# Shut the fuck up, Ricky Gervais. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 16, 2015, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851 "2015-04-16T18:17:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/261 "2015-04-19T01:29:54Z")
If God didn’t want us to eat animals, he wouldn’t have made them out of meat. But that doesn’t change the fact that Rebecca Francis is a worthless cunt. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/262 "2015-04-19T02:02:59Z")
> [@Enola\_Gay](#): > > If God didn’t want us to eat animals, he wouldn’t have made them out of meat. YOU’RE made out of meat. :stares at **Enola Gray** ---
**Author:** ![Pedro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/263 "2015-04-19T03:37:34Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > The only point I’m “missing”–that is, ignoring–is the dumb, totally beside the point you’re making about emotions. Nobody’s complaining about the hypocrisy of someone who’s too tenderhearted to hunt but still eats meat. People are complaining about the hypocrisy of someone who condemns hunters but still eats meat. That’s virtually the definition of hypocrisy: condemning someone for causing a harm that you yourself benefit from. Your suggestion that irrational emotional responses are a defense against hypocrisy is to deny the idea of hypocrisy entirely. > > You’re allowed to eat meat but not want to hunt. But if you do that and condemn those who kill animals, you’re a hypocrite. The fact that you’re letting your emotions guide your judgment is no defense against the charge. It must be nice to have such a simple worldview. It allows you to feel so superior. Good for you. ---
**Author:** ![camille](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@camille](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/camille)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/264 "2015-04-19T04:30:54Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Yes, you sanctimonious twit, when you’re engaging in this sort of dimwitted backpedaling and goal-shifting, there’s not much point in treating it like genuine discussion. Sure, you’re just trying to move us past namecalling or whatever–you’re certainly not condescendingly trying to say that others Just Don’t Get the point you’re making. > > Beam in your own eye, dummy. What _others_ “don’t get it”? It’s just you, and your nonsensical hostility. I’m sure some other people might disagree with some of my opinions, but in your case it’s simply that you don’t like me, and want to take the opportunity to insult me without really addressing anything I’ve said. There’s no backpedaling or goal shifting (?), and you accusing _anyone_ else on this message board of being sanctimonious or condescending has got to be one of the biggest laughs ever posted. You’re the one proclaiming what opinions people are “allowed” to express, or what they should be “charged” with if their opinions don’t meet with your approval. Let’s be real, even people who like you would have a hard time disputing the fact that you relish being a self righteous little prick whenever you think you can get away with it. > [@](#): > > “Nothing is more unjust, however common, than to charge with hypocrisy him that expresses zeal for those virtues which he neglects to practice; since he may be sincerely convinced of the advantages of conquering his passions, without having yet obtained the victory.” > > [- Samuel Johnson, _The Rambler, Essay #14_](http://www.mbird.com/2011/05/dr-johnson-has-sympathy-for-hypocrites/) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/265 "2015-04-19T11:26:40Z")
> [@camille](#): > > What _others_ “don’t get it”? It’s just you, and your nonsensical hostility. Whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/266 "2015-04-19T11:38:47Z")
A bit more: I get your point, Camille. I really do. You think that people should feel empathy toward other creatures, and that while killing animals must sometimes happen, people should not derive pleasure from the act of killing, and that if people do derive such pleasure, that’s a negative character trait, and you don’t want to associate with such people, and furthermore, that’s a character trait that correlates with committing violence. You think that it’s possible to eat meat and to condemn people who enjoy killing animals and not be a hypocrite. Is that about right? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/267 "2015-04-19T11:47:42Z")
> [@Pedro](#): > > It must be nice to have such a simple worldview. It allows you to feel so superior. Good for you. As for you, Pedro, what the fuck are you on about? I’m specifically saying why I, a non-hunter meat-eater, DON’T feel superior to hunters, and why I think it’d be hypocritical for me to do so. What the fuck makes that worldview simple? ANd my contempt for camille’s fundamentally dishonest patronizing condescending way of posting only means I’m superior to camille, not to everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/268 "2015-04-19T11:48:12Z")
