The killing of Cecil in Zimbabwe sent an emotional shock wave which reached all possible shores. The circumstances of this lion's brutal end were barbaric and not the logical, almost surgical result of hunting. The protests have to be seen in a more moral context. One must not err into the hysteria which too often surrounds gun control or the Second Amendment in the US Constitution.
Cecil fell victim to something perverse. The mix of corruption, poaching, gratuitous violence and the inexcusable behavior of the individual responsible for this terrible deed is on trial.
Day after day we find ourselves consuming images of the most unimaginable cruelty and we hardly notice. Suddenly the demise of the Lion King wakes us up. The point is that the steps made towards a more civilised, informed "discourse" in those parts of the world, which can afford it, have collateral consequences (climate, environment, animal rights).
In reality the far-away Cecil obliges us to face facts close by, wherein random violence and killings occur by the minute. The lion was majestic in life, he is mythological after. The perpetrator is too uninteresting to retain our attention and we are not into lynching. The great beast has become the messenger who reminds us that we live in an apocalypse .
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