# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/41 "2015-04-16T20:00:29Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Why do you believe her explanation of the event? Why do you think that village was incapable of dispatching that giraffe until she happened along? Because I’m really hoping that there was a reasonable explanation for what she did? Because my faith in humanity is already low enough? See **Loach** ’s idea about why the locals couldn’t kill it themselves. If she wasn’t around maybe they would have asked someone else, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/42 "2015-04-16T20:01:37Z")
I’m not a hunter, but I am an enthusiastic carnivore. I take great pleasure from the death of animals - I can’t have a steak if a cow doesn’t die first. I can’t enjoy the leather seats in my car unless ditto. I’ve got goose down pillows, and I’m pretty sure the geese who supplied them didn’t survive the experience. There’s a hundred other ways my life is enriched by the slaughter of animals. But I’ve never killed anything bigger than a fly with my own hands. With all the ways I’ve enjoyed myself at the expense of some animals life, if I then turned to a hunter and acted like I’m somehow a better person, because I don’t enjoy killing them… well, that’d make me a hypocrite of the first water. Also, giraffes don’t care about respect. Dead giraffes _especially_ don’t care about respect. If you’re upset that this woman was smiling after she killed this thing, you are in desperate need of actual problems with which to concern yourself. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/43 "2015-04-16T20:03:00Z")
Gervais isn’t fat anymore, or at least wasn’t the last time I saw him. Beyond that, I’m not sure what to think. I’m not in favor of doxxing and of course death threats are always wrong. But it appears she’d already made herself something of a public figure, with a website and Facebook page dedicated to showing off all the savage beasts she’d bravely slain. She should’ve expected controversy and criticism from that alone. With his comment, Gervais just shone a spotlight on her existing social media presence, and the great horde predictably lost their shit. And while I’m not opposed to hunting (as long as I don’t have to do it myself), posting pictures of yourself smiling and posing with gigantic corpses is just fuckin’ creepy. At least have a little respect for the life you just ended for your own amusement. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/44 "2015-04-16T20:03:09Z")
There’s [video of the hunt](http://globalnews.ca/news/1942666/hunter-rebecca-francis-on-giraffe-hunt-uproar-i-do-not-regret-it-for-one-second/) showing the poor, abandoned giraffe who was kicked out of his herd hanging out with another giraffe when she finds it. I don’t have speakers on the computer I’m on so I don’t know what’s being said but he didn’t look very abandoned to me. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/45 "2015-04-16T20:04:05Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Just a gut feeling. Barring any evidence either way, I’ll leave it on someone else to show that they were rather than trying to prove that they weren’t. > > I also said “hungry African villagers” for a reason: she gave a story about some people practically begging her to kill the giraffe for them and how great it was to that for them. If she killed some bear so some otherwise well fed people could say “Yippee! Bear steaks!” then I’m not as receptive to what a wonderful thing she did. Sure. I grant that in this country, it will be much easier for a hungry person to cheaply eat pork or chicken than bear. But let’s be clear on the distinction, shall we? You can’t shift the burden of proof based on a gut feeling. You cannot accuse her of failing to use the hunted animals as food merely because of a gut feeling, any more than I can insist that she did based on my own gut feeling. The question is simply open. Now, what’s your reason for disliking the person, well-fed though he may be, for eschewing beef tenderloin one night in favor of bear tenderloin? Why is bear less suitable to continue keeping a well-fed person well-fed than cow? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/46 "2015-04-16T20:06:34Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > That’s a weird explanation. Are the village people, who presumably have lived near giraffes all their lives, not capable of dealing with such a situation unless a great white hunter is nearby? I feel like there’s some missing information. It’s very likely not legal for the locals to kill giraffe, absent a permit. That’s true for her as well, of course, but the cost of a permit for her would not be nearly as prohibitive. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/47 "2015-04-16T20:07:24Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > You can’t shift the burden of proof based on a gut feeling. Sure, I can. This isn’t a court of law, it’s a message board where I’m giving an opinion. I’m not telling people to dox her or attack her or calling for her to be strung up from the trees, I’m having an opinion about her. The burden of evidence here is exceptionally low. furthermore, as I said, I am basing this opinion upon her entire story and how THAT justified her action. Not just “Well, we ate it!” but how she saved the poor villagers. Such a story probably does not apply to her list of killed critters. No, I’m not undertaking the burden of trying to prove this. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/48 "2015-04-16T20:08:16Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Why do you believe her explanation of the event? Why do you think that village was incapable of dispatching that giraffe until she happened along? Her explanation is in line with most African hunting laws. The village members were undoubtedly physically capable of dispatching the giraffe but likely not legally permitted to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/49 "2015-04-16T20:08:23Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Who eats bears? Do a Google image search on “bear steak.” The results look delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/50 "2015-04-16T20:09:41Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Sure, I can. This isn’t a court of law, it’s a message board where I’m giving an opinion. I’m not telling people to dox her or attack her or calling for her to be strung up from the trees, I’m having an opinion about her. The burden of evidence here is exceptionally low. Ah, well in that case, there’s no such thing as global warming, vaccines cause autism, Hillary was hiding e-mails that prove she planned the Benghazi massacre personally… …and you’re a goddamn genius. