!” and “Justice For Cecil, Extradite Walter Palmer,” etc., etc.

                The secondary article, below Cecil’s, had a headline reading, “Debris is likely from missing Malaysia plane,” and chronicled American investigator’s discovery of an object believed to be from Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 that disappeared in March, 2014, ultimately killing 239 people on board.

                I listened to talk-shows- several sports call-in shows at that- today, and heard people angrier and more choked-up than I’ve heard folks on any other issue in decades. “How could that monster kill Cecil,” was a theme. Pardon me, but the likelihood that you ever heard of Cecil the lion before this week is approximately zero. It is so easy for progressives, who typically have nothing truly meaningful to feel good about, to mount their high horse and spew inanity, hatred and invective at others “less enlightened then they.” How good it feels.

                Whenever a Christian human- or 40- is/are beheaded by Islamic terrorist thugs there is never the personal, aggrieved, general outcry as there has been in just 72 hours since “Cecil” has been shot. Perhaps they weren’t led out of their park or sanctuary…or maybe their killers actually had licenses to murder them.

                Funny, when hundreds of people protest an abortion site, the protesters are threatened and called all sorts of names, but when folks protest a dentist who shot a big game animal while on safari in Africa, the dentist gets threatened and called names.

                It is easy to see that America has been fundamentally changed. Simply look at how recent news stories are reported- and received. The lion’s share of the credit- or blame- goes to our president, Barack Hussein Obama, himself just back from Africa. Gay marriage is now mane-stream here (but not in Africa). Gay pride is ubiquitous. The meaning and intent of the First Amendment is being challenged while those practicing political-correctness are lionized.

                The lion has historically been called the “King of Beasts,” yet that title might now rightly go to the statue of Satan erected just this past week in Detroit (home of the Detroit Lions!). We now discard our Constitution, the Ten Amendments and the Ten Commandments, but worship our pop stars and their culture. The Millennials are less patriotic and content than any previous generation. Why might that be? They are not taught history- at all or properly- and they have grown up on television and video games. The immensely popular “Grand Theft Auto”-type games  encourage their  human representatives to act their murdering, thieving, conniving worst and the Disney/Pixar, etc., shows almost universally portray animals as cute, self-aware, loving, intelligent and wise, while denigrating most of the human characters. What the Hell are our kids going to think? They have never been in a real-life situation where “Elsa,” or “Cecil,” may likely kill them. More and more people in the “civilized” world actually believe humans are bad and animals are good. Period.

It is unimaginable that in any other time there would have been a headline, in JAPS BOMB PEARL HARBOR style yet, about the killing of one lion in Africa. In days past, most people were trying not to starve and were trying to avoid being killed by lions, grizzly bears and the like. (Often, the lionhearted person who sleighed the beast was the village's hero!). Even today, with ISIS on the march, rogue regimes possessing or developing nuclear weapons, much of the world trillions of dollars in debt, immigration causing stress and chaos in Europe and America, etc., it is hard to imagine the “furor” this lone lion-hunter/poacher has caused. The numerous recent shark attacks (on humans) off of the American coast, while reported, have usually been given short shrift and not even made the front page!  We have progressed to the point of rapid regression. We are, literally, nearly 180 degrees away from our biblical mandate to go forth and multiply and hold dominion over the Earth and its creatures. We are, in America, also nearly 180 degrees away from our founding ideals- and ideas.

                I don’t know how “Cecil” the lion came by his name. I keep thinking of Cecil B. DeMille, the most famous human “Cecil” and greatest Hollywood director of all time. He produced and directed many of the greatest films ever to grace the cinema, one of which was, “Samson and Delilah.” In that classic, biblical account, Samson was given supernatural strength by God to perform heroic feats… such as killing a lion.

                A question for many of you liberals…do you really believe that “aborting” untold numbers of  innocent human babies- often your own- is fine, but the taking of a single adult lion is cause for world-wide anger, panic and despair? Deep down? Really?

                With apologies to the Eagles, you can’t hide your lion eyes.