Photo: Press
I watched with interest the programme about the Ku Klux Klan on Channel 4 the other night. The documentary didn’t really succeed in outing the Klan members as racist bigots (membership in and of itself is enough to make that obvious) so much as it outed them as faintly ridiculous humans.
Watching those silly Americans swanning around in their ridiculous costumes, with their spuriously earned titles (Imperial Wizard, Grand Dragon) and meeting in the countryside to conduct their illicit rituals, I was reminded of something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
Then the next day the Conservative party pulled their open vote on fox hunting and it hit me. They reminded me of English people! Specifically those English people who wear ridiculous costumes, have spuriously earned titles and meet up in the countryside to conduct their illicit rituals.
I’m not for a moment saying that the reasons that these two groups meet are of similar moral standard. The propagation of a message of racial hatred and violence and the belief that one race is superior to all others is obviously a more repugnant and dangerous a thing than having dogs tear foxes apart whilst in fancy dress as the Tetley’s Brewery man. But if I were going to set a bar for morally acceptable behaviour for a human in the 21st century, both would fall below it.
Watch Man & The Echo 'All Right' below
I understand that foxes can be a pest to farmers and that they need to be controlled, but the current law already allows for this. What I cannot comprehend is why it needs to be turned into a day long event that starts with dressing up weird and ends with a pack of starved dogs tearing an exhausted fox to smithereens, sound tracked by the guffaws and cheers of the landed gentry. I've also never heard a compelling argument from anyone who is pro hunt. All they ever say is "it’s a traditional countryside pastime."
The trouble with traditional countryside pastimes like fox hunting and lynching is that the wider world can find them a little hard to stomach. In a world where most people eat lots of meat, animal death is an unfortunate inevitability. But no amount of tradition or fun can justify the sickeningly wicked act of making a pastime out of death.
Man & The Echo have a handful of UK shows lined up for this summer. See full dates below.
Friday 31st July Farm Fest, Gilcombe Farm, Somerset
Thursday 13th August The Islington, London
Saturday 15th August Night & Day Café, Manchester
