A Controversial Blog Challenge Start (No Elephants Were Harmed)

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A Controversial Blog Challenge Start (No Elephants Were Harmed)

Today is the first day of the Ultimate blog challenge, today’s post was going to be about being true to yourself. Perhaps knowing who you are. Or to believe in yourself. Perhaps what I am about to say is my own being true to me.

I am moving.

Every domain name I own will soon be transferred to another domain name registrar. In fact my determination is so great, last night I created a new page so you can transfer your domain names as well or buy a brand new domain name.

Yesterday, a video came to my attention. Bob Parsons CEO of GoDaddy killed an elephant. He likes making provocative, controversial and even banned TV commercials. The commercials are nothing short of “Sex sells” but unfortunately many companies use this as a selling method. While he has scantily clad women on his site, I avoid those links when possible.

LAST STRAW

But the elephant video and his response is what has pushed me into saying no more. The opening sequence says “Of everything I do, this is the most rewarding.” I checked many sites to make certain I was factual in what I said, yet as many sites explained the video is nothing short of a “Snuff film” and he’s added in product placement advertising for his own gain.

I live in Texas. People hunt. People take pictures beside the deer, boar, or whatever. I’ve eaten deer, elk, and assorted birds from hunting trips. Yet this video Bob made is as he even says “Viewer discretion advised. Contains scenes of graphic violence.” He waited until after midnight to shoot this elephant he claims was charging, the video is so dark you can’t see anything at this point in time.

Later in the video he “gives all the villagers meat” by allowing them to cut up the elephant. And while the video rolls the villagers are wearing GoDaddy caps as they chop the elephant up, and the video is backed with AC/DC’s “Hells Bells.”  Bob announced yesterday that he is helping the people survive.

There are several flaws to this.

  1. Rogue elephants are sometimes (repeat SOMETIMES) killed. Yet their lives are not put to an end in a video with product placement advertisement and the CEO of a major corporation boasting of how he is making a difference.
  2. African Elephants are in fact on the endangered species list as Vulnerable
    A Vulnerable species is one which has been categorised by theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as likely to become Endangered unless the circumstances threatening its survival and reproduction improve. ~ Wikipedia
  3. That does not explain the video of him killing a leopard which has “oddly” disappeared.
  4. Where is his donation to help the villagers with needs? Where is his donation to help wildlife elsewhere?
  5. The villagers are wearing thread bare shirts torn from being so thin and yet the ones in the video are wearing ballcaps promoting GoDaddy.
  6. Why does the video proclaim *his* ability to save the villagers farms and give them protein to eat?

We know the people in those Zimbabwe villages are not going to be looking online to see their happy faces, this video was shot purely for his own self-promotion.

As a tax person, I also know that by turning this into a commercial and “helping” the villagers he’ll write off his safari hunt as a business expense.

Even if in fact this was a rogue elephant (There are alternative methods that do not involve killing elephants) his video presentation and his own statements that he saved lives is derogatory and self-righteous. This is the last straw.

His previous commercials were derogatory toward women, this video is derogatory to the villagers and to the elephants and other animals. The elephant video it the only one that exists now, but what happened to the leopard video? What about the stuff he does not video because it crosses too many lines? Where is his line?

Yesterday I created a new webpage. You can get your new domain name here, or transfer your domain name, either one is $4.99, which is cheaper AND includes private registration. If you decided to move, please keep your domain name safe and keep it separate from your hosting. If you change hosts, they can delay transfers which can hurt your website traffic.

Live, LOVE!

MJ Schrader

No elephants were harmed in the making of this blog post.

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