Originally Posted by
Ruzzeh
I get where you're coming from, but it's like murder shows. It's okay to enjoy watching them while not being ok with murder. It's ok to watch a show about animal abuse without condoning it.
What makes the terrible characters "likeable" in a sense is that there is a lot of character development, and humans are multi-layered beings. People can do terrible things, but people can also be funny, creative, interesting, etc at the same time. In the end, Joe is a terrible person, and I wouldn't want to associate him. Did I enjoy some parts of him? Absolutely. He is shit, and there is no denying that, but goddamn he is one entertaining motherfucker.
If it makes you feel better, his empire is over. The others are "exposed" and will probably fall too, because of this documentary and the popularity of it. I can imagine the lax laws of owning big cats in that area are going to end within the next 5-10 years (takes a long time to change laws).
Before the documentary, there were many people who didn't know that there were states that you could easily own big cats in. People also didn't realize that they were treated so terribly. When docs like this blow up, and people realize that these things are happening- things start to change.