Defeating the Anti's
Mr. Bruce Kennedy, also known as Zeus, Administrator of the Shade Tree Coon & Big Game Hound Forum , has recently shared his views on dealing with the Anti's and has agreed to allow me to place them here on our Website. I think you'll find his ideas very interesting. Thank you Mr. Kennedy for allowing me to share this article!!
I want to talk about the Anti’s. I have done a little work in “combating” these people and have come to a few realizations.
Always remember this: their number one goal is to make money and lots of it. They could care less about what they are demanding. They go out and create a non-profit organization, create a web site, and they are in business.
What makes the non-profit thing a good thing is there is very little, if any, accountability. They are pretty much free to do as they wish with that money. And they make a ton of money!
So, how do you fight the Anti’s? I see various people posting, “We have to do something. We must unite.” That is all good, but little happens. You spend all of your money to win a little battle, but you have not stopped them.
The most important thing for you, or as a group, to do is NEVER DEFEND YOURSELF. You will lose that argument/fight every time. Remember the OJ trial? You attack your attacker. You make them defend themselves. When you are dealing with Anti’s or the bleeding heart public, you are not going to convert anybody to your way of thinking by defending yourself.
To fight the Anti’s you must hurt them in their “financial pocket book.”
We as unified organizations, should ask for federal laws that:
- would remove the Anti’s non-profit organization status (hard to do)
- make the Anti’s 100% accountable for every dollar they spend, and every dollar they receive. Once you have a list of which companies and corporations are donating money, then you can go after those organizations. Again, hurt them in the pocket book.
- Make them substantiate their demands or allegations. In other words, if they are demanding the game department stop all lion and bear hunting in a state, they must fund and provide financial impact statements, as to what will happen to the local economies and businesses if their demands are met. They should also provide documentation, outlining the cost and who will pay for the management of the increased lion and bear population, as a result of their demands.
- Allow small business, such as motels, restaurants and guide & outfitters, to seek financial restitution from any ANTI organization creating a loss of revenue to such small businesses, as a result of the successful demands of the Anti’s. Again, hurt them in the pocket book.
A week or so ago, I was watching an interview on Fox News. They were interviewing a spokesperson for one of the major ANTI organizations. This spokesperson said, “We should ban the slaughter of cattle to provide a consumer product, because the cattle are having their tails ripped off; they are skinned and then an electric prod is inserted into their rectum, before they are killed.” She said this twice, and the person doing the interview, never flinched, nor did she challenge the statement.
Where was the outcry of seeking the truth, from our side of the house? It was and is not there. Over and over, TV media and newspapers allow these people free advertising for their cause. We should insist that we get equal time for a rebuttal. We should insist the media not air or publish such statements from the Anti’s, unless they can prove it beyond a doubt.
Again, and I will say this over and over; we should never try to defend ourselves, we make them defend themselves. When we see statements such as the one above, on national TV, we should have equal airtime and insist they prove it. “Where is your video of proof?” When they can’t produce such evidence, then we attack and expose them for what they really are – emphatic liars and financial scam artists.
Something to think about when dealing with the ANTI's. Here is a good example. In Arizona, about 7 years ago, the ANTI's launched a very successful campaign to abolish trapping on public lands. At that time, there might have been about 30-50 registered trappers in the entire state. The ANTI's put a lot of money into this campaign and you should have seen the never ending lies, in the newspapers and on TV. It went on for 3-4 months. Of course, they won, and they knew they would going in, but they never stopped "pouring it on" about the lies. They were able to create a "well in-tow bleeding heart" voter database as a result of their efforts. It was put on the ballot and it passed, almost 2-1 votes, and trapping is no longer allowed on public lands. And of course, "Please send more money so we can continue our good work."
Next came the "cock fighting" issue and the same thing happened. They knew they could win, and as before, they poured it on. The ANTI's ran all kinds of lies in their free newspaper and TV advertisements, for 3-4 months. It was put on the ballot and won by a 2-1 margin. Cock fighting is no longer allowed in Arizona. Again, "Please send money so we can continue our good work."
Next came the issue of coyote calling contests, and this raged on for almost 3 years, and kind of went it's own way. It was never a "real issue", but the ANTI's played it for all they could, and kept their "Bleeding heart voter database, well in tow."
