Hacker News Reader

Comment by blurbytree | Hacker News Reader

He killed the elephant because it was destroying the communities crops, and the community got fed well from the meat.

I don't think it's quite as one sided as you propose.

He killed it for sport, the rest is an excuse. If he were concerned about the community food supply he could have donated food. Anyone who hires "booth babes" for spokespeople and is a fan of 24 (a show I used to work for) hunts because he enjoys it. Bob Parsons does not spend thousands of dollars to kill elephants for humanitarian reasons.

So you are offended by the intention? Plenty of people enjoy hunting. Does that make them bad people worthy of contempt?

This whole elephant thing is ridiculous.

> Plenty of people enjoy hunting. Does that make them bad people worthy of contempt?

If they kill animals for fun, yes.

He paid $70,000 to shoot the elephant. He's sick.

Well I think you'd be hard pressed to find a hunter in the US that hunts only for the food gained. Maybe spending 70,000 dollars is sick, but I would hardly call those who hunt for "sport" sick. I myself have never hunted, but I imagine it satisfies some urge in those who do it.

Do you really think there were a bunch of villagers sitting in Africa, saying to themselves "our crops are being destroyed by this elephant, and we are so hungry—if only a rich American could fly halfway around the world to shoot an elephant for us?"

If you watched the original un-cut video, you would've seen the hungry villagers in Godaddy T-shirts and Caps skinning and chopping the elephant. That was disgusting. He thought of making it as a campaign, but when it backfired, they edited the video,

Watch the video, he's killing the elephant at night far from any village or crops. The crops thing is an excuse.

I don't think killing an elephant away from any village or crops proves that the elephant isn't a nuisance for that village, or that it routinely destroys the crops.

You bought that lie? That story was a PR cover-up to stop people from leaving GoDaddy. I guess it actually worked.

I've got reasons to suspect that guy is working for godaddy as he keeps defending them.

I really wish I could've downvoted him.

I'd really like to see proof that it was made up. It sounds reasonable on its face, rogue elephants trampling crops and people isn't unheard of.

It also sounds reasonable that you can pay the local authorities in Zimbabwe to get the privilege to fulfill your own great white hunter dreams by shooting a problematic elephant.

I personally think how much of the video is spent justifying it is quite pathetic, and can also see how others might be offended by the great white hunter style.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com