BASC issues statement in response to RSPB hen harrier report

[countrryboy]

I agree, the moorland groups are doing great work on Facebook showcasing biodiversity on land managed for grouse shooting. As for BASC we have been supporting Let's Learn Moor this week and again next week. This year the event is two weeks long. Perhaps get behind the positives rather than seeking opportunities to knock BASC.

Let's Learn Moor

Let’s Learn Moor, the UK’s largest upland classroom, is an annual event spread over the first week of July.

basc.org.uk

Pherhaps if basc was actually using its substantial size and money and fancy media centre i wouldnae have to bash it.
Just say wot i see, wasted 30 yrs of membership on them.

Most of the other shooting orgs are staffed by volanteers who often have a FT job keepering ( hardly the easiest of jobs to find spare time and days off) and have as much impact possibly more than basc.

Basc is massively under performing and has done for decades.
The Moorland assocation is really workjng hard the now and really holding the rspb press releases up to scrutiny.
Unfortuneatly WJ is still running rings round all the shooting orgs

 

[hoodwink]

If the RSPB continue to bash the shooting community with spurious and untrue allegations, i think it would be wise for the BASC to retaliate in kind with the unpalatable truths (Predator and Deer control) that would severely affect the fighting capacity through donations.
They may wish to stay in there lane, or start to work together for a better environment.

 

[Greenmist]

If the RSPB continue to bash the shooting community with spurious and untrue allegations, i think it would be wise for the BASC to retaliate in kind with the unpalatable truths (Predator and Deer control) that would severely affect the fighting capacity through donations.
They may wish to stay in there lane, or start to work together for a better environment.

Retaliation is the wrong word I think, and I don't think it would do our cause any favours, Commending them on effective pest and deer management would likely have the same outcome

 

[jall55]

There have been daily attacks on shooting for eons. We must pick our battles and right now the focus has been on briefing MPs ahead of the grouse shooting debate this Monday - and thank you again for your exceptional effort lobbying MPs.

No problem - and yes there perhaps has been - but at no time has it been so open to all and indeed relatively easy to respond and debunk so much of the rubbish with social media

Retaliation is the wrong word I think, and I don't think it would do our cause any favours, Commending them on effective pest and deer management would likely have the same outcome

Yes - great point - be also nice to ask them or indeed Mr P his views directly - he resigned from the RSPCA i think because of welfare issue he perceived were wrong - so i wonder why he does not resign from RSPB too - same with his mate Mr Khan

 

[Greenmist]

Yes - great point - be also nice to ask them or indeed Mr P his views directly

Attacking him with regards to conservation and wildlife issues is pointless, he has such a devout following, opinion will never waver, with him, it will be a case of waiting for him to follow Mr Saville and Mr Harris

 

[Conor O'Gorman]

Pherhaps if basc was actually using its substantial size and money and fancy media centre i wouldnae have to bash it.
Just say wot i see, wasted 30 yrs of membership on them.

Most of the other shooting orgs are staffed by volanteers who often have a FT job keepering ( hardly the easiest of jobs to find spare time and days off) and have as much impact possibly more than basc.

Basc is massively under performing and has done for decades.
The Moorland assocation is really workjng hard the now and really holding the rspb press releases up to scrutiny.
Unfortuneatly WJ is still running rings round all the shooting orgs

BASC is using its resources appropriately as decided by its Council - as elected by its members. You can hardly criticise BASC for its performance if you are not a member and therefore not up to date with what the Association is doing. I appreciate you were a member for 30 years and if you are going the spend the next 30 years moaning that's your choice, but it is getting rather tedious. Or to look at from a fresh perspective - what do you think BASC is doing well that you think it should do more of?

 

[Conor O'Gorman]

No problem - and yes there perhaps has been - but at no time has it been so open to all and indeed relatively easy to respond and debunk so much of the rubbish with social media

I find it to be the opposite on social media - misinformation is rife and debunking it is futile - and people more expert than me on social media say the same. As for the RSPB report - it's now old news - and we will continue to use social media to raise awareness of the positives around shooting.

 

[countrryboy]

BASC is using its resources appropriately as decided by its Council - as elected by its members. You can hardly criticise BASC for its performance if you are not a member and therefore not up to date with what the Association is doing. I appreciate you were a member for 30 years and if you are going the spend the next 30 years moaning that's your choice, but it is getting rather tedious. Or to look at from a fresh perspective - what do you think BASC is doing well that you think it should do more of?

Must admit i do try to avoid basc threads for that very reason.
They just depress me, that unfulled potential in basc is massive, but sadly ur just like every other big council, civil service or charity. Just plodding along in safe jobs.
When ur being out performed by many orgs with hardly any FT staff u really should be looking in the mirror

Amazing how times change, wasnae that many years ago i got a PM out the blue from u praising me and thanking me for sticking up and defending urself and Basc on here.

 

[jall55]

I find it to be the opposite on social media - misinformation is rife and debunking it is futile - and people more expert than me on social media say the same. As for the RSPB report - it's now old news - and we will continue to use social media to raise awareness of the positives around shooting.

