Posted by Branscomb to Facebook on Sunday, this picture of Steven Spielberg has gone viral.
Photo credit: Facebook.com
As you can see, Branscomb captioned the picture on Facebook with a satirical message, saying: "Disgraceful photo of recreational hunter happily posing next to a triceratops he just slaughtered. Please share so the world can name and shame this despicable man."
And, well, evidently satire is a subtle beast not immediately apparent to some people.
Sure, there were some people who clearly picked up on the joke and played along. In the beginning, the photo seemed to gain momentum mainly with sarcasm-friendly folks. Here are few of the choice comments posted in response to the photo that we pulled for your viewing pleasure (names not included because... well, because the fact that some of these comments were made is embarrassment enough for the people who made them).
We're pretty sure these people were flexing their own satirical muscles...
"And this is why we can't have nice stuff..."
"He's not dead, he's just sick."
"They taste like chicken. Proving the link of dinosaurs to birds."
"Mr. Spielberg, I'm so sad you'd kill an extinct Triceratops. Please tell us you at least ate it, and it did not go to waste. P.S. Next time bag one of these horrid Velociraptors. They're mean little b******s!"
"The word 'irony' could do with some studying by some of these postings on here. Anyway you can plainly see it died of natural causes. About 68,000,000 years ago."
"Animatronics have feelings too. Haven't you people seen Short Circuit? It's a documentary on this robot that has feelings. In the second one he joins a gang in New York or some s***. He gets into all sorts of shenanigans. You should watch it. JOHNNY FIVE IS ALIVE!"
"I always knew 1990s Spielberg was a monster!!"
"I don't know which disturbs me more, that he killed this magnificent creature at all, or that he apparently did it with his bare hands since he's not posing with his weapon of choice."
"Besides, he didn't shoot that precious triceratops. He was only helping the doctors who were treating the poor thing after it ingested West Indian Lilac, which is toxic to some animals. This man should be praised and given an award from some Academy for his work with these wonderful creatures."
Then there were the people we kinda thought might be joking....
"Is it even legal to kill dinosaurs?"
"So Stephen Spielberg is a poacher?"
"One day we will realize that we are killing all animals on this planet and we need them to survive. But, when we realize it will be too late."
Naturally, there were about a gazillion-and-a-half people who felt the need to point out the picture was, in fact, a fake...
"I think that is director Steven Spielberg [and] a triceratops from the movie Jurassic Park! It is a prop!"
"Photoshop!"
"Some people. That animal has not existed for hundreds of years. Jerks." (Um, might want to bust out your ol' textbooks and check the timeframe on this one, pal. That, and lay off the vino.)
"So is it just me or does nobody realize that it is Steven Spielberg, he directed Jurassic Park, it's a prop!?!?!?"
"Yes SS w/prop from Jurassic Park. He'd have to bring one back from extinction first before he could whack it off!" (Someone should probably clue this lady into the fact that the idiom 'whack it off' has another meaning.)
And, sadly, there were those people we can only hope to God are joking...
"That's why they are on the endangered list."
"Is that some kind of bison/bull?"
"Isn't that an endangered species?!? Horrible!!!"
"Is this real?"
"What a sick bastard!"
"This is most definitely not a joke. It's 100% real. And so sad. Who could do such a thing??"
"I can't believe you sick people would laugh at this! It's one of God's majestic creatures, who, like all of us, should only eat plants!"
"Did this really happen? There are so many assholes out there killing these kinds of animals into extinction. I think they should be killed to save the animals."
"Omg what a jerk. Why would he kill an endangered species?!?"
"I just happen to be the only person in this whole thread who actually feels sorry for this poor animal, instead of just being sarcastic and making a bunch of jokes about it!"
"Steven Spielberg has absolutely no respect for animals. Posing in front of this poor dead animal like that. Barbaric."
Particularly this impassioned woman...
'
Photo credit: Facebook.com
Plus, as the internet is wont to do, the photo spawned a slew of funny memes.
Photo credit: Facebook.com
Photo credit: Dennis Wood/Facebook.com
Photo credit: Facebook.com
Photo credit: Kate Atkisson/Facebook.com
Photo credit: Patricia Delicia/Facebook.com
Ultimately, the post has been shared nearly 35,000 times so far and has elicited more than 10,000 mostly moronic comments — half of which make us think commenter Frank Charles is really onto something when he suggests, "This is why we need a sarcasm font." But most of which make us defer to the words of commenter Buddy Barlow, who does a pretty good job of summing up how the majority of the world not pulled into this prehistoric prank probably feels:
"You guys are complete idiots. I fear for mankind."