Re: The Paradox of Tolerance summarizes my opinion:
@AC.
"Boy, oh boy, you must be getting ulcers often..
Right. So, you're now telling me that it's OK to kill something for fun, as long as it is seen to be intelligent (however you measure that) than you? They haven't developed an internet or flown to the moon, so break out the machine guns and open fire?
No, I was looking at your comment that animals and humans are alike which is, um, worthy of making fun of, and I'll only stop that the moment a bear gets a driving license. I did not state that the difference enabled me to go and shoot things, that association and inference is exclusively of your own making. The only things I am inclined to shoot are clay pigeons and the occasional drone. As a matter of fact, you infer actually quite a lot from the fact that I disagreed with one of your statements, which, ironically, is a form of bullying used to quell dissent.
That is also why I told you to possibly step back from the discussion and regain sight of the bigger picture - the gentle assumption there was that your arguments got silly because you get too sucked in. I see now that, even on reflection, you remain rather silly. Oh well."
And in your reply, you absolutely prove my posting beautifully. You were saying in your posting that shooting animals for fun was not worthy of banning, yet you take issue with people suggesting others should be killed. I asked what the difference was between animals and humans and you basically said intelligence (I think that's questionable depending on type of intelligence, but that's another matter). Therefore, my deduction from your comments is absolutely spot on. Of course, you're now running from it, because you're beginning to see where you're heading and you don't like it.
So, you them revert to name calling and other defences used by people who can't answer the question.
I'll help you here. Anyone killing any sentient creature without good reason has no defence. I don't care what the creature is. Someone shooting a bear for fun is just as bad as shooting a human for fun. Both are sentient, both are aware, both have emotions, feel pain etc. Putting humans on a pedestal and assuming we have a different set of rules just because we're humans will one day be blown away by nature. It's a sign of our arrogance as a species. Why should anyone kill anything without good reason?
Also, as I've pointed out before, many murderers, especially mass murderers have a big history of killing and torturing animals for fun prior to becoming human killers. So, hunting for fun does seem to be a common precursor to murdering people. Something to think about. There's a world of difference between shooting something in self-defense and shooting something because you want its head above the mantlepiece. From a psychological perspective I mean and it says a lot about the people who do it.