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Steve Irwin Dies......from a STINGRAY attack!

Started by Big Mac, September 04, 2006, 08:01:52 PM

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McQ

#15
Quote from: "Tom62"I didn't like steve Irwin either, nor all this commotion about his death.  What I also don't like is that when someone dies you are supposed to say nothing bad about that person. BTW: has anyone of you seen the episode where he is feeding a crocodile with his one month old baby son in his arm? Now that was pretty irresponsible!

Interesting that you bring up the topic of not saying anything bad about someone after their death. There have been a lot of people throughout history who deserved having bad things said about them, alive or dead (Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Dana Plato, etc...)

But what is the point of the people who say things like, "Irwin deserved it.", or, "It was inevitable."? I've seen those comments in the news and in some internet forums.
Really. What is the point? Is it the need to try and seem precognizant after the fact? Or get a feeling of superiority?

Irwin's job was riskier than sitting behind a desk all day at a computer terminal. It was less risky than an Alaskan Crab Fisherman's job. It's pretty much stating the obvious to chime in and say that one just figures that's the way he'd go, or that one knew eventually it would happen.

If a person is engaged in a profession which has unique, inherent, life-threatening risks, then it follows that such a person is more likely to be injured or killed doing that job than other people who do not engage in that profession.

Among all professionals or people who engage in the same profession, or activities as Steve Irwin, some people are more or less likely to be injured or killed. Much of their risk or lack of risk comes from the amount of preparation and precautions they take, the amount of expertise they have, and the odds of certain unlikely events coming together at the same time to create potential disaster. When you look behind the scenes and talk to the people who knew him best, they say that Irwin took risks, but was always conscious about safety and was an expert in his field.

As for any or all of the talk about how risky his job was, it doesn't even matter. It's a stupid thing to even bring up, because he wasn't killed doing something inherently risky! If it were all that risky to swim with stingrays, then they sure as hell wouldn't have people swimming with them on every damn Caribbean cruise and in every warm water tourist destination.

As I mentioned in another forum, when two members were bitterly arguing over just how risky his job was, it's like, "Pole vaulting over mouse turds." He wasn't killed doing a typically risky thing.

Also, I never saw an episode of the Croc Hunter in which he held his son in his arms while feeding crocs. He did, however, allow Terri into the pen with his son Bob, and she held him while Steve fed the crocs. She was at a discreet distance. There is a difference. They also had other people in the pen that day "just in case" things got out of hand. And Terri isn't some dope when it comes to animal behavior either. If he ever did hold his one month old son while feeding them, I'd very much like to see proof of that. And Irwin did a nice job defending the outrage that people expressed over that in an interview later.

I don't know what else to say. It's a little frustrating, all the armchair quarterbacking. As I said, I think people are pole vaulting over mouse turds on this one. And missing the point that a family is torn apart, a good man and outstanding conservationist is dead, and not because he did anything risky or outrageous. So leave the "I told you so's!" out of it please!
Elvis didn't do no drugs!
--Penn Jillette

Big Mac

#16
Eh, MCQ, your marklars ring somewhat marklar. Marklars like Marklar are bound to have marklars happen to marklars some marklar.
Quote from: "PoopShoot"And what if pigs shit candy?

McQ

#17
Quote from: "Big Mac"Eh, MCQ, your marklars ring somewhat marklar. Marklars like Marklar are bound to have marklars happen to marklars some marklar.

Well marklar are entitled to marklar marklars.  :wink:
Elvis didn't do no drugs!
--Penn Jillette

MommaSquid

#18
Quote from: "McQ"If he ever did hold his one month old son while feeding them, I'd very much like to see proof of that.

Ask and ye shall receive:  

Image and Article

McQ

#19
Quote from: "MommaSquid"
Quote from: "McQ"If he ever did hold his one month old son while feeding them, I'd very much like to see proof of that.

Ask and ye shall receive:  

Image and Article

Well Crikey! There it is! Thanks MommaSquid. The two hour Biography special that just ran on him only ever talked about his wife coming into the pen with Bob. They didn't show this little stunt.

This, I agree, was extremely risky. Not something I'd be doing with my kids.
Elvis didn't do no drugs!
--Penn Jillette

Big Mac

#20
See I'm mixed about it. He is highly skilled with these animals and it's not like he actually dangled his son over it (not from the footage I saw), I'm sure this isn' the first time he did that.

Anyway, MCQ

Marklars are just marklars waiting to become marklar's marklars. Is that marklar too marklar?
Quote from: "PoopShoot"And what if pigs shit candy?

Whitney

#21
Quote from: "McQ"Well Crikey! There it is! Thanks MommaSquid. The two hour Biography special that just ran on him only ever talked about his wife coming into the pen with Bob. They didn't show this little stunt.

This, I agree, was extremely risky. Not something I'd be doing with my kids.

It definitely was risky and I wouldn't want my child to be placed in the same situation (accidents can happen...even with the most experienced people in charge...an accident, after all, is how he died).  But, in his defense, he grew up around crocodiles and his father apparently was letting him dive in to catch them on his own by the time he was 10 (saw a show about how he came to be the Crocodile Hunter on Animal Planet last night...so having a baby near them probably didn't strike him as something abnormal or dangerous (I think the uproar over the incident is an example of cultural differences...anyone else who was raised in a crocodile catching culture...like his family...wouldn't have been so upset about what he did).

So, it was dangerous and he really shouldn't have done it just in case something did go wrong...but you can tell that he loved his kids and wouldn't knowingly place them in a situation where he thought they would be harmed.  I think he just wanted to share his love for crocs and up close experiences with his child as his dad did with him as a child.  Combine that desire with wanting to show off his new baby to the audience and it made him look like a bad parent....I doubt it was a publicity stunt, if he had thought about it in advance he would have figured out that the situation would be bad press.

McQ

#22
Quote from: "Big Mac"See I'm mixed about it. He is highly skilled with these animals and it's not like he actually dangled his son over it (not from the footage I saw), I'm sure this isn' the first time he did that.

Anyway, MCQ

Marklars are just marklars waiting to become marklar's marklars. Is that marklar too marklar?

It was Marklary Marklar. Thanks a Marklar!
Elvis didn't do no drugs!
--Penn Jillette

Big Mac

#23
Well laet it's like a family of hunters taking a kid on a hunt. Some urban dweller from the North would be disturbed by the fact a kid is lugging around a rifle and pointing it at Bambi & Co. but down here it's not that big of a deal. Guns are even more dangerous than a croc, seeing as a gun can kill way more effectively than some rascly sheila, eh mate? MARKLAR!
Quote from: "PoopShoot"And what if pigs shit candy?