A Humorous yet Serious Example of Allowing Stupid to Control Your Life. EP.44
When the Law Defies Common Sense: Why Selling Elk Meat Is Illegal in Oregon
Hey, it's Earnest Mann, and today I’m tackling one of the most mind-numbing, hypocritical, and insanely arbitrary laws I’ve come across right here in Oregon — the prohibition on selling elk meat, even if you lawfully hunted it on your own land. This isn’t just about hunting; this is about how blind obedience, conformity, and government overreach quietly chip away at our freedom and basic human decency.
Elk Meat, Starving Families, and the Hypocrisy of the Law
Imagine this: you legally hunt an elk on your property, and your family — maybe your own children — are hungry. They offer to buy some meat from you, but the state says no. That’s illegal. Why? Because it’s not taxable. That’s the core of it. If the government can’t get a cut, it suddenly becomes a crime. This law defies logic, morality, and the very notion of private property.
The Real Cost of Obeying Without Thinking
I explore how these ridiculous regulations are just one example of a broader problem: the arbitrary nature of law. Most people won’t challenge it. They shrug and go along with it, even when it means letting others suffer. And that’s where the danger lies — in conformity, passivity, and blind trust in those who make the rules.
From HOAs to Hunting: A System Designed to Control
Whether it’s what color you can paint your house or what you can do with meat from an animal on your land, the system thrives on control, not logic. I share an interaction that sparked this rant — a guy who refused to sell elk meat because it’s “against the law.” That moment, that blind obedience, is what inspired this episode.
Hard Times Demand Humanity, Not Compliance
These are hard times, and if someone is hungry, I'm feeding them. That’s how this country used to operate — neighbors helping neighbors, not tiptoeing around ridiculous laws written to benefit the state. If we're going to survive and thrive, we need less red tape and more compassion, common sense, and courage to question.
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© 2020 - 26 The Earnest Mann Show
Transcript
0:00
If the government told you that if you
0:26
didn't hurl yourself off a cliff or
0:28
refused to feed your family when they
0:31
were starving that you could be
0:33
arrested, would you obey that? Well,
0:37
apparently it seems that many would.
0:41
Hello, my name's Ernest. Thank you for
0:44
tuning in.
0:46
Today I encountered something.
0:50
I'm telling you, I I encountered
0:53
something so incredibly unbelievably
0:58
stupid,
0:59
I wanted to share it with you. So that's
1:02
what this is going to be about
1:06
because
1:09
there are laws and well there are laws.
1:13
Now generally speaking I am of the
1:16
opinion that um we should have laws and
1:21
all laws aren't bad. Um,
1:25
for instance, um, there can be, you
1:28
know, say if you had a disagreement with
1:31
your neighbor or whatnot or what have
1:33
you, and you know, you you sincerely
1:36
because they're a such a complete
1:39
unmitigated um, idiot, you feel like
1:43
killing them, but yeah, you probably
1:47
shouldn't. Um, I'm not saying that's the
1:50
case with all idiots.
1:53
But I'm saying in general, yeah, we we
1:56
shouldn't go around killing each other.
1:59
But having said that,
2:02
there are a hell of a lot of laws that
2:06
are patently stupid, and
2:12
this is one of them. Um and often times
2:17
here's the thing that we look at
2:20
something that's a law and we can look
2:23
at it you know collectively
2:26
I mean because after the fact you know
2:29
it is a lot easier to analyze things
2:32
when we have a actually have a chance to
2:35
think about them and um you know so we
2:39
don't want to you know do anything in
2:41
the heat of the moment But yeah, that is
2:44
the case that I think that collectively
2:48
as citizens we should have that
2:50
opportunity to reverse laws that for
2:54
lack of a better description are just
2:57
plain [ __ ] stupid. And here's one of
3:00
them.
