Hunting's Social Media: Charismatic Leaders

Remember this: Call Bullshit when necessary. Your sanity is at stake.

The sky was overcast somewhat with an impending assortment of rainstorms. I was walking along working a previous social problem through my head when I stopped at the epic moment of what should have been realization and looked up to see a vertical rainbow, like a stairwell from heaven; epiphany.

Days before, I had seen an old friend from high school in the same place. I remembered the last time I saw her sitting drunk under a tree after she met people previous to the time she had planned to meet me. I showed up and another person in the group said I should take her home. I looked down at her and said, “Come away from these people. They do not love you.” She argued in her drunken stupor. I decided it wasn’t my responsibility to be her keeper anymore. I bailed her out before from harm’s way. She seemed to like that place. As I saw her walking away from me after a short conversation, I decided  I didn’t desire another relationship with her, even this late in life. Sometimes, you have to let people go and fall in a pit to the bad things that can happen to them if they become seduced by negative habits, people and decisions.

I  thought of the phrase from Lost Girl when Kenzi tells Beau, in regard to another situation, “I wish I knew how to quit you”, and how it applied to a certain page that I use to enjoy, but no more. I reviewed the feelings that the content of the page made me experience; solely negative now. I wondered why I was experiencing these emotions to a virtual world. I was not the only one experiencing this from viewing the page. I looked at the administrators of this page based around the act of hunting. I wanted to see if I could make a comparison to charismatic figures. We know charismatic figures such as Jim Jones, Adolph Hitler, and Charles Manson. These are extremes of charismatic leaders but the potential lives in us all.

When navigating the world of hunting online, we must be careful not to fall under the persuasion of a charismatic personality. This type of individual will insight panic, fears, and dilutes your judgment through distraction because you will hand over your logical ability to make decisions and let them tell you what is what. This distraction is performed through sublime messages and limited conversation through propaganda that supports a certain theme. This theme is usually a compelling story of some kind that if fraught with a very bad ending or impending doom to the halls of hunting. This charismatic individual will be talking and getting you to carry out the vision of their theme. This sublime message will come in the guise of implied care on the part of the leader to the minions.

Charismatic leaders can use force, reason, or charm. Force and reason are rational evaluations. Charm is more subtle but it can only be aimed at someone who is open to it as charm is an emotional manipulation. If charm runs out then reason followed by force ensue. Online manipulation is subtle.

If you were looking to identify this type of person, they are usually preoccupied with approval ratings but are distracted from the actual goal. They may even be unhappy with the fact they are catering to an idea themselves contrary to their personality and will construct a separate social media to placate this deviation. This deviated page will indicate a destructive nature that is contrary to the theme or image they are trying to maintain.  This preoccupation is also addictive for the follower and the charismatic leader. It’s a toxic relationship that really has no substance to it. It’s a mirage or delusion. This becomes a dependency because each participant experiences a social media high. Even if you see followers of such a leader that eventually become disillusioned the leader is blissfully unaware his/her minions are no longer glamoured by him/her. This charm of the leader can hide an anti-social behavior where ego-centricities, deceit, manipulation, and selfishness are prevalent.

Collectively, in a hive-like mentality there is group narcissism where minions are charmed by a shared core value that is skewed from the original individual belief.  What the charismatic leader does is take a group of people and transform them through subtle reprogramming to become a more radical version of self by getting the minion to fully commit to the cause against another without question; just blind worship, adoration, and follow-through. Here you can think of a snake oil salesman when you ask yourself, “What exactly is that person selling?”

This snake oil salesman will use socially accepted means to propagate love and flattery to the tribe. Unfortunately as charismatic leaders are generated the concept or existence of them distracts and eventually self-destructs. Jim Jones killed his followers through forced poisonings and murder. Charles Manson went nuts and killed a starlet via his small harem, and Hilter was smited in his last hours; so no good came to them. For all their pomp and circumstance with grandiose flair and mind wheeling control they ended up dead and marked as social rapists of the mind with murderous tendencies by reinterpreting people’s beliefs to drive followers to fulfill their independent visions.

When connecting to social sites take a moment to pause and review the page:

What exactly is being sold here in the form of ideas or beliefs?

Read the comments and make an assessment of the replies of the administrator.

