One of my very strong believes is that individual rights should never be subjected to a public vote because no matter how big, a majority should never be given the power to deprive minorities of their rights. In a democracy, politicians are duty-bound to protect minorities from the whims of the majority, and in theory, the smallest minority is in fact the individual.

This means that when it comes to deciding on minority rights, a referendum should never come into play, and despite its result, I’m ashamed that this is the route we had to take to finally introduce divorce in this country.

And here we are again, debating yet another referendum. On the one hand we have the Coalition for the Abolition of Spring Hunting that is petitioning to hold a referendum for the abolition of hunting during springtime, and on the other we have the hunters' lobby (FKNK) that launched a counter-petition to amend the Referenda Act.

The hunters’ lobby is claiming that hunters are a minority and that hunting is their right, thus making hunting a minority right that needs protection against a majority vote.

But are hunters really a minority group, and is hunting (especially during springtime) really a minority right?

Registered hunters might very well form a minority in our society but given that for as long as I can remember every general election has been hijacked by this group’s whims, I’d say that the group is only a surface minority with deep fingers in a lot of pies. But yes, as a registered and statistical figure, fortunately they are in fact a minority; I can certainly grant them that. 

What I can never concede to however, is that hunting, especially (but not exclusively) in springtime, is a right.

It’s not, it’s a privilege, and many fail to understand that just like there’s a difference between blame and responsibility, there’s an important difference between rights and privileges.

Even the FNKH themselves get these two concepts confused and use them interchangeably as though they were one and the same thing, when they’re not.

Earlier this week their spokesperson claimed that a referendum on this matter would be “… a direct attack of one minority on the rights, traditions and privileges of another minority.” 

So which one is it, a right or a privilege? It can’t be both, and here’s why:

A right is granted by society to its members to ensure the smooth and just function of that same society, as understood by that society.

A privilege is granted (usually not by society but by some authority) to a group or individual either as a reward for something or upon some kind of condition (e.g. good or favourable behaviour). 

In addition, wanting something to be a right does not make it one, and even when we do enjoy rights and privileges, they both come with responsibilities.

For example, whilst we may have the right to freedom of speech, we have a responsibility not to walk into Church talking at the top of our lungs. And whilst adopting children is not a right, not being discriminated against based on your sexual orientation is.

And even if hunting was in fact a right, which it’s not, all our rights stop (or rather should stop) exactly where they start to hurt others, whether human or not.

Hunting birds during springtime not only hurts them, it kills them. They usually die a slow and painful death just so that this minority can enjoy seeing them fall out of the sky in a mascaraed mess; not to nurture themselves, which is also a debatable justification, but even worse just for fun.

It also means that birds that would have somehow survived the winter and are returning to their breeding grounds are killed before they get there. These are the same birds that if left in peace would replenish bird populations so killing them for whatever reason is not only cruel, but also makes the whole lifecycle unsustainable.

To add insult to injury the FNKH is trying to put the fear of God in other minorities by saying that spring hunting is the start of an attack by minorities over anything they do not agree with.

So, there we have it…. a minority warning minorities about other minorities. Can it get any more minor than that?

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