3:02
A lot of people um for all I know, I
3:05
can't speak for other states. I can only
3:07
speak of here in Oregon,
3:10
but this is something that I was so
3:12
dumbruck by um that um well, I'll I'll
3:17
just lay it out there to you. Um, it
3:20
concerns game
3:22
and what comes from game, but meat,
3:25
edible meat,
3:27
and um, apparently
3:30
for whatever reason, I don't know if
3:32
it's just elk or if it's certain other
3:35
game big game animals as well, but um,
3:39
you can get a hunting license and you
3:42
can go out and hunt them fine. And
3:46
apparently you could use them for
3:48
yourself. Fine,
3:50
but you can't sell it.
3:53
I don't know about giving it away, but
3:56
you can't sell it.
3:59
Now,
4:01
um there's this is problematic on
4:03
multiple levels, but here's here's what
4:07
I'm going to go into first. Um,
4:11
so if you have friends, family members,
4:14
and they are in need of that elk meat,
4:18
for instance, even if they offer to buy
4:20
it, you can't sell it cuz it's illegal.
4:25
And I'm going to tell you, I don't give
4:28
a damn about all the hogwash that
4:30
they're going to talk about this. And
4:33
for all I know, this, as I said, this
4:35
could exist in many other states. I I
4:38
don't know until you talk to me. I don't
4:40
know. And if you're somewhere else in
4:43
the world, I would be really interested
4:45
in hearing about how if if these same
4:49
kind of laws exist in other places, you
4:52
know, such as I don't know the in Europe
4:55
or, you know, what have you.
4:58
But um at least to me in here, it's it's
5:01
it's beyond stupid. And here's the
5:03
thing.
5:05
when you often times what most people
5:09
they just look at each other and they
5:10
they shrug and they shake their heads
5:12
and that wow it's just unbelievably
5:15
stupid but actually if you knew the real
5:19
reasons behind it and I feel that I do
5:22
know at least one of the major real
5:27
reasons why a certain thing for instance
5:30
like in selling elk me from a [ __ ]
5:33
elk that you shot on your property and
5:38
you should by any common sense measure
5:43
be able to do what it whatever the hell
5:45
you please
5:47
within reason.
5:50
But apparently no. And my uh my uh
5:54
thought on that is pure and simple. It's
5:56
a it's a criminal mob thing. It's not
6:00
taxable in practical terms. It's just
6:04
realistically it's not taxable.
6:07
And so like just about anything else in
6:11
America, if the government, the mob so
6:14
to speak, if they don't get their cut
6:17
out of something, then it's illegal.
6:21
Do do you do you see the hypocrisy here?
6:24
As soon as it is taxable, hey, go ahead.
6:28
We're getting we're stealing our cut out
6:32
of what is should be your property which
6:35
should be yours. I mean after all that
6:38
is the point. Well, no it's not because
6:40
getting hunting license is actually to
6:43
generate again through taxation more
6:45
revenue for the state. So that's another
6:48
form of thievery when it's on your land
6:51
to be able to hunt what is on your land.
6:56
But
6:58
setting even that aside for the moment,
7:01
I mean, if you had if you if you were a
7:06
person family, if you want to call them
7:08
that, I have other names. Uh something
7:12
uh pleasant, I'd call them [ __ ] I
7:13
don't know, cretins, let's say.
7:16
And you you wouldn't even feed your
7:20
family.
7:21
You wouldn't even feed your family. It's
7:24
that bad. Can you picture this? Picture
7:27
this scenario. So your son or daughter
7:31
and their family, you know, they're on
7:33
hard times and uh meat's expensive and
7:37
maybe they don't live there. Maybe they
7:39
live in the city, maybe, you know,
7:40
whatever, relatively nearby, but they're
7:43
on hard times. you know, they're having
7:45
hard times and you know, uh, dad or
7:48
whatever killed this elk and they, yeah,
7:51
they could use the meat because that's
7:53
the way we lived in this country for
7:57
centuries.
7:58
But can you imagine a father, mother,
8:01
whoever, or brother having this kind of
8:05
conversation?
