It was eleven years ago that the outdoor sportsmen of Maine battled the out-of-state environmental perverts who wanted to put an end to bear hunting, on their way to ending all hunting, trapping and fishing. It isn’t about the welfare of animals they are concerned about. It’s about the destruction of heritage, the history and everything that made America a great and free nation. Remember that.
In eleven years a lot of water has flowed under the bridge. The Humane Society of the United States, along with their “True Believers”, useful idiot local animal perverts, have continued their everyday robbing and deceiving the people of this nation in order to pay big salaries to people expert in robbing and deceiving people. In short, they have become better at it. They’ve become better liars. They have become better robbers. They’ve become better money raisers and they’ve become masters of public opinion manipulation through the media, including Cyberspace.
In eleven years the outdoor sportsmen of Maine crawled back into their comfort zones, only occasionally raising a whimper to remind Mainers that everything that is done is done out of fear of “another referendum.” Well, all that fear and laying awake nights, and ceding our hunting and trapping rights and privileges amounted to absolutely nothing…. as was predicted.
One of the difficult and contrary demographics between city-dwelling totalitarians and suburban-dwelling outdoor sportsmen is that by nature, most sportsmen are non confrontational and don’t have the time nor the desire to live in the same world as the freaks who want to rule them.
In eleven years the tools needed to promote propaganda and manipulate public opinion has also changed. I predict that in 2014, if there is a citizen’s referendum vote, who wins and who loses will be decided in Cyberspace. Oh, yes! Raising money is still the number one goal…..well, almost. It’s how that money is spent that will be the determining factor.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), a Washington, D.C.-based fraudulent, supposed “non profit”, that has no business meddling in Maine affairs, has promised to spend a minimum of $3 million dollars, if they need to. What they use this money for is what’s most important.
One thing is for certain, Maine sportsmen groups can’t fight and win this battle employing antiquated tactics.
This morning I was reading George Smith’s blog. He was attempting to recall the history of 2004, in which the Maine sportsmen defeated HSUS in a 53% to 47% decision. A lot of effort went into that victory and everyone should be commended. In addition, it is of utmost importance that we learn from history and use that knowledge to better prepare for battle. Smith plans a series of articles over the next few days sharing his remembrances of the previous referendum.
The knowledge of history should teach us what worked and what didn’t and why, but that history must be complimented with the skill and expertise in mastering the massive power of the Internet, i.e. modern technology. The technology that exists in reaching millions of people in a very short period of time is at the fingertips of anyone wishing to bring it into their employ, i.e. websites, blogs, newspapers, Facebook, Twitter, chat rooms, forums, all social sharing sites and search engines. Maybe an “App” needs to be created by the “Save Maine’s Bear Hunt” coalition.
The HSUS has $3 million to spend and millions more where that came from. They hire “trolls” and “flamers” and all they do is update Facebook, infiltrate forums and message boards, they “Tweet” and write letters to the editor….and share, share, share. It is endless and extremely difficult to counter, especially when there isn’t the money to pay to offset the influence gained.
As I said earlier, the basic character of the outdoor sportsman runs contrary to this. I know. I’ve been in this outdoor media business for a long time now and it’s a very trying task to get people who love the outdoors to take 10 minutes and sit down and find out what’s new and relevant in the world that will determine their future so they can continue loving the outdoors.
The demographics are stacked against the sportsmen in this modern technology era. The city dwellers, as a rule, don’t have much concern for any future for hunting, trapping and fishing. They live in the world of technology and there are more of them then there are hunters, fishermen and trappers. The task then becomes reaching out to that majority of people, in whom it has been discovered, as a whole, understand that hunting and trapping are an integral part of wildlife management. Sportsmen cannot lose that support. It is my belief that those “swing voters” as is so often called, need to be reached. Holding another meeting at a fish and game club might be a rallying cry and will help to raise some money but does little to convince the swing voter.
Probably, in 2004, the coalition in Maine that fought against HSUS, reached enough people with the resources available at that time. If the sportsmen think they can repeat that effort, without getting on top of technology, it will be a landslide victory for the fascists.
