Robert Farago clearly hit a hot button with his assessment of Ted Nugent’s mental state. I have little respect for Nugent, beyond his ability to ride a one trick pony musical career for over forty years without baiting and shooting it. He has become the poster boy for pro-gun causes in a loud and proud way. He mixes in patriotism and constitutional rights like a true soldier for the cause, although he managed to avoid service in the military. Maybe he had cat scratch fever as a educational deferment to avoid an all-expense paid trip to Viet Nam in his youth. Maybe he has a secret aversion to targets that shoot back, despite his testosterone-fueled rants about guns, freedom and other issues that real soldiers defend in real combat.
I don’t resent the Motor City Madman simply because every horrible band on the planet plays a cover of his one hit song. I dislike the way he has become a spokesman for recreational hunting.
He is either a severely ethically challenged sportsman when it comes to hunting- or not real bright when it comes to hunting. The only other option is a god complex because nobody baits in Bambi and then shoots him in front of a TV crew– except a guy who looks in the mirror and sees a heavily armed deity in camouflage.
I live in a region where hunters take their hobby very seriously-at least the ethical ones, which is the largest component of the sport. They hunt in season and they don’t bait or jack-light game into target range. That practice is left to the lowlife element in hunter world- you connect the dots.
I realize that the Nuge didn’t jack-light the undersized deer into range, but the unethical part of the equation is exactly the same about either practice (baiting or jack-lighting) for hunters.
The biggest problem faced by the hunting fraternity is new members. We have lost a new generation of future hunters to a smart phone/ wired-in world of stagnation. The next generation is prepared to grow a thick layer of fungus in their parents’ basements while the world passes them by on an electronic screen.
Maybe Teddy should expand his rants to include a segment on a lost e-generation that only fire cartoon weapons in a cartoon world. That may be too big a reach for a guy on a well-armed soap box with nothing new to say except “no contest” through his lawyer.