I'd pay to see this:
Posted on 09/05/2006 7:36:47 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
Wanna see beheadings? on the web. Wanna see people jumping 80 stories to their death? On the web. How about film of 20mm cannon blowing mooselimbs all over the street? On the web.
How many times have we all seen JFK take one in the brain pan? The things you hope for are gone forever. This is the information age. Good, bad or ugly, that's the way it is. Before it's over, there will probably be a conspiracy theory that demands the film be shown or there is something to hide.
Irwin's death fits into neither category and therefore that video, unlike the Zapruder film, ought never to become public...
The idea that people want to publicize it at all is ghoulish. I'd rather remember him the way he lived, not how he died.
But in order to see it on the web, you have to look for it and then you have to click on the link to watch it. It's a conscious decision. Nobody will see it on the web "by accident".
I'm off two minds. I see what both sides of the issue are saying and agree somewhat with both. For the family's sake, you hope to spare them any trauma. You wish the same for Steve's many fans, particularly children. If, say, Mr. Rogers had been kidnapped and beheaded by Al Qaeda, would you want something like that where children might see it?
On the other hand, a historical record is important and can even be educational to future generations, such as a clip of someone dying on Mt. Everest from lack of oxygen - a warning that happy endings don't always happen when people seek to cheat death.
I remember when an ABC News correspondent named Bill Stewart was murdered in Central America when he encountered a rebel group. They filmed it and showed it on the news. They did so, in part, for the historical record. I remember, too, the footage shown of the Jonestown massacre at the airport where the cameras rolled even as most of the travelling party, including a U.S. congressman, were gunned down in cold blood. These both appeared on network television.
Steve Irwin was probably more aware than anyone else the amount of danger he placed himself in regularly and the possibility that his premature end might happen someday. He didn't care. He wanted to live unafraid just as mountain climbers, sky divers, race car drivers, stuntmen, etc. do knowing full well that one day their number could come up. The women who marry such people are also acutely aware of this, or they should be, and have probably talked this out.
If they choose to make the footage available, those too squeamish or offended to watch can simply choose not to. I doubt you'll ever see it on broadcast or cable television but I don't doubt that this could appear on the internet and everyone who watches it on the internet will have made the conscious choice to watch it.
I heard Paul Harvey today say something about the event for which he didn't cite a source and that I've not heard anywhere else: Irwin was observed reflexively pulling the stingray's barb out, and that while the initial penetration was bad enough, the removal - with the serrated edges - really caused the mortal wound.
Anybody else hear that, either by Harvey or anyone else?
Destroying the tape is the right call here, and a way to respect the man and the amazing impact he's had on the world in his 44 years. I can't imagine what his wife must be going through. Let's do the right thing.
I don't want to see it now, I'm still pretty choked up over it.
On the other hand, it shouldn't be destroyed. Terri should have the right to honor Steve's statement (noted in earlier posts) that he wants his death filmed. Why would he want that? It's obvious to me -- it's absolutely in character with who he was, top to bottom. He'd want people to see how he died. I believe that completely.
But it shouldn't get out onto the Net in general, unless and until she decides that's okay. And I wouldn't be surprised if that took months at least, for the family to come to grips with his death. His little girl in particular is probably not going to want to see it until she's an adult, and shouldn't be exposed to it a minute before she's ready to process seeing her beloved Dad killed.
That's completely up to the family. Let's respect their wishes. We are bystanders, by any comparison.
I want whichever thug posts the death on YouTube to regret it. Let them be warned.
Yes, destroy the damn thing, I don't want to see it.
"Why? Why do you want to watch him die?"
Honestly.. curious to see Steve pull out that barb and view his last moments alive doing his life's work he loved. It grieves me badly he's gone and prematurely however I would like to see the video. Sorry if this offends anyone...just being honest OK?
F'ing OUCH. {SHUDDER}
And even though he surely would know that, what other choice is there? It's still attached to the stingray, which is presumably swimming away. And all natural reactive impulse would be to pull it out.
If this report is true, I only pray that he passed out very quickly afterward.
I believe that's possible.
But I don't want the film to make it into the public view until I hear Terri -- and in particular, Bindy -- say it's okay with the family. Terri will come to grips with it -- she's an adult. And their little girl has more strength than most adults I know, but even so, I'd want to know she's okay with it first. And I don't think that's any time soon.
Not offended, and I agree it would be interesting, once the grief is past. But let his family decide when the time is right.
I hope it's promptly destroyed after the police are through with their inquiry.
Why? What's there to take away from it? We're not going to learn anything new from it. The event is tragic enough as it is.
Prediction: All the speculation as to whether the video will be shown guarantees it will see the light of day. Some staffer who has read all the controversy over whether to show the video, has (as we speak) gotten into his car in his pajamas to go to the studio to make a secret copy of the video on his office PC.
I'd pay to see this:
I've no interest in it myself.
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