> [@Enola\_Gay](#): > > If God didn’t want us to eat animals, he wouldn’t have made them out of meat. Yeah, but the bastard could have at least stuck some potatoes and gravy somewhere in their body cavities. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/269 "2015-04-19T12:26:26Z")
How ironic that the topic would turn into something like the OP railed against. > [@Doctor\_Why\_Bother](#): > > I also hate the whole phenomenon of online shaming. I hate it for two reasons. Reason 1: Often, the punishment is grossly disproportionate to the “crime”. By now, we’ve all probably heard the story of Justine Sacco, the PR woman who flew to South Africa having tweeted an admittedly racially insensitive joke before take-off, only to land eleven hours later to find that she was internet enemy number 1. and that she’d been fired. The joke itself, in my humble opinion, wasn’t even that controversial. It was the kind of joke Sarah Silverman makes all the time. Sacco’s mistake was assuming that people would get that she was being tongue-in-cheek. Unfortunately, they didn’t get it. Some of them, I’m sure, _deliberately_ didn’t get it. Most people are idiots online. > [@Doctor\_Why\_Bother](#): > > This brings me to the second reason I hate online shaming. Most of the people who do it only do it because they’re nasty, sanctimonious dicks. Have you seen the Dope BBQ pit? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/270 "2015-04-19T12:31:30Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I get your point, Camille. I really do. You think that people should feel empathy toward other creatures, and that while killing animals must sometimes happen, people should not derive pleasure from the act of killing, and that if people do derive such pleasure, that’s a negative character trait, and you don’t want to associate with such people, and furthermore, that’s a character trait that correlates with committing violence. You think that it’s possible to eat meat and to condemn people who enjoy killing animals and not be a hypocrite. Is that about right? I’m not Camille (obviously), but I am a meat eater, and you’ve summarized my stance on the subject fairly well. At a very young age I’ve personally witnessed the slaughter, dressing, butchering and cooking of various farm animals. Litterally farm to table. I have no qualms about any of it as long as it’s done in such a way as to minimize suffering for the animal. I do not look down on people whose job it is to make sure that my freezer is stocked with various meat products. However, I do look down on and judge those who not only take obvious pleasure in the killing of animals primarily for sport but also pose for glib selfies with their ghoulish trophies. Frankly, it demostrates a lack of empathy that I consider to be evidence of low quality of character. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/271 "2015-04-19T12:54:10Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#): > > Yeah, but the bastard could have at least stuck some potatoes and gravy somewhere in their body cavities. There already full of Chitlins. What else do you want? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/272 "2015-04-19T12:59:56Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Frankly, it demostrates a lack of empathy that I consider to be evidence of low quality of character. First, I appreciate the way you phrase your disagreement; you’re not doing it in the condescending manner that gets up my nose with Camille. Second, the crux of our disagreement, I believe, is over whether empathy is a good thing in itself, or good only in its effects. You seem to be in the former group, whereas I’m in the latter group. Empathy may lead to treating others with kindness-but it also may not. I’d rather be treated well by someone with no empathy for me than treated poorly by someone with plenty of empathy. And I think virtually everyone would agree, including cows and giraffes. This is not a wild idea. Tom Reagan, author of **The Case for Animal Rights** , makes a similar point in his critique of the anti-cruelty movement: since cruelty is a state of mind of the perpetrator, it is only tangentially related ot the question of how one ought to treat others. Steven Pinker, in **The Better Angels of Our Nature** , offers in one section a pretty compelling case against putting too much emphasis on empathy. I’m not saying that because these two folks have argued against overemphasizing empathy you ought to be convinced, merely saying that I’m not exactly pulling this idea out of my butt. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/273 "2015-04-19T13:32:42Z")