What is the quality of the people that are closest to the persons involved?

Do the members share a common mentality that might be derogatory?

Is there some underlining behavior that is derogatory to  types of individual that might over time distort your own behavior to people that you normally would not be inflamed by?

Are you being asked to rally around a group or person in a form of attack to defend a theme? Is this theme worth it? Is the information given to argue this movement correct, your thoughts, or are you being dictated too?

As always, in the sense of investigation these are things to remember and assess. There are enough unknown people on the internet that can hurt you.  You can give yourself permission to stand back and say to yourself, “Is this what I want or am I being a prospector digging in a mud hole looking for gold when all I am going to get is splinters in my hands?” As an online consumer of information, be careful of getting involved with people you know nothing about, blindly following behind them because they seem to have the same morals as you. Not questioning strangers, their behavior, associations with other derogatory groups and comments is self-delusion if you think everyone should be given open access to your life. Not all people are good or want the best for you. Some people will work their whole life time trying to get revenge (when really whatever bad befell them was brought on by their actions) on you which in itself is an empty time machine of monotony going nowhere fast.

You know you have fallen prey to a charismatic leader when the person has convinced you that it is a good idea to attack and hurt another human being that you do not know for the charismatic leader’s reasoning and rational. People suffer this all the time in cliques with a leader that demands loyalty and followers that will not question his/her motives on why they are causing harm on the leader's behalf. A sure way of testing this theory is to say ‘no’ to the charismatic leader then watch how the leader reacts. If it ends in a negative experience for you; be thankful. You could still be blindly following them. There is a lot of times when I tell people to man up or woman up because to many people have rings or fingers up their noses dictating the kind of human being they are supposed to be. You have a mind of your own, a mouth that can say no, two feet to walk in the opposite direction from evil, and hopefully a cell phone to dial a friend when you are in trouble. The charismatic leader in your social media life could be a little man standing on a ant hill yelling come follow me to the mountaintop.  Be your own person and don’t let anyone lead you down the primrose path. It could be littered with thorns. 

Hunting can teach you a lot.

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

The Responsibility of Knowledge and Being a Proactive Person Who Hunts.

Remember this: Think safety first. No wild game animal is worth death. Besides,  who is going to take care of your family?

When hunting participants go afield, they are resolute on the job at hand to procure meat and being happy at the prospect of getting out in nature, bonding with others, or finding private time for thoughts and actions.

Taking care of the necessary safety precautions that go along with an outdoor sport, especially one that involves a tool such as a gun, there are unforeseen and imminent dangers that can’t really be planned for. These imminent dangers could be in the minuteness of mucus or body wastes excreted from wildlife upon handling. This will be the focus of the following conversation.  As a thoughtful and discerning huntress, I thought to give an inspection of facts or thoughts on how contamination of disease through wild game contact could affect the hunting participants, personally and the sport itself. I do not want to carry a Hazmat suite around with me where ever I go.

Disease transference should always be figured into the safety precautions of the hunting participant. Disease contamination by wild game can take a period of germination before symptoms are immediate. Death is not reversible and disease can disable you the rest of your life.

A main opportunity for harm to befall a hunting participant is the moment when the hunting participant comes in contact with the environment and the wild animals that occupy that space.

When hiking the terrain to find the honey spot, where would-be game browse, there is always the opportunity to look around while noting potential sources of disease, such as dead animal carcasses that seem otherwise not out the ordinary.  At no point, should you handle a dead carcass. These findings can be reported to the local Department of Natural Resources if you reside in the United States. These agencies should have special training for handing potential biological hazards.  With respect for foreign countries, look for local agencies that are available.

Ecosystems persist through a form of self-regulation but the activities of modern man, such as agriculture, urbanization, and product resource extraction with limited replacement, have a varying degree of impact depending on location and excess. Unstable ecosystems in flux may at times generate a pathogen in mass, given the conditions are right, that can break out in a wild game population or jump from one infected animal to a completely different species based on mutation and opportunity.

What does a hunting participant do when they are presented with a potential life threatening hazard that could be translated to a public domain?

The discerning huntress/hunter should always keep this in mind in the event of possible exposure:

·         Do not touch dead animals, approach aggressive animals, or near death animals.

·         Keep current on scientific data based around the specific game you hunt but always know a little about all kinds of wild game.

