armchair diagnosis

As I have watched a lot of procedural crime dramas, I consider myself an armchair expert in, you know, the Mind of the Criminal. According to all of them, one of the signposts along the way to full-fledged serial killer behavior is the torturing and/or killing of animals. It's like practice for killing humans.

I've long found sport hunting repugnant, which I distinguish from killing things which one intends to eat. In fact, I think anyone who wants to eat meat should *have* to kill their own, so they know exactly what it is they're eating: Death. Not a pre-packaged lump of stuff on a bun or a plate. No, hon, you're eating bloody, howling DEATH. How ya like that burger now?

ANYWAY, sport hunting, in which people go out and kill animals for the fun of it, is inexcusable, repugnant, and unethical. I don't see any difference between trophy hunting in Africa, torturing the neighbor's cat, and, say, shooting wolves from a helicopter. It's all killing for fun. Killing for pleasure. So, sport hunters, I say: you are psychopaths. That includes you, Sarah Palin. I've got your "culture of life" right here, lady. If you loved "life," you wouldn't kill animals for jollies.