Knittlingen (ger) Alexander Kozel, mayor of Knittlingen for almost a year now, not only posts everyday things from his professional life on his Facebook page, but also private things, often seasoned with a pinch of humor. But his openness has now brought him a real storm of shit: his post, published on Saturday during a hunting trip in Knittlingen, has garnered more than 200 comments, many of which are not only critical but also offensive . Kozel, who is a member of the Greens, wrote of the hunt, “Important task for the care and maintenance of our forests” and added a photo where he and his two sons can be seen alongside game, a deer and a boar.
“Horrible and irresponsible”
The allegations in the comments were not only triggered by his attitude towards hunting, but more importantly by the fact that he had his children with him, and ranged from “lack of empathy”, “cowardly and irresponsible” to “child abuse at best level “. He didn’t expect such violent reactions, Kozel said when asked by this editorial team. As mayor, he was president of the hunting association and invited to hunt. He doesn’t have a hunting license and could have imagined participating as a driver if he had the time.
He considers hunting just and important, as it is practiced in this country. It is needed for ecological, forestry and agricultural reasons. Only animals of which there are enough would be hunted. If game had the upper hand, re-growing trees would be destroyed by grazing and arable land would suffer. Too large a population is also in danger if, for example, it does not find enough food in cold winters. On the other hand, Kozel rejects “hobby hunting” of endangered animals, as practiced in Africa or elsewhere in the world.
Kozel: “Respect other opinions”
“I tried to respond to early comments,” Kozel says. “I respect that you may see it differently. And of course there are black sheep among hunters, as in all professional groups.” But he soon had to realize that the other side simply didn’t want to listen to his arguments. ‘It’s somehow difficult to cope with absolute ideological positions.’ He was shocked by the reaction to his children. ‘As if it were wrong to show children where from the meat comes.” When he told them about the hunt, they just wanted to accompany him. Without fear of contact, they would have everything explained and shown to them. His daughter received a deer claw because she was studying the body structure of deer at school with great interest. “If my children want becoming a vegetarian at some point is totally fine with me,” says Kozel, who he also describes as “desirable” for everyone to eat less meat.
Stay relaxed when dealing with social media
He has since removed the original post and replaced it with a clarification that his position has not changed. “With that, the irrelevant comments are gone and things can calm down,” she says. Despite this experience, she doesn’t want to change his behavior on social media. “I’m relatively relaxed about it,” he says. Also because you can see where comments come from on Facebook. Nearly all of the criticism comes from the ranks of a nationwide anti-hunting activist group, none of whom he knows personally. On the other hand, he would receive support through private messages from people with whom he would otherwise face a headwind with.
