Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-31561887-20161125074033/@comment-28602273-20161204034047

Catwinter the slightly above average student wrote: Well I'm bored.

Wait, how about I....

On May 28, 2016, a three-year-old boy climbed into a gorilla enclosure at the  Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden and was grabbed and dragged by  Harambe, a 17-year-old  Western lowland gorilla. Fearing for the boy's life, a zoo worker shot and killed Harambe. The incident was recorded on video and received broad international coverage and commentary, including controversy over the choice to kill Harambe. A number of  primatologists and conservationists wrote later that the zoo had no other choice under the circumstances, and that it highlighted the danger of zoo animals in close proximity to humans and the need for better standards of care.

On May 28, 2016, a three-year-old   boy visiting the Cincinnati Zoo fell into the moat at the Gorilla World habitat.   Witnesses said they heard the child say he wanted to go into the gorilla enclosure.   The boy then climbed a 3-foot-tall (0.91 m) fence, crawled through 4 feet (1.2 m) of bushes, and then fell 15 feet (4.6 m) into a moat of shallow water. Zoo officials immediately signaled for the three gorillas in the habitat to return inside, and two females did so. However, the third gorilla, the inquisitive 440-pound (200 kg) male silverback, Harambe, climbed down into the moat to investigate the child splashing in the water.

Over the next 10 minutes, Harambe became increasingly "agitated and disoriented" by the screams of onlookers. He dragged the child through the water, occasionally propping him up when he sat, or pushing him down when he stood. Harambe exhibited "strutting" behavior—walking around with legs and arms stiffly extended to appear bigger—a bluffing move, though one with inherent danger should he throw or drag the boy around too roughly. Harambe then carried the boy up a ladder out of the moat onto dry land. Afraid for the boy's life, zoo officials made the decision to kill the gorilla, doing so with a single gunshot. Cincinnati firefighters said the boy was between Harambe's legs when the shot was fired. Harambe was killed one day after his 17th birthday.

 The incident was recorded by a bystander and uploaded to  YouTube, where the video went  viral  and received global publicity. The incident received criticism from several high-profile celebrities, including  Ricky Gervais ,  Brian May, and  Piers Morgan. The then  Republican  presidential nominee  Donald Trump  said that it was "too bad there wasn't another way".

 Following the killing, Harambe became subject of multiple viral  memes. Vox  wrote in November that Harambe has an "undeniable status as 2016’s meme of the year." As  People  magazine wrote: "Harambe continues to live on in the collective mind of the internet, entering into a rarefied state of venerated meme status." One of the most widespread memes was noted by  The Washington Post  and  New York  magazine who observed a proliferation of over-the-top and fake tributes to Harambe. "The idea is, the more intense and more sincere-seeming the expression of mourning is, the funnier the joke." For example, the " out for Harambe" meme can be seen as a fake tribute to an incident that would normally engender sincere mourning. As Aja Romano of  Vox  wrote, "If you were a progressive, the Harambe meme gave you a chance to mock what you viewed as the hypocritical haranguing of the mainstream while avoiding real issues of social justice; and if you were a conservative, the Harambe meme gave you a chance to mock liberal hysteria." One meme is a play on conspiracy theories, such as "Bush did Harambe", a reference to the  9/11 conspiracy theories. In Australia, people joked about supporting Harambe's corpse as a  write-in candidate  on the ballot for the  federal election. Public Policy Polling  included Harambe in their polling for the  U.S. presidential election. The dead gorilla had 5% support in late July 2016 (ahead of Green Party nominee  Jill Stein ) and 2% in August 2016 (tied with Stein). [

sigh

Dearie.