Candle light vigil held for a f***ing elk

[chiggerwood]

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/ci_22322028/residents-mourn-boulder-elk-at-candlelight-vigil#

No this isn't from the onion (When I first saw this I checked there right away)! It's true, it unbelievably true, people are holding a candlelight vigil for an elk. This is one of the dumbest things I have ever personally read. for five minutes after reading this my face and my hand attempted osmosis.

For discussion value: What are your thoughts on the story, and has there ever been a headline or a story that when you first saw your first thought was "Come on! No one's that stupid." and then it was revealed that indeed there are people that stupid.

EDIT: No I am in no way shape or form mad at these people for loving an elk, I am exasperated at them for taking it WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too damned far.

 

[Pinkamena]

Well, it had apparently been visiting for a few years to the city, and "had become part of the neighborhood". I agree that I find the candlelight vigil to be overdoing it, but I guess they just really liked that elk.

 

[Vegosiux]

Ehm, it's unusual and weird, but "stupid"? Seriously now. Don't you think you're overreacting a little? People do the damnest things. If they want to put their time into holding a candle vigil for an elk, what's the problem? Who are they harming or bothering by doing so?

I mean it's reasonable to assume that people generally don't consider "This might piss off a random stranger on the internet" when planning...well, anything.

So yeah, weird and chuckleworthy, but in the end, hey, least they're not doing something actually stupid like all those swaggy yolo types I keep running into on the internet.

 

[HardkorSB]

I can say that holding a candle light vigil for people is stupid as well. What's the point, they're dead. Even if you believe in the afterlife, they're already there (wherever "there" might be) and won't even know about it. Just because a lot of people do it doesn't make it any less stupid, does it?
It's just a sign of emotional attachment to something/someone.

 

[chiggerwood]

Ehm, it's unusual and weird, but "stupid"? Seriously now. Don't you think you're overreacting a little? People do the damnest things. If they want to put their time into holding a candle vigil for an elk, what's the problem? Who are they harming or bothering by doing so?

I mean it's reasonable to assume that people generally don't consider "This might piss off a random stranger on the internet" when planning...well, anything.

So yeah, weird and chuckleworthy, but in the end, hey, least they're not doing something actually stupid like all those swaggy yolo types I keep running into on the internet.

I personally don't think I'm overreacting, because I'm not pissed at these people, just exasperated, because they're holding a candle light vigil for an elk. The whole story sounds like it belongs on the onion, but it's not, it's in reality. I mean it's fine if you like an animal you see everyday, I fed a stray cat for a two and a half years and when it got ran over I was a little sad yes, but I didn't grossly overreact like this. when my pets died when I was a kid I didn't overreact like this, and that what exasperates me, they're treating like it was an upstanding member of the community instead of the town pet equivalent to a goldfish, only with somehow less interaction. Yeah what they're doing is ultimately harmless, but so is masturbation, but you don't do that in public, at least I hope you don't, and the less I hear about the yolo dicks the better. I can't wait for that trend to just die.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altruism

The ability to care for others, including those outside your community or outside your species, is one of the most elevated and celebrated emotions we have. It is incredibly admirable. People cared for an elk? That's fucking wonderful. Those people should be applauded.

I will never understand this "LOLOL someone cared about X, how stupid can that person be LOLOL" thing. Never. I would even go so far as to say I find the attitude detestable. It's certainly indefensible.

So...yeah. Good for them. I'm sure it was a lovely elk.

 

[chiggerwood]

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/ci_22322028/residents-mourn-boulder-elk-at-candlelight-vigil#

No this isn't from the onion (When I first saw this I checked there right away)! It's true, it un-fucking-believably true, people are holding a candlelight vigil for an elk. A clitting elk! This is the dumbest thing I have ever personally seen. for five minutes after reading this my face and my hand attempted osmosis. I gotta stop or I'm just going to inanely ramble for sever pages.

For discussion value: What are your thoughts on the story, and has there ever been a headline or a story that when you first saw your first thought was "BULLSHIT! No one's that stupid." and then it was revealed that indeed there are people that stupid.

Translation: "PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT THINGS I DON'T ARE BAD PEOPLE! GRRRRRR!!!!!!"

