There are 35 comments.

1. Inactive
   Douglas

   @Douglas

   8:05 AM EDT ⋅ Aug 3, 2015

   Jamie Lockett:

   Basil Fawlty: Only if you believe the leftist smear merchants at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

   Is that the source? I don’t frequent SPLC stuff so I must have read it elsewhere.

   Refusing to kowtow to politically correct language standards doesn’t make you the Waffen SS, no matter what the SPLC says.

   BTW, the SPLC is largely a fundraising scam. They make millions and millions… that’s not an exaggeration… scaring liberals with newsletters warning them that the Klan is hiding behind every rock. Think Planned Parenthood with burning crosses instead of bloody coat hangars. Morris Dees quite literally conceived of the whole thing as a marketing scam. Read up on the history of the place. He’s the L. Ron Hubbard of leftist political marketing. My local newspaper did a weeklong investigation of the SPLC back in the 90’s. They spend a bare fraction of what they take in from donations on actual legal work. Most of it goes right in the bank.

2. Inactive
   Vance Richards

   @VanceRichards

   8:22 AM EDT ⋅ Aug 3, 2015

   Percival:For a second there, I thought you were announcing the discovery of a lost Dr. Seuss book, Robbie Eats a Zoo.

   I meant what I said

   And I said what I meant.

   An elephant’s delicious

   One hundred percent.

   Now this could be fun . . .

   Kung Pao Panda

   And Lion Ala’King

   You’ll need a lot of hot sauce

   For that Condor wing

3. Inactive
   Matthew Gilley

   @MatthewGilley

   8:28 AM EDT ⋅ Aug 3, 2015

   RIP Peter Gregory: http://youtu.be/pDxlzgLWKIA

4. Inactive
   Mike LaRoche

   @MikeLaRoche

   Post author

   11:35 AM EDT ⋅ Aug 3, 2015

   Claire Berlinski, Ed.:Handing it to you, Mike. I swore I would not even look at another post or article anywhere about Cecil, but I was unaware of that article in the Independent, and my, that is one mighty strong point.

   I register — as a cat lover — my sadness for both lions. I’m on the side of those who firmly think we should let the cats be, so long as they’re at a safe distance. But the Sturm und Drang over this is a sign of a culture so frighteningly divorced from reality — and so easily turned into a dangerous mob — that I’m wondering how we can ever recover.

   Thanks, Claire.  Being a cat lover myself (I just lost my Maine Coon named Dusty earlier this summer), I can understand the sympathy that many people have for the lion.  But the whole matter has gotten completely out of control what with the calls for the dentist to be raped and executed.  Divorced from reality, indeed.

   If anyone wonders how murderous ideologies like communism and national socialism can catch on so quickly and achieve cultural dominance, this public wailing and rending of garments over Cecil is a perfect example.

5. Inactive
   Mike LaRoche

   @MikeLaRoche

   Post author

   11:40 AM EDT ⋅ Aug 3, 2015

   Claire Berlinski, Ed.:Tom and I were chatting about this backstage: It’s a real dilemma, because every minute people spend thinking about or reading this story is a minute they’re not spending thinking about or reading a new story — or a much more important one. But newspapers/Internet sites that have to stay in business can’t ignore the fact that they’ll be creamed by any tabloid with a Cecil headline right now. So what to do, if you’re a responsible news/discussion site?

   Anyone have any ideas?

   I’d sworn “no more Cecil posts on Main, it feeds the mob by giving this story prominence, even as we rail against that mob,” but I overruled myself when I read this, because the point about Mugabe is really so worth making. That was my justification.

   Was I right? Wrong?

   I think you were right.  There is an ongoing goat rodeo aspect to all of this, which is why I wrote this post and have been posting links to stories on my Facebook page.  People are going ape over something so trivial and meaningless while ignoring legitimate domestic and international crises.  Human stupidity never ceases to amaze.