Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Irwin death tape 'should be destroyed'
news.com.au ^ | 6 September 2006 | Peter Mitchell

Posted on 09/05/2006 7:36:47 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher

THE footage of Steve Irwin's death should be destroyed, his manager and friend John Stainton said today.

"I would never want that tape shown," Stainton told CNN talk show host Larry King.

"It should be destroyed.

"At the moment it is in police custody for evidence. There's a coroner's inquest taking place at the moment.

"When that is finally released it will never see the light of day.

"Never. Ever.

"I actually saw it and I don't want to see it again."

Irwin, 44, died on Monday when stabbed in the chest by a stingray barb while snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef and Stainton has said footage of the incident is "terrible".

The footage shows Irwin pulling the barb out of his chest before dying.

While Stainton wants the footage kept under wraps, media experts say it may soon be circulating on the internet.

"The key point is once there's something on film, it's impossible to keep it contained," Paul Levinson, chairman of Fordham University's Department of Communication and Media Studies, said.

Mr Stainton, who broke down several times during the CNN interview, said Irwin's wife, Terri, was struggling with her husband's death.

When King asked a teary Stainton how Terri was doing, Mr Stainton replied: "A lot worse than me".

Mr Stainton told how he travelled with Irwin's body in a caske

(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...


TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: australia; death; johnstainton; oninternetin2weeks; steveirwin; stingray; terriirwin; videotape
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120 ... 201-205 next last
To: Tall_Texan
My prediction,..... youtube in less than month. The days of good manners and decorum are over with the web. Like it or don't, somebody will show it, most likely for money.

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.

81 posted on 09/05/2006 8:53:02 PM PDT by chuckles
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: chuckles
The JFK assassination film was first-hand evidence of a monstrous crime and documented a traumatic historical event in our nation's history.

Irwin's death fits into neither category and therefore that video, unlike the Zapruder film, ought never to become public...

82 posted on 09/05/2006 9:03:17 PM PDT by Al Simmons
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 81 | View Replies]

Why the sanctimonious outrage over seeing death? It happens all the time. So does birth. Both are ultimately fascinating subjects, no matter who is involved.

No, I do not go out of my way to watch birth and death, either in real life or in films. But I don't go out of my way to kill either the real thing or films of it, either.

I just don't get the emotional reaction that says, "Let all the evidence be destroyed." Could it be that watching births and deaths might inspire awe for the individuals and processes involved? Yes.

IMO the documentation of Mr. Irwin's passing ought to be preserved, though I would most likely not be inclined to seek it out. Public broadcasting of the same I would not consider appropriate. In general, however, there may be a salutary reason to retain the footage, even if for the educational aspect of understanding man's relationship with creatures of the sea.

The subject is not one to be sensationalized and broadcast without proper caveats and context. But films such as this may be of some value and should not be discarded purely on the basis of emotion.
83 posted on 09/05/2006 9:07:00 PM PDT by Fester Chugabrew
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: Aussie Dasher

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.


84 posted on 09/05/2006 9:08:08 PM PDT by GiveEmDubya
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: chuckles

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.


85 posted on 09/05/2006 9:13:23 PM PDT by Tall_Texan (I wish a political party would come along that thinks like I do.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 81 | View Replies]

To: Rennes Templar

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?


86 posted on 09/05/2006 9:13:25 PM PDT by Bulldaddy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 71 | View Replies]

To: Aussie Dasher

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.


87 posted on 09/05/2006 9:15:11 PM PDT by Blowtorch
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GiveEmDubya
I'd rather remember him the way he lived, not how he died.

Well said.
88 posted on 09/05/2006 9:17:20 PM PDT by Blowtorch
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 84 | View Replies]

To: Aussie Dasher
> I don't want to see it. It's hard enough...

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.

89 posted on 09/05/2006 9:17:59 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Aussie Dasher

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.


90 posted on 09/05/2006 9:19:30 PM PDT by Kitten Festival
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: teenyelliott

"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?


91 posted on 09/05/2006 9:25:25 PM PDT by tflabo (Take authority that's ours)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 79 | View Replies]

To: Bulldaddy
> 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.

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.

92 posted on 09/05/2006 9:27:48 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 86 | View Replies]

To: Aussie Dasher
I'd heard a rumor that Irwin's family was pushing for it to be seen, that He had stated that if he died on film to keep the cameras rolling.

If this is true, it is a good example of what people often imagine as a fitting end for themselves and being remembered for doing what they love. That makes sense, however for most of us, the reality of death is a morbidly anticlimactic tragedy. Death in itself ain't glory, It's the life preceding it.
93 posted on 09/05/2006 9:27:54 PM PDT by Dead Dog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dead Dog
> I'd heard a rumor that Irwin's family was pushing for it to be seen, that He had stated that if he died on film to keep the cameras rolling.

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.

94 posted on 09/05/2006 9:30:51 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 93 | View Replies]

To: tflabo
> 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?

Not offended, and I agree it would be interesting, once the grief is past. But let his family decide when the time is right.

95 posted on 09/05/2006 9:32:35 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 91 | View Replies]

To: Aussie Dasher
The ghouls in the media want it to see the light of day to taint the legacy of Steve, and instill in everyone's minds that Steve didn't know what he was doing.

I hope it's promptly destroyed after the police are through with their inquiry.

96 posted on 09/05/2006 9:33:12 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper (There is no alternative to the GOP except varying degrees of insanity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tflabo
No disrespect for Steve Irwin, family or friends however I would like to see the video footage if it come available.

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.

97 posted on 09/05/2006 9:36:01 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper (There is no alternative to the GOP except varying degrees of insanity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Aussie Dasher

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.


98 posted on 09/05/2006 9:38:03 PM PDT by Chad_the_Impaler
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: umgud
I sure don't want to see it. I would however pay to see Bin laden beheaded.

I'd pay to see this:


99 posted on 09/05/2006 9:40:44 PM PDT by Cobra64 (All we get are lame ideas from Republicans and lame criticism from dems about those lame ideas.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Aussie Dasher

I've no interest in it myself.


100 posted on 09/05/2006 9:41:02 PM PDT by DemforBush
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120 ... 201-205 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson