# 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:** 9
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/161 "2015-04-17T12:02:09Z")
I’ve received a PM letting me know that Bricker has said something in response to me that is completely out of character for him and cruel even by Pit standards. Maybe that’s incorrrect, but, in case it is, I’m going to do you a favor and not read it. Why? So I can say this. **I’m sorry**. I’ve long said that, if people do not really mean to offend, they will apologize. So that is what I am doing here. I let my frustrations with other things you have said build up, and I attacked your character rather than sticking with attacking what you were doing in this thread. If I were to read what you said, and it is as horrible as the PM claimed, I would not be able to do this for a long time. Plus, if it’s that uncharacteristic, I don’t want it informing my view of you. Because, believe it or not, I respect you when you aren’t calling everyone ignorant for disagreeing with you. And you do put up with a lot of shit–something I can’t really do. One thing I’ve learned about myself is that I hold grudges even when I don’t want to. I hated **Fenris** for much longer than was appropriate, for example. But, right now, I’m not mad at you. I got my frustration out, and it’s over, as far as I’m concerned. I’m not going to read something that will make me mad at you, that will make me want to deliberately annoy you and frustrate you due to my strong sense of justice. Here’s hoping you take this apology in the spirit offered. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/162 "2015-04-17T12:09:55Z")
I left out: While I will still criticize you when I think you are wrong (morally or factually), I will not allow myself to hate you, and I will temper my responses now that I know they actually bother you. (This is why it pays to be genuine.) ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/163 "2015-04-17T12:09:57Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I’ve received a PM letting me know that Bricker has said something in response to me that is completely out of character for him and cruel even by Pit standards. Maybe that’s incorrrect, but, in case it is, I’m going to do you a favor and not read it. > > Why? So I can say this. **I’m sorry**. I’ve long said that, if people do not really mean to offend, they will apologize. So that is what I am doing here. I let my frustrations with other things you have said build up, and I attacked your character rather than sticking with attacking what you were doing in this thread. > > If I were to read what you said, and it is as horrible as the PM claimed, I would not be able to do this for a long time. Plus, if it’s that uncharacteristic, I don’t want it informing my view of you. Because, believe it or not, I respect you when you aren’t calling everyone ignorant for disagreeing with you. And you do put up with a lot of shit–something I can’t really do. > > One thing I’ve learned about myself is that I hold grudges even when I don’t want to. I hated **Fenris** for much longer than was appropriate, for example. But, right now, I’m not mad at you. I got my frustration out, and it’s over, as far as I’m concerned. I’m not going to read something that will make me mad at you, that will make me want to deliberately annoy you and frustrate you due to my strong sense of justice. > > Here’s hoping you take this apology in the spirit offered. Nothing to say, but big thumbs up. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/164 "2015-04-17T12:19:23Z")
> [@bup](#): > > My copy of _The Joy of Cooking_ has a couple of bear recipes. I was just about the post the same thing. Also armadillo and squirrel, which is stuff I’m more likely to be able to actually kill. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/165 "2015-04-17T12:33:53Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > She didn’t claim she had to do it, though. She was on a hunting trip, and she unabashedly hunts for fun, but also, as I understand it, for meat. She claimed that peculiar circumstances overrode her initial decision not to hunt a giraffe–circumstances that seem to be false, but given her initial plan not to hunt giraffe, circumstances that I don’t think she could have understood were false (MrDibble, since she didn’t plan to hunt giraffe, I’m not convinced she needed to be up on giraffe sociology). Her justification for shooting the giraffe turns out to be entirely fabricated. Why would I believe the part where she says she had no plan to hunt a giraffe? The reality is that she wanted a facebook picture of herself smiling with a dead giraffe, and she made that happen. When there were unforeseen consequences of that, she appears to have filled in more a more noble justification than the reality which is that she just wanted “likes” on a facebook picture. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/166 "2015-04-17T12:41:34Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Her justification for shooting the giraffe turns out to be entirely fabricated. Why would I believe the part where she says she had no plan to hunt a giraffe? Yeah, she’s ok with killing brown bear, black bear, shiras moose, alaskan moose,  dall sheep, stone sheep, desert bighorn ram, rocky mountain bighorn ram, mule deer, whitetail deer, elk, mountain goat, antelope, arapawa ram, kudu, zebra, black wildebeest, springbuck, blesbuck, lynx, badger, and squirrel, but not giraffe. Not unless it’s suffering and she’s needed to save a village. Although, come to think of it, she didn’t say _why_ she didn’t plan to hunt giraffe. Too awkward to pose for a trophy shot? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/167 "2015-04-17T12:44:00Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > You can buy tinned bear meat in Finland. “Pack your bags, honey… the Turnips are going to Helsinki!” “Whuh… what? It’s five in the morning!” ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/168 "2015-04-17T13:05:11Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Hunting is fun and deeply satisfying. Gervais is an inexplicably famous menstrual clot. This. The internet doesn’t hate hunting. A few whiny bitches on the internet do. For every death threat hunters get for posting pictures of their kills they get many more followers and friends. It amazes me how whiny and clueless anti-hunters come across during these sorts of threads. ---
**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 17, 2015, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/169 "2015-04-17T13:23:11Z")
> [@Doctor\_Why\_Bother](#): > > The problem is that Gervais has seven and a half million twitter followers. When he tweets something contentious it becomes News, and he knows it because he’s done it before. So what? He’s popular and has a platform for sharing his views. We should all be so lucky. Nothing in his comments said to hunt this woman down or start doxxing her or whatever. You just want to make this about someone we know because complaining about random idiots on the internet is less compelling than complaining about celebrities. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > She didn’t claim she had to do it, though. She was on a hunting trip, and she unabashedly hunts for fun, but also, as I understand it, for meat. She claimed that peculiar circumstances overrode her initial decision not to hunt a giraffe–circumstances that seem to be false, but given her initial plan not to hunt giraffe, circumstances that I don’t think she could have understood were false (MrDibble, since she didn’t plan to hunt giraffe, I’m not convinced she needed to be up on giraffe sociology). Which brings us back around to “hypocrisy”. She says she wouldn’t have dreamed of killing a giraffe and only killed this one because of the exceptional and noble circumstances. She makes pains to point out how THIS was an exceptional event that she otherwise wouldn’t have partaken in. So she places giraffes as more deserving of staying alive than the list of other creatures she has hunted? How is this different than me being okay with killing flies but not butterflies, or cows but not zebras or chickens but not bald eagles? How is Gervais a hypocrite for eating meat while disapproving of killing a giraffe but she wasn’t a hypocrite for killing a goat but not a giraffe? The whole reason she was in Africa was to kill non-giraffe animals – isn’t that the exact same hypocrisy? Ranking one animal’s life above another’s? The only difference is that she’s less vocal about her hierarchy of which animals deserve to live or die and seems to set her bar differently than many other people. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/170 "2015-04-17T13:27:55Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I’ve received a PM letting me know that Bricker has said something in response to me that is completely out of character for him and cruel even by Pit standards. Maybe that’s incorrrect, but, in case it is, I’m going to do you a favor and not read it. > > Why? So I can say this. **I’m sorry**. I’ve long said that, if people do not really mean to offend, they will apologize. So that is what I am doing here. I let my frustrations with other things you have said build up, and I attacked your character rather than sticking with attacking what you were doing in this thread. > > If I were to read what you said, and it is as horrible as the PM claimed, I would not be able to do this for a long time. Plus, if it’s that uncharacteristic, I don’t want it informing my view of you. Because, believe it or not, I respect you when you aren’t calling everyone ignorant for disagreeing with you. And you do put up with a lot of shit–something I can’t really do. > > One thing I’ve learned about myself is that I hold grudges even when I don’t want to. I hated **Fenris** for much longer than was appropriate, for example. But, right now, I’m not mad at you. I got my frustration out, and it’s over, as far as I’m concerned. I’m not going to read something that will make me mad at you, that will make me want to deliberately annoy you and frustrate you due to my strong sense of justice. > > Here’s hoping you take this apology in the spirit offered. I am truly humbled. I feel that my own apology rings hollow, because it virtually echoes the points you raised. Please don’t mistake a lack of original mea culpas for a lack of sincerity: I, too, posted what I did as the result of frustrations, and indeed not just with you, but with others in the thread, and I made you the recipient of vitriol that was indeed out of character, and was undeserved. (In fairness, I don’t agree it was out of bounds for the Pit, but it was certainly out of bounds for me, and I shouldn’t have posted it.) I disagree with what you said, and because I was in the Pit, I let a venomous response substitute for a rebuttal. Some would argue that the Pit exists for that reason, but I have tried – not always successfully, I admit – to avoid that use of it. So if you can see your way clear to accepting my apology, I certainly accept yours; mine was the greater offense. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/171 "2015-04-17T13:36:00Z")
