Recently, Bob Parsons, founder & CEO of GoDaddy.com shot an elephant in the village of Labola, Zimbabwe and then posted a video of the kill online. Now the interwebs are afire with cries of "1-2-3-4! When our domain comes up for renewal we won't renew with you...anymore!" Animal rights group PETA have branded Parsons "Scummiest CEO of the Year", canceled their GoDaddy account and said they won't be his friend anymore. All over the world groups of white-collar workers have emerged from their fallout shelter to find themselves shocked at the possible existence of a morally bankrupt CEO.
The idea that Bob Parsons is the sleaziest CEO of the year seems a bit of a stretch, too. Far be it for me to accuse PETA (motto “It’s not fair, man”) of naiveté but I thought that the 2008 economic crash put to bed any lingering notions we had that corporate executives are anything but avatars of Satan who devour innocent children while watching Mad Men.
Parsons has tried to explain the context of the video, which shows his hunting party laying in wait for, firing on and eventually killing one of the elephants which had been ravaging a farmer's sorghum field. The next day villagers butcher the animal and dispense the meat. Says Parsons, "The people there have very little, many die each year from starvation and one of the problems they have is the elephants...that trash many of their fields destroying the crops." He forgets to add that he was also doing the elephants a favor by saving them from a life lived in constant fear of mice and being cast in Robert Pattinson films.
PETA countered by saying, "Instead of coming up with flimsy excuses for killing these highly intelligent and social animals, Parsons should use his wealth to fund humane solutions to human/elephant conflicts,". They conveniently sidestep the question of who tells a starving farmer that the issue of his ruined livelihood is being looked into by an advisory committee. They also miss the real point of this or any hunt, which is to allow soft western men like Bob Parsons to act out scenes from "White Hunter, Black Heart".
Said one outraged Twitter user: "People in power need to remember they don't have carte blanche to behave...in this way. Not in this day & age." People in power? He is the CEO of a popular web hosting service, not the chairman of the Bilderberg Group. In fact, if he were a regular at Davos this story would never have broken in the first place. Old money knows that the only way they can continue to spend their vacations hunting the homeless on tropical islands is if the hoi polloi remain ignorant.
My real problem with this issue is that big-game hunting and poaching are every day occurrences in Africa and other parts of the world where prosperity is in short supply yet cries of outrage are few and far between. Why? Because poachers are frightening men, usually armed and unreceptive to criticism. Bob Parsons on the other hand is a computer geek who looks a bit like Chunk from The Goonies launched into middle age, making him a soft target for the furious mouse clicks and Facebook groups of armchair activists. With their stores of self-satisfaction running low and Movember still eight months away these people will huff and puff about animal rights until they get bored and retreat back into their cubicles.
What do you think? Tell me off in the comments section.
Update 07/05: The new site is live! Come visit me at www.largelythetruth.com
I was combing through your post, searching for the April Fool's punch line or hidden gag. It appears there is none, but if there is, silly me.
ReplyDeleteI watched the hunt video and I do think context is key in the case. I was especially moved by the hungry villagers devouring the kill, which speaks to the larger issues surrounding underdeveloped nations and First World exploitation thereof. It also speaks to the cultural context, which we Westerners often judge in ethnocentric terms.
If this had been a CEO hunting for the pure joy and thrill of the hunt, for trophy and bragging purposes, I'd be lining up to sign the boycott Go Daddy petition. But it seems he was invited into, rather than encouraging, the very real predicament faced by local farmers. Northern rural BC farmers often face problem bears killing their livestock; do we react the same when they are permitted by law to conduct that kill?
In the category of CEOs behaving badly, Parsons doesn't even qualify for that league of evil-doers.
I've read that the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) lists the African elephant as vulnerable, not quite endangered. If we are so worried about the elephants, how about we begin addressing some of the underdevelopment issues in the Third World that force farmers to take such drastic actions. But at least if they do, we can take comfort in knowing that the killed beast will be fully appreciated by villagers - right down to the last bone.
As for PETA, I have little time for extremists, especially ones originating from a First World life of bourgeois privilege.
YRS
I think that you struggled hard to come to an original point. It is original indeed, but it's a bit double-meta.
ReplyDeleteGoDaddy's been quite clearly unbearable in my eyes since their introduction of GoDaddy Girls and their semi-strip show in diggnation (which spoiled both of them for me BTW). Anybody who's surprised about the ventures of GoDaddy's boss and his way of calling it charity must be two years behind on their podcast viewing list.
Except for PETA, which use nudity to promote their cause, so they couldn't say anything until this incident.
When I opened this site I purchased the domain through GoDaddy on a recommendation and was unaware of their reputation for months afterwards. When I learned that Bob Parsons is a world-class son of a bitch it didn't really come as much of a surprise. Most successful businessman are bastards - it comes with the territory. That said, his being a bastard doesn't affect the company's ability to sell domains or host websites.
ReplyDeleteThe knee-jerk reactions and hypocrisy I heard after this thing went live are what really grated on me. Suddenly twentysomethings in American Apparel wear were talking about canceling their Go Daddy accounts in protest, as though Dov Charney keeps making the news for his progressive thoughts on gender rights.
Somewhere along the line we got the idea that we should only do business with or support art from nice people. I don't hold out much hope for the museums of the future.
Thanks for reading and thanks your comments!
Bren