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/51 "2015-04-16T20:10:57Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > And while I’m not opposed to hunting (as long as I don’t have to do it myself), posting pictures of yourself smiling and posing with gigantic corpses is just fuckin’ creepy. At least have a little respect for the life you just ended for your own amusement. Do you “show respect” before you chow down on a Big Mac? Or does it not count if you pay someone else to do your killing for you? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/52 "2015-04-16T20:12:41Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Ah, well in that case, there’s no such thing as global warming, vaccines cause autism, Hillary was hiding e-mails that prove she planned the Benghazi massacre personally… You’re certainly allowed to hold those opinions (and lots of people do). I might think they’re wrong and you might think that this woman has fed villages with every lion, lynx and badger she’s killed. So it goes. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/53 "2015-04-16T20:13:24Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > You’re certainly allowed to hold those opinions (and lots of people do). I might think they’re wrong and you might think that this woman has fed villages with every lion, lynx and badger she’s killed. So it goes. Yes, it does – to the great detriment of ignorance fighting. For instance, I see you’re subtly trying to reframe this as wther or not she fed villages as opposed to whether or not her kills were eaten. Or is that the main point? You object to hunting unless it feeds a village? Merely feeding humans is insufficient? How about residents of a township? A city? An unincorporated section of the county? ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/54 "2015-04-16T20:13:49Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Why do you believe her explanation of the event? Why do you think that village was incapable of dispatching that giraffe until she happened along? Perhaps because there has been no evidense to the contrary. Why do you disbelieve her story? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/55 "2015-04-16T20:14:19Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Rebecca Francis posing with: > > The [Long Horned Sheep that was raping nuns in Tasmania](http://www.trophytaker.com/z_trophyroom.asp?ID=173) > > [The morbidly depressed lion who begged to be allowed to die with dignity at the Atlanta zoo](https://causes-prod.caudn.com/photos/photos/Yd/rX/pR/Sc/Ei/0T/aB/duB.jpg) > > [The transgendered yak-musk ox hybrid who was eating children until a village in Saskatchwan begged her to liberate them](http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/galleries/x701/57565.jpg) > > [The zebra who killed Jon-Benet Ramsey and whose death finally brought her family some peace](http://rebeccafrancis.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/DSC00125-copy.png) It’s like when Atticus Finch posed for a victory photo with the dog he killed. Ol’ One Shot himself! ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/56 "2015-04-16T20:16:54Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Perhaps because there has been no evidense to the contrary. Why do you disbelieve her story? As noted, the giraffe was obviously not absent the companionship of other giraffes. So her story already doesn’t seem to match up to reality. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/57 "2015-04-16T20:17:51Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Do you “show respect” before you chow down on a Big Mac? Or does it not count if you pay someone else to do your killing for you? Correct, it doesn’t count. And I don’t eat Big Macs. And if I found out the guy who slaughtered the cow that went into the burger I ate today posted pics of himself giving a thumbs-up next to the bloody carcass, I’d think he was a creepy asshole too. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/58 "2015-04-16T20:18:33Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Do you “show respect” before you chow down on a Big Mac? Or does it not count if you pay someone else to do your killing for you? …when the local slaughterhouses start showing pictures of their workers lying next to dead cows giving the thumbs up and smiles that will also be the last day I buy meat from those slaughterhouses. I mean, all those photos of US troops smiling and posing over the dead bodies of Iraqis was all good and fine correct? Because those Iraqi’s were dead, and they weren’t killed by you, so why show them any respect? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/59 "2015-04-16T20:21:11Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > For instance, I see you’re subtly trying to reframe this as wther or not she fed villages as opposed to whether or not her kills were eaten. Subtle? I’ve been talking about it for posts now. I said in my original response that I was framing my opinion based on her defense of why it was okay to kill this giraffe (giving them needed food and means for survival). I could not have possibly been clearer. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/60 "2015-04-16T20:20:59Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > There’s [video of the hunt](http://globalnews.ca/news/1942666/hunter-rebecca-francis-on-giraffe-hunt-uproar-i-do-not-regret-it-for-one-second/) showing the poor, abandoned giraffe who was kicked out of his herd hanging out with another giraffe when she finds it. > > I don’t have speakers on the computer I’m on so I don’t know what’s being said but he didn’t look very abandoned to me. That video shows the type of hunt that **Loach** mentioned - she’s working with a guide and trackers who have been following the animal for a couple of days trying to get her into position for the shot she needs to take. It shows a little footage of the tracking, then shows her shot and the animal’s death. At the end of the clip, she and the guide talk briefly about the fact that the animal will be donated to the villages in the area, but the donation is clearly a result of the kill and not the reason for it. From a resource standpoint, that hunt was probably a good thing - she presumably paid a lot of money that will go towards sustainably managing the wildlife there, and the animal’s body was used. But I can’t help but agree with Gervais about the people who support those operations - people who kill animals for the thrill of killing animals. There’s just something wrong there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851.md?page=4)