If you two hug, I am going to vomit. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/172 "2015-04-17T14:15:33Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > You can buy tinned bear meat in Finland. Hell, I’m almost certain I’ve seen bear next to elk and ground camel meat at the local Mariano’s here in Chicago. (Mariano’s is a Wisconsin-based supermarket of the Roundy’s chain that has become quite popular in the local area over the last five years or so.) ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/173 "2015-04-17T14:26:02Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > So she places giraffes as more deserving of staying alive than the list of other creatures she has hunted? How is this different than me being okay with killing flies but not butterflies, or cows but not zebras or chickens but not bald eagles? How is Gervais a hypocrite for eating meat while disapproving of killing a giraffe but she wasn’t a hypocrite for killing a goat but not a giraffe? The whole reason she was in Africa was to kill non-giraffe animals – isn’t that the exact same hypocrisy? Ranking one animal’s life above another’s? The only difference is that she’s less vocal about her hierarchy of which animals deserve to live or die and seems to set her bar differently than many other people. This May, I plan on going turkey hunting when the season opens. In the areas where I hunt turkey, it’s possible that I might come across a bald eagle. There are some of them around here. I don’t plan on shooting any bald eagles during my turkey hunt. Only turkeys. Does this make me some kind of hypocrite? Does this in any way confuse you? Explaining hunting to non-hunters sometimes feels like explaining long division to a two year old. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/174 "2015-04-17T14:29:54Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > I don’t plan on shooting any bald eagles during my turkey hunt. Only turkeys. > > . Don’t cheat yourself here. Bald eagle stuffed with blackfooted ferret is delicious. ---
**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 17, 2015, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/175 "2015-04-17T14:36:01Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > I don’t plan on shooting any bald eagles during my turkey hunt. Only turkeys. > > Does this make me some kind of hypocrite? Does this in any way confuse you? She said she “wouldn’t have dreamed” of killing a giraffe. Not that giraffes just happened to not be on that trip’s itinerary but that she , for whatever reason, found the very idea of hunting a giraffe unfathomable. Quite a bit different from what you’re describing. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/176 "2015-04-17T14:40:02Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > She said she “wouldn’t have dreamed” of killing a giraffe. Not that giraffes just happened to not be on that trip’s itinerary but that she , for whatever reason, found the very idea of hunting a giraffe unfathomable. > > Quite a bit different from what you’re describing. Ok. I “wouldn’t dream” of shooting a bald eagle this year during my turkey hunt. Happy now? Am I now a hypocrite? ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/177 "2015-04-17T14:44:57Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > “Pack your bags, honey… the Turnips are going to Helsinki!” > > “Whuh… what? It’s five in the morning!” Have I got good news for you - [http://www.exoticmeatmarkets.com/bearmeat.html](http://www.exoticmeatmarkets.com/bearmeat.html) (unless you live in California) ---
**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 17, 2015, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/178 "2015-04-17T14:47:27Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > On the other hand, why should she show him any respect? Is he gonna be sad because he got disrespected? > … I see no reason for her not to smile by the carcass, dance by the carcass, or put a funny hat on the carcass and draw a mustache on its giraffey lips. Animals don’t care about that shit. With that logic then it should be okay to go to a funeral and take a selfie by the coffin with the deceased. What, they don’t care, they’re dead. Why not get one last pic with grandma. We don’t do that because it’s morbid. IMO, it’s morbid to take a photo smiling beside a dead animal that you just killed. Take a photo for posterity if that’s your thing, but don’t gloat about it. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/179 "2015-04-17T14:49:01Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > With that logic then it should be okay to go to a funeral and take a selfie by the coffin with the deceased. What, they don’t care, they’re dead. Why not get one last pic with grandma. > > We don’t do that because it’s morbid. One last selfie with Grandma in the coffin coming up - [Selfies at Funerals](http://selfiesatfunerals.tumblr.com/post/65405643104) ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851/180 "2015-04-17T14:49:44Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > With that logic then it should be okay to go to a funeral and take a selfie by the coffin with the deceased. What, they don’t care, they’re dead. Why not get one last pic with grandma. > > We don’t do that because it’s morbid. IMO, it’s morbid to take a photo smiling beside a dead animal that you just killed. Take a photo for posterity if that’s your thing, but don’t gloat about it. People do, in fact, do that. Google “modern post mortem photography.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-ricky-gervais/717851.md?page=10)