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Sparkle (3)
Bob Parsons, the CEO of GoDaddy - the Ted Turner/Hugh Hefner of web hosting - recently posted a video that shows him killing an elephant bull in Zimbabwe. The highly emotional online backlash against Parsons and his company has been swift. While animal folks cry "Murderer!" and call for boycotts, hunters cheer him on and once again, nobody learns anything. As bad as it was for the elephant, this scenario is not any better for humans.
Parsons six-year relationship with Zimbabwe began with his interest in buffalo hunting. Talking to the locals, he learned of their plight. As Parsons explains it, he killed the elephant at the request of local farmers tired of having their sorghum fields trampled by the same elephant herd. As one might imagine, when a hunter is approached by a village pleading with him to kill a bull elephant, he is not going to investigate alternative methods, no matter how many there are. This is exactly what happened.
"It seems like perhaps Parsons and his company aren't necessarily the type of people with whom we'd like to do business, which is why GOOD has decided to pull all of its sites from GoDaddy.com. If you'd like to join us and let Parsons know you don't give money to colonialist misogynists, follow these 10 simple steps."
--GOOD, in a post entitled: "A Step-By-Step Guide to Boycotting GoDaddy.com"
Though the villagers tried various methods to scare off the herd - drum beating, setting fires, cracking whips - nothing worked. And so, a night hunt was planned and - quite literally - executed. He has explained in interviews that he shot the oldest bull in the herd, with the knowledge that another bull would quickly replace him. (Males are somewhat incidental in the elephant world. The ladies? Invaluable.) Today, an elephant expert - who was not there - chimed in, insisting that evidence illustrates the elephant was actually female.
"I wanted people to know what goes on over there. The fact that there is that type of poverty. People live in that type of situation that that's what's happening. It takes a guy like me - and there's just a few of us - to go into the field at night, when a herd is there, to isolate a bull, shoot the bull. The rest leave immediately and don't return and the crops are saved… The one voice that's not being heard in all this are the people that live over there. They are the ones saying, 'Please come back. Please do this again.'"
--Bob Parsons, explaining why he posted the video in a CNN interview with Brooke Baldwin
No matter Parsons true intentions, posting the gruesome video with great bravado and painting himself as a hero to beleaguered Africans was an asinine move. It is not the actions of a humanitarian, it is the behavior of a bloodthirsty braggart and it smacks of colonialism. And those orange GoDaddy caps on the villagers ripping at the elephant carcass? Way to exploit that branding opp, Bob.
As a successful businessman who makes his living off the Internet, his surprise over the vitriolic response is alarming. Beyond maintaining his own bizarre vlog, does he travel anywhere else on the Web?
Furthermore, does the man not have a publicist? Or even a VP? How about a best friend? Were they on vacation that week? Good lord. Even a herd of Bimbii would know better. (I hear they are trampling fields of Prada knock-offs in China. Tragic.)
"The elephant population in Zimbabwe has now reached crisis proportions and large-scale die-offs are probably imminent and unavoidable. Severe impacts on the environment and bio-diversity will continue for some time, even if population-reduction measures could be initiated rapidly. However, the resources needed to implement effective control and subsequent monitoring are lacking....A combination of culling and some contraception or sterilization would probably be the best solution. Local opinion would favour culling alone but the arguments for this course are not generally supported internationally."
--Conclusions from a 2001 report: "The elephant population problem in Zimbabwe: Can there be any alternative to culling?"
Nevertheless, having camped in Zimbabwe and spent time with its citizens, I have to concede that Parsons makes a few valid points. It is very difficult for the Western mind to understand African life and the unique challenges that come with it. Not only did I witness this