·         Know the early signs of wildlife zoonotic infections that are dangers to the huntress/hunter.

·         Learn practical advice by contacting your State Wildlife Agencies for current literature or speak to a wildlife biologist that is employed for this specific purpose.

·         Learn different techniques in handling wounded, dead or compromised wild game to reduce exposure. Wear goggles, gloves, or mask. You never know what it might be because that is the stealth of disease. Disease can be almost invisible it is so small or unassuming.

·         Know which domesticated animals can cross contaminate wild game or vice versa.

·         Do not be afraid to reach out to Wildlife biologists. Veterinarians are great but limit their knowledge over time with the practice they participate in unless you specifically utilize a Wildlife Veterinarian.

·         Compare notes with other hunting participants.

The causes of these compromising positions of hunting participant contact with potentially infected through wild game are:

·         Climate Change

·         Human population explosions

·         Global Human Travel

·         Wildlife Trade (legal and illegal)

·         Changes in land-use patterns

·         Deforestation where previous isolated wild game are now exposed.

·         Hunting Tourism

What should you do if you or our fellow hunting participants should be potentially exposed:

·         Always keep the body or find the animal before it wanders off. Having the reservoir of disease is the best evidence against pin pointing what disease is actually present.

·         Wash your hands; cover your mouth, nose, wounds and eyes, which are potential portals of infection. Change your clothes and wash them or trash bag them. The clothes might need to be burned if no longer useful to you or a doctor.

·         Immediately go to a hospital or present yourself to a health care provider if physical damage has been done to your person or if symptoms suddenly appear. Even if you feel like you are bothering someone----do yourself a favor and irritate them until you are seen. It might save your life or someone else’s. Be safe not dead and stupid. Always keep in mind that not everyone sees the gravity of a situation until several more people are infected or exposed.

·         Get proper treatment and follow that treatment. If there is a side effect of prescribed treatment refer back to your attending physician.

Potential diseases hunting participants contact, on terrain when either field dressing or interacting in close quarters with wild game or animals, should be explored:

•  Rabies: Any animal that acts sick, at times aggressive but can look listless and ‘dumb’.
• Tularemia: Cottontail rabbits, black-tailed rabbits, snowshoe hares, beaver, and muskrat.
• Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome-dead animal bodies, deer mice, rodents.
• Psittacosis: Waterfowl, herons, and pigeons which are the most affected but not limited to other species of avian. Can also be upland game birds, shorebirds, gulls, terns, and songbirds.
• Good Ole Plague: fleas from rodents
• Baylisascaris: Raccoon parasite; Potential source is sitting at the base of a tree while turkey hunting where the raccoon would pass his feces.
• Encephalitits; deer, birds, rodents and variety of mosquitos.
• Alveolar Echinococcosis caused by tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis. Hosts: Red Fox, Arctic Fox, coyotes.
• West Nile for anyone going into a mosquito ridden country as a tourist hunter. If you are a huntress/hunter/ trapper should wear gloves when handling or cleaning animals. Cook meat thoroughly.
• Tick-borne disease;  Rickettsia ricketsii, Babesia, Lyme disease, Erhlichia chaffeensis (white tail deer), Borrelia burgdorferi, and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.
• Pseudomonas; any animal where mucus secretions exist.
• Salmonella-waterfowl
• Escherichia coli
• enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli-ruinants
• Trichinella

After reviewing these points in brief, we soon discover there is more to be conscious of when going afield. Once again as a public servant, the hunting participant acts as a potential first contact to a landscape, and observations that could potentially waylay an outbreak of disease to animals or humans. While afield, one must keep their wits about them. Do not take what is perceived as harmless death via Mother Nature and move it  to one of potential threat to wildlife and human populations. As humans, we get too comfortable in our own mortality. Neither do we want to live in fear. Being a proactive sportsman, a public servant, and being responsible by self-educating ourselves as adults that hunt with current literature, seminars, and contacting agencies, will help avoid unassuming moments of relative ease that can turn into nights in a hospital bed fighting for your life. 

*cough, you know who you are*

As a huntress that loves to prudently hunt, I feel being a public servant to remind other hunting participants of potential threats, is one of the best day’s business I could do for free.

Written by:  W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~