Is it just me, or does anyone else think that **Left Hand of Dorkness** and **camille** are going to end up at _Motel 6_ tonight with a 5th of Jack and a roll of quarters for the vibrating bed??? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/274 "2015-04-19T13:42:33Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#): > > Is it just me, or does anyone else think that **Left Hand of Dorkness** and **camille** are going to end up at _Motel 6_ tonight with a 5th of Jack and a roll of quarters for the vibrating bed??? Is it just me or does anyone else think this joke stopped being original or funny the second time someone told it? If you want to make a funny, you gotta try harder than that. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/275 "2015-04-19T13:43:29Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I’m not saying that because these two folks have argued against overemphasizing empathy you ought to be convinced, merely saying that I’m not exactly pulling this idea out of my butt. And I’m not saying that empathy should be the the top most concern with respect to treatment of animals in all cases. Clearly I have expressed no qualms about being at the top of the food chain and using animals as a primary food source. What I am saying is that hunting and gleefully displaying dead animals as trophies shows a type of base depravity that _I_ find grossly inappropriate. The fact that those who engage in this behaviour don’t understand this is not surprising. But I hope we can agree that while overemphasis of empathy is not necessarily a good thing (esp. from an evolutionary p.o.v.), underemphasis is potentially a sign of a more serious character flaw. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/276 "2015-04-19T13:49:22Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > There already full of Chitlins. What else do you want? I want the fixins’ that go with the chitlins, of course. God should have made pig livers out of greens, spleens out of sweet potatoes, blood out of gravy, corn-bread brains and their damned feet should come already pickled. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/277 "2015-04-19T13:50:21Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > What I am saying is that hunting and gleefully displaying dead animals as trophies shows a type of base depravity that _I_ find grossly inappropriate. Can you explain why this photo in the OP is a problem, but [this](http://blog.gretsch.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/7_Gretsch-KMC_BBQ_Fred_Grill.jpg) is not showing base depravity? I get having an emotional response to the first but not the second, but I’m not seeing a rational difference between the two pictures. Keep in mind that I’ve never hunted (much less posed next to a picture of an animal I killed), whereas I have grilled burgers and grinningly presented them to my friends and family. My view on this is not based on what I’ve personally done. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/278 "2015-04-19T14:00:39Z")
I imagine that to an over-sensitive animal rights activist, this is probably just as disturbing as posing next to a freshly killed zebra. But to you and me, this is several levels removed from the corpse of a freshly killed animal. AND It’s about to be overcooked if you don’t stop posing for pictures and focus on your job. 😉 I believe it’s similar to seeing the skeletal remains of a human who died 500 years ago compared to the image of a pale and bloated drowning victim being pulled out of the surf; the more relatable, the more visceral the reaction. It’s the underlying principal of empathy, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Pedro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/279 "2015-04-19T14:08:26Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > As for you, Pedro, what the fuck are you on about? I’m specifically saying why I, a non-hunter meat-eater, DON’T feel superior to hunters, and why I think it’d be hypocritical for me to do so. What the fuck makes that worldview simple? ANd my contempt for camille’s fundamentally dishonest patronizing condescending way of posting only means I’m superior to camille, not to everyone else. You just said eating meat is no more ethical than trophy hunting. That’s pretty fucking ridiculous. I wasn’t defending **camille** ’s arguments. She’s just a zany peace and love type. I agree with a lot of what **Quicksilver** said. I agree with you that all meat eaters are (morally) hunters in some way. But it’s very simplistic to see all hunters as morally equivalent and reduce all harm to an animal’s soul candle that extinguished itself. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/280 "2015-04-19T14:09:47Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Is it just me or does anyone else think this joke stopped being original or funny the second time someone told it? If you want to make a funny, you gotta try harder than that. It’s just you. But, ok, how about: is it just me or does anyone else think **Left Hand of Dorkness** is going to wake up with a severed giraffe head in his bed because **camille** made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, yet he refused??? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851.md?page=15)