8:07
Well, yeah. I'm sorry, sis, and
8:09
everything. I mean, I know y'all are
8:11
starved to death. You got a couple of
8:13
youngans and all, but I'd love to give
8:15
you this help, but I can't do it cuz
8:18
government says it's illegal. So, I
8:21
don't know. I don't know what y'all
8:22
going to do, and I I'd love to do it for
8:24
you, but I don't want to go to jail or
8:26
nothing. So, I can't give you no elf
8:28
meat. Sorry.
8:32
Now, if if that doesn't just strike you
8:36
as completely, totally, and utterly
8:40
[ __ ] idiotic, cruel,
8:43
whatever you want to attach to it,
8:46
that apparently the people involved on
8:49
this, the people that agreed to this,
8:51
because somewhere along the line,
8:52
however far back you want to go, some
8:55
group of bozos or somebody who didn't
8:58
care enough to examine the laws of other
9:02
state,
9:03
you know, collectively agreed to this.
9:06
This is the reason why I've said
9:08
repeatedly
9:09
laws by and large are arbitrary.
9:15
They're arbitrary by definition. And so
9:18
if you want to just live your life, I'm
9:22
saying you, not you personally, I'm
9:24
collectively people.
9:26
And if they want to live their life
9:28
where they have they put everything onto
9:31
this other group of representatives,
9:34
well, you'll probably going to stand a
9:37
chance that the only thing those
9:39
representatives end up doing over time
9:42
is they're damn good at representing
9:45
themselves,
9:47
their interest. And so if you just don't
9:51
do anything and then these laws start
9:54
affecting your life and then then after
9:57
the fact as though it was a complete
10:00
mystery to them, they turn around say,
10:03
"What the hell? What do you mean? I
10:05
can't get Yes, sir. We You allowed us to
10:09
pass that law that was 3, five years
10:12
ago." Oh, what the hell? I don't
10:14
understand.
10:16
to be.
10:19
And this is what I mean. This is what
10:22
I've been talking about forever.
10:26
When you don't participate in things
10:28
actively, you just say, "Well, I'm too
10:31
damn lazy, crazy, or stupid or whatever.
10:34
I ain't got time to him and I don't
10:35
worry about this law and that. I'll just
10:37
trust them."
10:42
And then you end up with [ __ ] like this
10:44
or
10:46
things like, and there's a million
10:48
examples, but just say another one that
10:50
many of you are familiar with is uh the
10:54
the crazy crazy of HOAs.
10:58
And if you want to paint your house,
11:00
screw you.
11:03
And say you want to paint your house,
11:04
just say you do. Paint your house
11:06
purple. Paint your house chartreuse.
11:10
Nope. it's been by the laws or
11:13
regulations if you will of a particular
11:16
HOA, you will paint it within a certain
11:19
set parameters of colors and shades in
11:23
compliance with the HOA.
11:27
All of this that I'm talking about
11:29
though the overarching problem here,
11:34
this is the bigger crux of the issues.
11:38
the issues that I'm talking about with,
11:39
you know, the HOA and this simple thing
11:41
of what the hell you can do with, you
11:44
know, the meat from an animal that you
11:47
paid a license for to shoot and kill as
11:50
your bounty. Your meaning possess it,
11:53
meaning yours as in again within reason,
11:58
you should be able to do with it what
12:01
the hell you please.
12:05
That is the tenant of property.
12:09
But but
12:11
apparently people either I don't know
12:15
don't understand or don't care about
12:16
this.
12:18
I do. But I'm just saying I'm shocked
12:21
that the response that I got back from
12:24
this person
12:25
at my uh one of my local watering holes
12:29
and I I I knew them. I knew this couple.
