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Superstition. Elephants and tigers are not hunted for inherent qualities of their bodies, but for the belief that consumption of their parts in various ways hel

Superstition. Elephants and tigers are not hunted for inherent qualities of their bodies, but for the belief that consumption of their parts in various ways helps health/virility/...

bilekas 5y ago
Superstition really seems to be one of the largest factor when it comes to animal hunting/consumption. It's ridiculous and a little bit ironic that something supposedly to bring good fortune will result in wide scale killing of animals, living earthlings.
- nickff 5y ago
  >"It's ridiculous and a little bit ironic that something supposedly to bring good fortune will result in wide scale killing of animals, living earthlings." How is this ironic? Most cultures have prized animal products throughout recorded history, and many have practiced sacrifices, which is literally the killing of the being.
  - lowkey_ 5y ago
    Not the parent, but the irony is that to bring good fortune, you bring incredible misfortune (extinction, even) upon other living things.
    - nickff 5y ago
      It seems like the comment I responded to was referring to something like an 'incongruity', and saying it was '[situational] irony', but it doesn't really satisfy the definition of situational irony (from wikipedia): >"Situational irony: The disparity of intention and result; when the result of an action is contrary to the desired or expected effect." In this specific case, the intention of extracting animal products caused the animals to be killed, which is not contrary to the expected effect (unfortunate as it may be).
      - bilekas 5y ago
        See my below comment - but no 'incongruity' is something completely different to irony.
      - bilekas 5y ago
        Okay, lets give context of irony, Elephants are hunted for their amazing mystical power to bring good fortune to humans who posses their tusks. Now lets imagine the elephants actually provide a long distant benefit to humans, butterfly effect style. Maybe their migration involves knocking over some dormant trees with their tusks, which they're known to do, that would then knock over seeds for new trees. This would aid in the containment of soil and prevent soil erosion. Instead, consider they're all gone, the trees all die off without seeding, then windstorms etc turn more land into desert. Ironically those same hunters now have less land to grow food from. Thus less fortune, the action to bring more fortune has resulted in less. This is a stretch of an example using just 1 animal, but whats more confusing is why it needed to be defined through the purview of defining ironic. Edit: As mentioned this is 1 example, but there are an uncountable scenarios of 'medicinal' practices that require the 'rarest' animal components to 'work' from. Point is, its all superstition and it contributes far too much.
    - BitwiseFool 5y ago
      Taking it a step further, the "value" of a sacrifice depends on how precious the thing is that you are sacrificing. Sacrificing a mouse is not the same as sacrificing a healthy goat.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- qorrect 5y ago
  It brings good fortune to the humans, not the animals.
BurningFrog 5y ago
Has Viagra not reached China yet?
- phkahler 5y ago
  Sure, but if they bleach it white and sell it as powder under some "Ivory" branding that will just increase poaching.

Superstition. Elephants and tigers are not hunted for inherent qualities of their bodies, but for the belief that consumption of their parts in various ways helps health/virility/...

bilekas 5y ago

Superstition really seems to be one of the largest factor when it comes to animal hunting/consumption. It's ridiculous and a little bit ironic that something supposedly to bring good fortune will result in wide scale killing of animals, living earthlings.

nickff 5y ago
>"It's ridiculous and a little bit ironic that something supposedly to bring good fortune will result in wide scale killing of animals, living earthlings." How is this ironic? Most cultures have prized animal products throughout recorded history, and many have practiced sacrifices, which is literally the killing of the being.
- lowkey_ 5y ago
  Not the parent, but the irony is that to bring good fortune, you bring incredible misfortune (extinction, even) upon other living things.
  - nickff 5y ago
    It seems like the comment I responded to was referring to something like an 'incongruity', and saying it was '[situational] irony', but it doesn't really satisfy the definition of situational irony (from wikipedia): >"Situational irony: The disparity of intention and result; when the result of an action is contrary to the desired or expected effect." In this specific case, the intention of extracting animal products caused the animals to be killed, which is not contrary to the expected effect (unfortunate as it may be).
    - bilekas 5y ago
      See my below comment - but no 'incongruity' is something completely different to irony.
    - bilekas 5y ago
      Okay, lets give context of irony, Elephants are hunted for their amazing mystical power to bring good fortune to humans who posses their tusks. Now lets imagine the elephants actually provide a long distant benefit to humans, butterfly effect style. Maybe their migration involves knocking over some dormant trees with their tusks, which they're known to do, that would then knock over seeds for new trees. This would aid in the containment of soil and prevent soil erosion. Instead, consider they're all gone, the trees all die off without seeding, then windstorms etc turn more land into desert. Ironically those same hunters now have less land to grow food from. Thus less fortune, the action to bring more fortune has resulted in less. This is a stretch of an example using just 1 animal, but whats more confusing is why it needed to be defined through the purview of defining ironic. Edit: As mentioned this is 1 example, but there are an uncountable scenarios of 'medicinal' practices that require the 'rarest' animal components to 'work' from. Point is, its all superstition and it contributes far too much.
  - BitwiseFool 5y ago
    Taking it a step further, the "value" of a sacrifice depends on how precious the thing is that you are sacrificing. Sacrificing a mouse is not the same as sacrificing a healthy goat.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
qorrect 5y ago
It brings good fortune to the humans, not the animals.

BurningFrog 5y ago

Has Viagra not reached China yet?

phkahler 5y ago
Sure, but if they bleach it white and sell it as powder under some "Ivory" branding that will just increase poaching.