You don't get it, I don't get it, but that doesn't make it wrong.

Your translation's off, I probably sound angrier than I really am because I tend to curse a lot, It's exasperation, and I didn't say it was wrong, just that it was stupid, not the same thing. I find skateboarding stupid, but I don't think it's anything wrong, just stupid.

 

[chiggerwood]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altruism

The ability to care for others, including those outside your community or outside your species, is one of the most elevated and celebrated emotions we have. It is incredibly admirable. People cared for an elk? That's fucking wonderful. Those people should be applauded.

I will never understand this "LOLOL someone cared about X, how stupid can that person be LOLOL" thing. Never. I would even go so far as to say I find the attitude detestable. It's certainly indefensible.

So...yeah. Good for them. I'm sure it was a lovely elk.

I don't mind altruism, but I think what they're doing is taking their love for this elk way overboard. It's altruism to care for the elk maybe leave out some food, or a salt lick for it, but it's another thing to hold a candle light vigil for it. At that point you're going too far, and need to regain some perspective. That's my opinion anyways.

 

[Comocat]

Boulder is a liberal and environmentally friendly city, so it's not suprising when an on-duty officer somewhat randomly shoots some wildlife, people care.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I don't mind altruism, but I think what they're doing is taking their love for this elk way overboard. It's altruism to care for the elk maybe leave out some food, or a salt lick for it, but it's another thing to hold a candle light vigil for it. At that point you're going too far, and need to regain some perspective. That's my opinion anyways.

As I read your OP, I'm familiar with your opinion, and I've been pretty clear about what my opinion of your opinion is. This probably isn't a discussion you want to have with me. I'm going to say unkind things about your character, or at the very least how you have chosen to express yourself in this thread, and you are going to feel defensive and probably say something sharp in return, and nothing good will come of it.

I humbly suggest that you consider...just CONSIDER...that the lack of perspective here is with you. People CARING for things is admirable. People caring for things that give them nothing tangible in return particularly so. If it makes you feel better to sneer at those people, you can certainly do so. I do question, though, why anyone would consider sneering to be more commendable, sensible, and demonstrative of perspective than caring, however.

By all means, though, sneer away. Some people like to sneer.

 

[adamsaccount]

It wasnt because he was an elk, its because of what he achieved in his life

 

[Cabisco]

Ehm, it's unusual and weird, but "stupid"? Seriously now. Don't you think you're overreacting a little? People do the damnest things. If they want to put their time into holding a candle vigil for an elk, what's the problem? Who are they harming or bothering by doing so?

I mean it's reasonable to assume that people generally don't consider "This might piss off a random stranger on the internet" when planning...well, anything.

So yeah, weird and chuckleworthy, but in the end, hey, least they're not doing something actually stupid like all those swaggy yolo types I keep running into on the internet.

For the most part I agree, they had a lovely Elk that kept visiting them and when it died they decided it would be nice to give it a good send off. I don't see the harm, in a way it's charming that people liked the creature so much. Out of all the things I've seen taken too far, all the things people on this forum have taken to far (people wanting to kill Activision CEOs, burn down Bioware, boycott companies and pirate their things because they don't like paying money) I think this is nice, doesn't hurt anyone and actually think it would be lovely if more people did positive things.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

I don't mind altruism, but I think what they're doing is taking their love for this elk way overboard. It's altruism to care for the elk maybe leave out some food, or a salt lick for it, but it's another thing to hold a candle light vigil for it. At that point you're going too far, and need to regain some perspective. That's my opinion anyways.

As I read your OP, I'm familiar with your opinion, and I've been pretty clear about what my opinion of your opinion is. This probably isn't a discussion you want to have with me. I'm going to say unkind things about your character, or at the very least how you have chosen to express yourself in this thread, and you are going to feel defensive and probably say something sharp in return, and nothing good will come of it.

I humbly suggest that you consider...just CONSIDER...that the lack of perspective here is with you. People CARING for things is admirable. People caring for things that give them nothing tangible in return particularly so. If it makes you feel better to sneer at those people, you can certainly do so. I do question, though, why anyone would consider sneering to be more commendable, sensible, and demonstrative of perspective than caring, however.

