On Friday morning, Australian time, a farmer went on live TV and took a pair of kitchen scissors to a tiny plastic Disney figurine potentially worth thousands of dollars, and everyone lost their minds.
When struggling farmers Stephen Black and Melissa Portingale found themselves in possession of the #001 furry Simba Ooshie -- a wildly popular and rare collectible created by an Aussie supermarket chain -- they saw a way to get themselves a bit of relief. They initially listed the little lion for A$5,000 ($3,400), which is, incredibly, the going rate for such things, on a farming buy/swap/sell page on Facebook.
In the grand tradition of Facebook group drama, they were naturally told they should kill themselves.
“People were just disgusted -- the abuse started, and it was just hate and suicidal threats, and just some really awful things were said,” Portingale told breakfast TV show Today.
So instead, they decided to ask to swap it for irrigation water for their farm -- to raise awareness of how tough it is for farmers at the moment due to a long-lasting drought. “I couldn’t understand why that item was worth so much money, but if everybody was so interested in that, maybe they’d be interested in what we needed and why and the message might get out there,” Black said.
Australia is in the middle of one of its worst droughts in living memory, which has affected up to 100 percentof the most populous state, New South Wales (which is home to 30 percentof the country’s farm businesses). There’s also a massive and complex government mismanagement(or corruption, depending who you ask) scandal afoot involving the Murray-Darling river system, which is crucial to farmers in both NSW and the state of Victoria to its south.
Tweet may have been deleted
The move created what Black described as a “media frenzy” -- hence the morning TV appearance on Friday, live from their Katandra West property, where they grow animal feed.
For some reason, Australians have gone absolutely apeshit in recent years for collectible toys sold and given away by two major supermarket chains. For Woolworths, it’s Ooshies: 1.5-inch pencil-topper toys that have turned into a collector craze the likes of which each generation sees but once.
The rarest Ooshie is a bonus addition to their 24-piece tie-inwith Disney’s The Lion King: an individually numbered variation on Simba that has a fuzzy finish. Only 100 were made, and #100 recently reached up to A$100,000 in online bidding (although it was relisted after the triumphant bidder never paid up). The #017 appears to have been flogged on eBay for a staggering A$4000.
Nothing about this seems fun, actually.Credit: WOOLWORTHSPortingale says she fielded over 4,000 messages of varying legitimacy offering anywhere between 25 cents and A$25,000 for the toy, as well as water, but the bogus bids and trolling persisted: They said Melissa was selfish for selling it, and then for not selling it.
So the couple decided to troll them back, specifically by chopping the fuzzy figurine in half before the eyes of the nation.
“We’re taking a stand against this online bullying,” said Black at the end of the live segment, pulling a pair of black-handled scissors from his pocket. “What is a life worth? Is it worth this?"
"For the people who bullied us, and they want to buy this thing, this is what I say to them.”
And he hacked into it like the hero he is. By 10 a.m. AEST, the word “Ooshie” was trending nationwide on Twitter.
Tweet may have been deleted
Tweet may have been deleted
Tweet may have been deleted
There’s a genuine mental health crisis in Australian farming communities, heightened by the drought and the water crisis. Furry Simba may not have deserved his fate, but the televised Ooshie-cide might draw some real attention back to those crises -- as well as pissing off the kind of person who abuses someone on Facebook over something called an Ooshie.
Tweet may have been deleted
TopicsDisney
(责任编辑：綜合)
Two states took big steps this week to get rid of the tampon tax
This week was a big one for those advocating against a tampon tax.。 First, on Thursday, California t
...[详细]
獼猴桃是一種比較常見的水果 。當然 ，獼猴桃的種類也是有不少種的
，比如說在如今的水果市場中 ，有一種獼猴桃就是沒有毛的
。這種獼猴桃也被稱為奇異果 ，是一種與獼猴桃的口感以及營養價值都相差無幾的水果
。而奇異果也
...[详细]
生活水平的不斷提高 ，微波爐幾乎是每家都會有的家用電器，但是很多人將微波爐買回家後 ，很少使用 ，其實可以用微波爐製作出各種各樣的美食 ，像芝士焗南瓜 。吃起來不僅好吃 ，味道美味 ，營養價值也是很高的
，芝士焗南瓜
...[详细]
小孩子正處於身體快速發育的階段 ，而且孩子的動手能力是需要父母在後天進行培養的 ，我們可以教導孩子做簡單的甜品 ，讓孩子可以動手製作美食 。適合孩子製作的甜品有綠豆沙以及紅豆沙等 ，還可以製作鮮果燉奶凍以及雙皮
...[详细]What brands need to know about virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) is all the rage. Premium publishers like USA Today, the New York Times, and AOL
...[详细]
牛肉我們平時經常吃的 ，牛肉中的營養物質是非常豐富的
，食用之後對身體健康也很有好處
，不管是老年人還是孩子吃了之後都好，不過牛肉的價格比較昂貴 ，很多不法的商販竟然用馬肉來代替牛肉
，所以我們平常在購買牛肉的
...[详细]
豬肉是我們生活中不可缺少的東西，豬肉中的營養價值是很高的
，平時我們經常能聽到長輩們說豬的全身都是寶，每一個部位都是可以用來食用的
，糟頭肉其實就是豬頸部的位置 ，不過一般是不建議吃糟頭肉的，糟頭肉吃了是會
...[详细]
點擊圖片進入下一頁 (1/2)青光眼是一種常見的年輕人疾病 ，這種疾病會導致患者出現眼睛視力下降以及眼角下凹的情況 ，所以出現青光眼睫狀體炎的患者，需要及時的進行治療 。青光眼睫狀體炎症綜合征的表現症狀是比
...[详细]Major earthquake and multiple aftershocks rock central Italy
UPDATE: Aug. 25, 2016, 8:22 a.m. BST 。 Death toll is now at least 247 dead: 190 in Rieti province and
...[详细]
免疫力和抵抗力對於人體來說都是非常關鍵的 ，而當人體的免疫力和抵抗力變差時就會容易導致身體出現虛弱的狀態 ，而且也非常容易受到外界細菌和病毒的入侵
，而提高免疫力和抵抗力的方法有很多種 ，平時可以多吃一些維生
...[详细]
Visualizing July's astounding global temperature records
淺表性胃炎伴膽汁反流的症狀
氨基酸奶粉和深度水解奶粉的區別