Posted on 11/21/2003 6:25:21 AM PST by jimkress
To whom do you refer?
CJ is a nerf-worlder and no libertarian.
And I hardly consider my belief in the right of people to kill themselves in inventive and amusing ways makes me a fanatical libertarian.
In this case I agree with J S Mill that a person of full age is adequately protected by society if he has been warned of the potential danger by the availablity of Warner Brothers cartoons.
Perhaps I did not make myself clear; I definitely would try to dissuade folks from engaging in this type of behavior. I just know that young people, particularly young males, have a tendency to do this type of behavior and some of the comments posted here are incredibly cruel.
My children are all very different people, but all are very bright and talented young people. I have one thrill-seeker in the bunch. He also happens to be the wittiest, most clever, and absolutely the most athletic of the bunch, all though all three excel at sports. He is the boy every mother wants, and every mother wants her daughter to marry.
His older brother came home from a hiking trip and told us that we did not want to see what his little brother does at Red Rock. We suspected as much because it is a popular rock diving spot and we have warned all the children about this. All I can do is show him the stories in the local paper about the death and paralysis that occur every so often up there. My little dare devil assures me that he knows what he is doing. Heaven help us all.
I guess that is why I am reacting to all the mean things being said about these young men. This could be my son, and with the exception of his need for speed, he leaves every other kid I know in the dust intellectually, personally, socially, and spiritually. Maybe the part of him that makes him so superior to everyone around him is also the force that drives his risky behavior.
You may not want my son on your subway, but if you are ever in a foxhole you could not ask for better company.
MTV "JACKASS" is probably what inspires such STUPID thrill seeking these days.
Realise it! Accept it! Then get over it............
I understand your offense by some of the comments here, but to compare the Wright brothers with these stupid stunts is a bit of a stretch.
Offended or not, the people that do such stupid things do not deserve a lot of compassion. Yes, their loss is just as hurtful as loosing anyone, but that does not correct the idiocy that brought it on.
And to compare this to the risks that the Wright brothers took to bring us flight ... sheesh, what a stretch.
I suspect you have a very bright son. Playing with explosives is very foolish, but know how to do it is pretty smart.
"Fear not them that kill the body, but fear them who, after you are dead, will laugh at you?"
It couldn't work. Could it?
Maybe so ... maybe so. I have been, and know that individuals like this can go either way. What I wanted most were young men who were level-headed enough to follow orders given and exercise rational, well-thought-out initiative. Thrill-seekers who think out and plan their activities are one thing: they know the risks and try to plan around them. The other kind of thrill-seeker, who does it just for the rush, without planning or forethought except for how to accomplish this "high", is dangerous, to himself and others, and to the mission.
Luckily, your son sounds like the former.
It shouldn't surprise you that not many people decide to take up the sport of Subway Surfing - usually just the bored and the stupid. So, surf the net and surf the ocean - but ride inside the subway train. The view's much better from there and you'll live to tell about it.
Who knew?
BEEP-BEEP!
The son in question doesn't watch much television; he is a full time college student and the starting linebacker on his college football team. When he is not playing ball or practicing, he is writing songs or playing with his band. He is also involved in his church, works at the local YMCA and does volunteer work. My son requires a lot more stimulation than watching television.
From the article posted here, most of the time these young men seemed to be conducting themselves in a fashion in which most of us would admire.
In short, Life is hard, its' harder when your stupid....like the Roadrunner and Wiley E. Coyote.
While it's unfortunate that these two dumbasses died, and it was certainly painful to their families, nothing, NOTHING that they did could EVER justify your comparing their asinine stunts to the Wright brothers' pioneering airplane flights!
NOTHING!!
What those two did was pure Darwinian selection in action, and the gene pool is a better place for it.
OK I'm slightly extrapolating from
"no one but the person himself can judge of the sufficiency of the motive which may prompt him to incur the risk: in this case, therefore, (unless he is a child, or delirious, or in some state of excitement or absorption incompatible with the full use of the reflecting faculty,) he ought, I conceive, to be only warned of the danger; not forcibly prevented from exposing himself to it." J S Mill On Liberty
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