Shane Greer: Tally-hopeless attempt to exploit an apparent class divide

One would think on the face of it that the Independent simply wanted to highlight an apparent breach of the law (forgetting for a moment the debate over whether foxhunting should be illegal).

As usual though the real message lies beneath an apparently innocuous façade. Let’s take a moment to dissect that façade; a man dressed in countryside attire, shotgun cocked over arm, with a dead fox hanging from his left hand… the essence of privilege. With this image juxtaposed against the all too transparent ‘Tally-ho!’ it is a front page designed to evoke the ‘them against us’ attitude which characterised the foxhunting debate.

When translated the front page essentially reads: landed gentry (the enemy of the poor) flout the law in the pursuit of cruelty and self-indulgence.

However, regardless of whether one supports or opposes the ban it is fundamentally unsound to frame the debate in terms which bear no relation to the underlying reasons for one’s support or opposition. To do anything else is to engage in propaganda in an effort to win an argument one implicitly acknowledge does not stand on its own merits.  

For the record the reality of foxhunting is altogether different from the image painted by The Independent. It is a sport which attracts a wide range of enthusiasts (from all walks of life), a sport which supports an entire army of working men and women. Fundamentally it is a sport that is anything but the private preserve of the rich and over-privileged. Of course none of this is relevant to the debate over whether fox hunting should be banned; but acknowledging that fact is the first step toward rational argument.