Hunting and the PC Pendulum
The pendulum of political correctness is in constant motion and you never know where a word or phrase is going to fall on its varying arc of acceptability.
For years I’ve referred to the killing of deer as harvesting when talking to certain people. It isn’t a term I generally use when talking to close friends or other hunters. On the contrary, it is when talking to those people who I don’t know if they hunt or even what their feelings on hunting may be that I use the word harvest. Otherwise, I say kill or killed.
I know it is an acceptable description for the catching or killing of fish and animals, but how often do you actually hear the word come out of the mouth of your hunting buddies? “Hey, Joe! I just harvested the buck of a lifetime!” Sure, there may be those that normally talk that way, but I think it is much more likely to hear: “Hey, Joe! I just killed the buck of a lifetime!”
To me, it seems that the word is mainly used the way I use it for talking to those that aren’t into hunting. For some reason, I feel the need to lessen the impact of what I have done for them, which is killed something. And, for me, that has come as a direct result of the times I have been preached to because I like to hunt and how that is a bad thing because of killing an animal.
Does using the word really change anything, though? Does it paint a more acceptable picture of us in the eyes of non-hunters? Or does it just come across as a way of trying to gloss over the fact that what we do is kill? I honestly no longer am sure what it does. Do you?
If politically incorrect is more to your tastes, then read this.
hunting, hunting sense, political correctness, harvesting, killing, words
December 6th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Cliff, I think this is a great post with some great questions being asked. I wrote a similar post a little bit ago and received some very encouraging and intriguing comments (from hunters and non-hunters alike). If you’re interested:
http://deerphd.com/2007/10/05/language-where-is-the-line/
December 6th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
I don’t think sugarcoating the subject really helps the non-hunter view whatsoever. I tend to say kill whenever I’m talking about taking the life of an animal. The fact is we do kill them. If someone wants to challenge me on that and how bad it is then it is just having a conversation with them about why I make that choice.
It is up to them from there on to decide for themselves.
December 6th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
I tended to use the word harvest, until I read and heard some of the things that hunters had to say on that subject. Now I use a variety of words and phrases including kill. It kind of depends on my mood.
December 6th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Another excellent topic that gets me thinking. Having not yet gotten any kind of critter other than fish, that’s all I have to go on. I catch fish (and kill them in so doing).
I would probably say “I got a deer” or “I took a deer” or something similar, rather than using the words harvest or kill. But the idea of hunting (and fishing) is killing (to promote good eating, at least in my view). I hope I’m not trying to delude myself?
Our society seems to continue moving in a direction that wants to isolate everyone from consequences, responsibilities, discomfort, conflict, and everything offensive. While it’d be nice to just tell it like it is, at work I’d probably avoid talking about hunting in any detail at all.
In the end, I like eating cows, which along with pigs and chickens, carrots, radishes, potatoes, and several other veggies and animals, have to be killed to be eaten. I decided I wanted to try and get my meat more from the source.
Anyway thanks for posting that up.
Michael