12:32
I've known him for two, three years at
12:34
least, you know, and very superficial
12:38
pleasant trees and whatnot. But, you
12:40
know, I was feeling the water and I
12:42
overheard the guy when they were eating
12:45
at a table not far from me and he was
12:48
talking about there was going out
12:49
hunting and whatnot. And when he
12:51
finished his call, you know, very
12:53
lightheartedly, I said, "Hey, when you
12:55
get that elk, let me know. I'll I'll buy
12:58
some of that meat from you." And then he
13:00
immediately piped in and said, "Oh, no.
13:03
I can't do that. It's against the law."
13:07
And there you go.
13:10
This is what happens
13:12
to blind, unthinking
13:15
obedience
13:17
to laws.
13:20
And that's what pisses me off so much.
13:25
Then when all the things that eventually
13:28
follow from this from as a consequence
13:32
of blind obedience to laws,
13:36
you inevitably end up with uh well
13:41
really bad things and a lot of trouble.
13:45
I think we learned that from:13:49
Germany
13:52
when um you know just you know just I
13:55
don't know it was 10 years before that
13:59
[ __ ] happened that people were
14:02
considered relatively normal
14:05
and then the next thing you know the
14:07
vast majority are conditioned
14:11
to blindly follow propaganda and Then
14:15
laws
14:18
and this is the inherent problem
14:25
that no one
14:27
apparently individually, collectively or
14:29
whatnot, no one will think about the
14:32
implications
14:33
of laws
14:36
and that um you know how it's bad.
14:41
Hey there. Just wanted to show you my
14:44
absolutely amazing Earnest Man Show tote
14:47
bag. And what makes it so amazing? It
14:50
looks great. And it's big. Big enough to
14:52
hold all your personal problems.
14:56
Well, okay, maybe not that big, but it
15:02
does hold a lot of stuff.
15:05
Anyway, um I was so stupified by this
15:10
that this is generally speaking a lot of
15:13
these people and here's the irony again.
15:15
Here is yet another irony that in this
15:20
area
15:21
um with many of these folks,
15:25
they're supposed to be or think of
15:28
themselves
15:30
as conservative.
15:33
Well, they may be conservative, they may
15:37
not, but I can tell you one thing is
15:40
sure as [ __ ] in taxes, they are
15:43
absolutely conformist.
15:46
And conformity
15:49
is u it's a bad thing.
15:52
It's unthinking. Conformity is what
15:56
eventually gets your ass in a lot of
15:58
trouble when you're doing a lot less,
16:00
you know, thinking
16:03
about anything and just blindly
16:08
following quote unquote the law. Well,
16:11
he can't do that cuz they say there's a
16:13
law where there's a hell hell of a lot
16:16
of laws.
16:19
Vast majority of them, they can call
16:21
them laws. Vast majority of them are
16:24
actually mechanisms of control
16:29
designed for those
16:32
who do the controlling.
16:36
There's a lot of people out there, I
16:38
guess, that haven't thought this
16:41
through,
16:43
but I have. And I don't know if you'll
16:47
agree with me or not, but I wanted to
16:50
share this with you because just the the
16:53
implications of this, especially
16:56
today, especially
16:58
as you know, hard times
17:02
um as we're in today.
17:06
And I, you know, I'm just saying all
17:08
things being reversed, if I had my own
17:11
land and my own property,
17:14
I wouldn't give a rat's ass what they
17:16
said whatsoever. If my family,
17:21
friends, or whoever the hell I chose.
17:26
These are hard times. If people are
17:28
hungry, I'm going to feed them.
17:31
I'm going to keep enough of course for
17:33
you know myself and my family but
17:35
anything I got left over if they need it
17:38
if they you know if they can't pay me
17:39
fine whatever
17:42
because that's the bedrock of the way
17:45
this country used to operate you know 75
17:52
100 years ago
17:55
when we were less controlled
17:59
less
18:01
digitized and
18:04
well our humanity was not perfect but um
18:10
in my opinion it was
18:13
well much closer to being human.
18:19
So
18:21
at any rate I just wanted to share that
18:24
with you. So
18:26
until next time, this is Ernest and
18:29
that's all I've got for today.