By all means, though, sneer away. Some people like to sneer.

More perspective....

About a month ago, someone killed 20 elementary school children. Yes yes, I know, everytings relative, but a tiny town grieved and had a candlelight for that.

Compared to that, really? I'm with the orignal OP, props to people for caring, but it's a fucking elk.

...Also if they cared about the Elk so much they would of had an armed guard station by it at all times. Wheeeee Turned This Into Gun Control!

 

[chiggerwood]

let's not turn this into a Matryoshka doll made of text

(for proper tone, please read this in a voice you find calming)
I'm not sneering (and quit being passive aggressive it's unbecoming of a person, and makes them sound ugly), yes I represented myself poorly in the Op due to the fact I was still reeling from what I just read, and was quite emotional (thus breaking one of my personal laws I admit). I more than agree that caring is good, and admirable, but, and this is a big but, it can also be taken too far and reach into the echelons of stupidity, and become harmful to the psyche of the altruistic as seen with the aforementioned story. Putting yourself under that much stress for what is essentially a town goldfish (an animal only meant to be observed and not interacted with, thus becoming mere decoration) is not a good thing. I can understand their love for this animal, I can see where they'd enjoy having it around, but there is a point where things go too far, and they breached it, and yeah I initially over reacted, it happens, you live, you learn, you press the edit button, and try not to do it again.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

About a month ago, someone killed 20 elementary school children. Yes yes, I know, everytings relative, but a tiny town grieved and had a candlelight for that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-sum_mentality

I didn't realize we cared about things based on a merit system, or that we could only care about X number of things before all our caring was used up.

Generally speaking, I find the sort of people who care about "silly" things like the welfare of animals also tend to care the most about human tragedies, whereas the jaded self-styled hard cases who whine about them on the internet tend to care most keenly about themselves and their own interests, but that's entirely anecdotal and hardly scientific. Food for thought though.

And no, Captcha, I do not fucking shop at Canadian Tire, we've been over this.

I can understand their love for this animal, I can see where they'd enjoy having it around, but there is a point where things go too far, and they breached it, and yeah I initially over reacted, it happens, you live, you learn, you press the edit button, and try not to do it again.

Who, exactly, sets the bar for what is "too far" when it comes to caring about things? You?

I don't see where you get passive aggressive. My post was plenty aggressive. We can play the "no u" game on who is coming off ugly here all day, but that isn't going to reflect well on either of us.

What I see is someone who found a story about people caring about something he wouldn't, and lost his shit. And now is trying to justify it by claiming "too much caring" is a bad thing, as if "caring" was a metric that could be measured in such a fashion.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

About a month ago, someone killed 20 elementary school children. Yes yes, I know, everytings relative, but a tiny town grieved and had a candlelight for that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-sum_mentality

I didn't realize we cared about things based on a merit system, or that we could only care about X number of things before all our caring was used up.

Generally speaking, I find the sort of people who care about "silly" things like the welfare of animals also tend to care the most about human tragedies, whereas the jaded self-styled hard cases who whine about them on the internet tend to care most keenly about themselves and their own interests, but that's entirely anecdotal and hardly scientific. Food for thought though.

And no, Captcha, I do not fucking shop at Canadian Tire, we've been over this.

Look if they want to mourn they elk, they can mourn the elk. I can understand that to a certain extent.

But since I'm not living in that town, with out any context, yes it seems silly to me. And I judge them for it. JUDGE I SAY!!!!

Seriously better be the best fucking Elk on the planet. This Elk better have cured cancer.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I don't really find that too strange per say.

I mean in some part in the UK it is illegal to hunt swan in that for doing so will get you arrested and in Japan there is a public national park for the Sika deers to roam about and again you will be arrested for hunting them aswell (well in saying so the Sika Deer are like national treasure to them or something like that).

 

[Hero in a half shell]

It wasnt because he was an elk, its because of what he achieved in his life

The elk was BATMAN!?!?!


He was the elk Boulder deserves, but not the one it needs right now.

By any chance did the police officer who shot him look like this?

Spoiler

If only Elk were included in open carry legislation he would have been able to defend himself.

Ok I'm done now.

Captcha: get well
Holy crap, even the captcha can't give this guy a break.