{"id":1234,"date":"2008-09-04T19:18:46","date_gmt":"2008-09-04T23:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/?p=1234"},"modified":"2008-09-04T19:18:46","modified_gmt":"2008-09-04T23:18:46","slug":"matthew-scully-back-in-the-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2008\/09\/04\/matthew-scully-back-in-the-box\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew Scully: Back in the Box!"},"content":{"rendered":"

This morning, I saw a car with an “Abortion Holocaust” bumpersticker.\u00c2\u00a0 Rare enough in Arlington, but we get them from time to time.\u00c2\u00a0 But as my eyes drifted off of it, they found the other bumpersticker “Grow Locally, Buy Locally.”\u00c2\u00a0 Hrruh?<\/em> Not the usual pairing, and it made me wonder more about the person in the car.\u00c2\u00a0 Quickly, she became a person with beliefs, instead of an easily dismissable stereotype.\u00c2\u00a0 Imaginable, for sure, but not someone who falls in the easy boxes we often find ourselves lazily relying upon.<\/p>\n

I was similarly intrigued when someone pointed out this Vegan.com article on Matthew Scully<\/a>, author of Hunter\/Poacher\/VP Nominee Sarah Palin’s speech to the RNC last night.\u00c2\u00a0 Turns out that he’s the same Matthew Scully that authored Dominion<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 What’s Dominion<\/em>?\u00c2\u00a0 Vegan.com characterizes it as ” one of the most influential animal rights books in print.”.\u00c2\u00a0 This Amazon link<\/a> describes it:<\/p>\n

Throughout Dominion<\/em>, Scully counters the hypocritical arguments that attempt to excuse animal abuse: from those who argue that the Bible’s message permits mankind to use animals as it pleases, to the hunter’s argument that through hunting animal populations are controlled, to the popular and “scientifically proven” notions that animals cannot feel pain, experience no emotions, and are not conscious of their own lives.<\/p>\n

The result is eye opening, painful and infuriating, insightful and rewarding. Dominion<\/em> is a plea for human benevolence and mercy, a scathing attack on those who would dismiss animal activists as mere sentimentalists, and a demand for reform from the government down to the individual. Matthew Scully has created a groundbreaking work, a book of lasting power and importance for all of us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not exactly what you’d expect from a Bush\/Palin speechwriter, eh?\u00c2\u00a0 Apparently even Time noticed the disconnect<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The Palin-Scully pairing is anything but a guaranteed fit, though. Palin is known as an avid hunter; Scully is best known for his vigorous defense of animal rights. A vegetarian who is regularly critical of the NRA and much of the hunting community, he is a passionate advocate for doing away with the more brutal versions of blood-sport, including aerial hunting, which Palin supports.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Our boxes.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t always serve us well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning, I saw a car with an “Abortion Holocaust” bumpersticker.\u00c2\u00a0 Rare enough in Arlington, but we get them from time to time.\u00c2\u00a0 But as my eyes drifted off of it, they found the other bumpersticker “Grow Locally, Buy Locally.”\u00c2\u00a0 Hrruh? Not the usual pairing, and it made me wonder more about the person in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal","category-politics","category-society"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t