I find it all so defeatist

 

[Conor O'Gorman]

Must admit i do try to avoid basc threads for that very reason.
They just depress me, that unfulled potential in basc is massive, but sadly ur just like every other big council, civil service or charity. Just plodding along in safe jobs.
When ur being out performed by many orgs with hardly any FT staff u really should be looking in the mirror

Amazing how times change, wasnae that many years ago i got a PM out the blue from u praising me and thanking me for sticking up and defending urself and Basc on here.

Yes it is strange how times change and you were a great supporter and now you are not and hopefully one day you will be again - I will keep trying to do my best for what it's worth.

 

[merlin]

I find it to be the opposite on social media - misinformation is rife and debunking it is futile - and people more expert than me on social media say the same. As for the RSPB report - it's now old news - and we will continue to use social media to raise awareness of the positives around shooting.

......so any adverse news story simply isn't worth rebutting because "debunking is futile"? Right. Got it.

I was a member of BASC for a considerable time, even - and I shake my own head in disbelief now that I did this - making an additional contribution to the media centre when it was originally being opened.

Note "was". It was this kind of resigned shoulder-shrugging that helped make my decision to leave (.....that, and being spoken to in a staggeringly condescending manner by a senior individual in BASC who was far more interested in telling me all about themselves than in listening to what I had to say about the issue I had raised. I didn't become a member to stroke anyone's ego).

Opponents of shooting are streets ahead in terms of using social media to try and sway opinion of the broader public. Debunking should be undertaken at every opportunity, in addition to, not instead of, promoting positives.

@countrryboy - I'm with you on this.

 

[cjm1066]

Basc is massively under performing and has done for decades.

With that insight and your expert knowledge why not stand for BASC Council and make a substantive contribution to our sport.

 

[Camdig]

I would love to see a full biodiversity study done on Langholm Moor now it's been in the hands of the community with no moorland management since 2021, it already has studies as a managed moor now would be a good time to do a full comparison.

 

[Conor O'Gorman]

.....so any adverse news story simply isn't worth rebutting because "debunking is futile"? Right. Got it.

No that is not right. There has been media coverage of the report and those media reports include Moorland Association and BASC counterpoints in relation to some of the assertions made by RSPB. I provided a list of most of those articles earlier in this thread.

 

[Greenmist]

I find it to be the opposite on social media - misinformation is rife and debunking it is futile

Sorry @Conor O'Gorman , but I'll disagree with you on that, may I ask which expert suggested it was a waste of time?

 

[Conor O'Gorman]

Sorry @Conor O'Gorman , but I'll disagree with you on that, may I ask which expert suggested it was a waste of time?

That's fine, this is a shooting forum, not a BASC advisory committee. Have a look online - misinformation/disinformation/fake news as you wish to call it - and ask AI how to combat it. Even governments fail to counter it effectively - parents refusing to take their children to their necessary vaccines because of misinformation on social media a case in point. There has been academic research on how to tackle misinformation on social media, see: Debunking “fake news” on social media: Immediate and short-term effects of fact-checking and media literacy interventions

 

[Greenmist]

That's fine, this is a shooting forum, not a BASC advisory committee. Have a look online - misinformation/disinformation/fake news as you wish to call it - and ask AI how to combat it. Even governments fail to counter it effectively - parents refusing to take their children to their necessary vaccines because of misinformation on social media a case in point. There has been academic research on how to tackle misinformation on social media, see: Debunking “fake news” on social media: Immediate and short-term effects of fact-checking and media literacy interventions

Thats all well and good Conor, how many Pachamites do you think fact check everything st. chris comes out with? This is the one avenue I think BASC should fight and debunk at every tweet

 

[Conor O'Gorman]

Thats all well and good Conor, how many Pachamites do you think fact check everything st. chris comes out with? This is the one avenue I think BASC should fight and debunk at every tweet

BASC has been using its social media channels to put out various facts on the benefits of grouse shooting in the lead up to tomorrow's Westminster Hall debate on the Wild Justice petition to ban driven grouse shooting.

 

[jall55]

That's fine, this is a shooting forum, not a BASC advisory committee. Have a look online - misinformation/disinformation/fake news as you wish to call it - and ask AI how to combat it. Even governments fail to counter it effectively - parents refusing to take their children to their necessary vaccines because of misinformation on social media a case in point. There has been academic research on how to tackle misinformation on social media, see: Debunking “fake news” on social media: Immediate and short-term effects of fact-checking and media literacy interventions

Why are you trying to complicate it ? So many of us are simple people who understand and crave simple things from our representatives

 

[Greenmist]

BASC has been using its social media channels to put out various facts on the benefits of grouse shooting in the lead up to tomorrow's Westminster Hall debate on the Wild Justice petition to ban driven grouse shooting.

Thats great Conor, but they don't go on your channels for information, the likes of wild justice will pick out little bits, usually out of context and say "what do you think of this" shock, horror. While I agree it will be an uphill (near vertical) struggle and open to abuse from antis, simply countering their lies with facts will benefit us, marathon not a sprint