Ah, now the hunters declare, "Enough is enough." They know they can be out voted, so they start their own ballot initiative; long story short, to pass a voter initiative to become law in Arizona, it must pass by a 2/3rds vote. That will stop them. Well, the hunters poured in 2-3 million dollars and come Election Day, they were sent packing by almost 3-1 a margin.
Can you see the trend here? If they can beat us by an almost 3-1 margin, rather than mess around with the smaller issue, why don't they just put an initiative on the ballot to end all hunting in Arizona?
If they did that, and won, would that be the end to their never ending flow of "bleeding heart donation money?" It certainly looks that way to me, so why not work their "financial scam" to the utmost; make all the money they can on the smaller "non-defendable" issues, and work this like a fine violin, by getting rich off each little slice of the pie. Think about it.
Where we as hunters, fishermen, farmers and ranchers go wrong.
First of all, up front, be well advised that all of the ANTI organizations, are well organized, well funded, and legally represented. They have a wealth of nation wide lawyers, willing to work for nothing, to promote "the cause". (It is good publicity).
If you search the Internet, you will find thousands of small ANTI organizations, which continue to carry the banner and seek financial donations. I think a lot of these, are in fact, tethered to, and are fronts for some of the larger organizations. After all, the more exposure, the more money they can make.
I will now tell you what I think is our biggest problem in fighting these organizations. We tend to ban together in very small groups, 2-3000; raise $5,000.00-10,000.00 in a financial war chest, and try our best to defend our cause. It has not worked; it does not work, and it will not work, using those tactics.
It has been my experience, over the last 8-10 years, that if, let us say, the Predator Hunters come under attack, and ask the help of the other state hunting organizations, their answer is, "Get out of here and do not come back." I am sure any of those organizations will say that is not the case, but facts are facts, and that is indeed, the case. They do not want the wrath of the ANTI's knocking on their little secure door. "We like our deer hunting just fine, thank you", will be their reasoning. They simply do not want to be involved. As a result, each little piece of "our side of the pie" is hung out to dry. The ANTI's know this is the case, and they love it!
In closing, think about this. In every small town and large city throughout this country, we have Government Tax funded organizations, such as the local humane society, dog pound, and animal rescue organizations. Every state has a tax funded game and fish department to manage the wildlife. We have the BLM to manage our public lands. We have the forester service to manage our forests. We have food and health inspectors to insure public food safety. We have federal inspectors in the cattle, hog and chicken slaughterhouses, to make sure all is done properly. You can see where I am going with this.
So, my question is this, "Why do we need organizations like the ANTI's telling us how to live our lives?" We do not need them. Why doesn't the governor or the attorney general or the head of the game and fish department, tell them to get the hell out of their office, because they are not recognized as a proper authority? Could it be because the ANTI's are actually a nationally funded database, with millions of supporters with tons of money? Could it be, if the governor were to buck the ANTI's, they know they will face the wrath of a nationally funded organization at the ballot box and be voted out? It sure looks the way to me.
There is a message here; "Strength in numbers."
How to win:
Rule #1. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER try to defend yourself or what you do. To do so is a no win situation.
Rule #2. Make the ANTI's defend themselves. You apply the "OJ Defense Theory"; you attack the attacker.
To defeat the ANTI's, you must destroy their funding ability and their money source. This is the only thing you key on, the money. Take away their money, and they are gone. Yelling at the top of your lungs, over and over, as to what "financial scam artists" they are, and people will begin to see your side of the story.
How do we accomplish this? We must form a National Alliance that is well funded, emphatically trusted, and equally represented by all people. This national alliance should not be started, run, or owned by one individual or group. We should invite the CEO's of the major corporations in this country, representing the hunters, fishing industry, ranchers, farmers, major food producing companies, the firearms industry, the archery industry, NRA, etc, etc, to sit down together, and form the National Alliance. The CEO's of these companies would be the "board of directors" and would run the organization. After all, these people are the ones with the intelligence, financial support and political ties to make this work. And, they lose as much as we do, when the ANTI's win.
Once the Alliance is formed, we could ask Congress and the Senate to pass laws in our favor. Laws that would make the ANTI's 100% accountable for all of their financial support. Then we could go after the corporations and smaller companies, who donate money to the ANTI's. Again, key in on destroying their money source and they are history. And our key to success is "Strength in numbers."
To allow a person(s) to dictate to you, how to live your personal life, based on their "neurotic beliefs" or the fact they are offended by what you do, and if what you do is not against the law, then what they are doing is wrong. Think about it.
Rule #3. Do something!
