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R.I.P.
Sept 6, 2006 10:58:20 GMT -5
Post by gambit on Sept 6, 2006 10:58:20 GMT -5
Jeremy,
I take it your post was pointed to what I stated. In my clarification I wanted to induce the severity to people of someone, let's say, playing in the face a Black Mamba, or taunting an alligator with his child in hand in front of an audience. These are the stupid things I classify someone as being an idiot.
In your case, you have somewhat of complete control of what you do. In Steve's case, it was indeed a matter of time before something he couldn't control was going to get him. Even as docile as a stingray is, they are still named that for a reason, which Steve found out...unfortunately the hard way.
I never did wish anything to happen to him, but I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. After all, as the adage goes, "If you play with fire long enough you're going to get burned".
I think everyone should do what they love and yes, at anytime people can die doing nothing at all, but you have to draw the line between stupidity and intelligent passion.
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R.I.P.
Sept 6, 2006 11:26:37 GMT -5
Post by Jeremy Plaster on Sept 6, 2006 11:26:37 GMT -5
Many would feel just the opposite of you. Many would feel that his danger was in passion and love of animals. And that my danger of riding a bike the way I do is stupid. Really though, it's all risk for what you love. I do think the thing with the kid was stupid. But thats the only thing.
Fact: If you screw up while face to face with a Mamba, you will die. You have control up to a point.. then you lose it and it's in the hands of fate, and the Mamba of course.
Fact: While riding the bike at 140 mph and applying the front brake.. you have control.
Fact: Once the bike is up you have no control. Hit the brake and you eat concrete face first at 140.leaning back doesnt work. You have to have been perfect or, like with the Mamba, you die.
Fact: I have wrecked badly twice. Neither time was the accident due to my error.
Fact: My team's number one camera man and close friend was killed while stunting when a car cut him off and wrecked him.
I understand the point that you make Allen, I just think that you could have worded it alot better. Especially knowing how articulate you are. Stupidity to one's mind or opinion is just that.. It doesnt make it a general opinion or point of view. Ya know?
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R.I.P.
Sept 6, 2006 12:21:39 GMT -5
Post by gambit on Sept 6, 2006 12:21:39 GMT -5
I am sure I could have worded it differently. for what purpose, to be politically correct? I said what I said based on my viewpoint. My expression I conveyed was through my wording, whether they were correct or not.
A friend gave me an example yesterday of the use of words when he said, "If I call you, "My B*tch" here in America, it would be taken as a compliment, but if you were to say it to someone who never heard it before they would be pissed." Why? Because they look at the word "b*tch" and associate it with the bad terminology. They do not know the true context of its intent. Did I try to use "idiot" in a different sense? No, I thought he to be an idiot for doing some of the things he did. My point is, it is the wording I used for my expression. That's all.
I truthfully cannot recall ANYONE ever saying, "He is a smart man not to be bitten." Instead they have all called him an idiot for doing what he did.
Sure, have passion for animals and show their environment up close to educate people, but passion turns into stupidity when he grabs the tail of the most deadliest snake. The act of stupidity came into effect when he chose to grab the snake. For what purpose? Is that educating the public of telling them what NOT to do? Again, there is that fine line.
Jeremy, you know more about riding bikes than I do, and you can do more on it than anyone I know of, personally, but I would venture to guess you do have control of your bike when you do your stunts when you CHOSE to go that fast, do that stunt, because it is all inclusive. I do not begrudge you in what you do, but if my opinion is that you are "crazy", "stupid", or being an "idiot" for doing it, it is because I know what can happen if something goes wrong. It is just a matter of physics. It isn't to say you aren't smart in what you do, because you have to be smart to be able to do what you do.
You said you had no control over your wrecks. Doesn't that validate what I said - "You play with fire long enough you're going to get burned"? Would it be prudent to say you were running on luck at that time, if you had no control of what you were doing? All I am saying, is, it will eventually catch up to you. Your(anyone) luck will run out. IMO
I apologize, bro for offending you.
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R.I.P.
Sept 6, 2006 18:54:10 GMT -5
Post by John Stanton on Sept 6, 2006 18:54:10 GMT -5
Point of fact, Steve was never bitten by a venomous snake.
I enjoyed Steves show and the work he did for conservation. He did a lot more good in this world than he did harm.
Welcome back J.P
Allen, you are a big JERK
Hi Allen
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R.I.P.
Sept 6, 2006 20:27:18 GMT -5
Post by gambit on Sept 6, 2006 20:27:18 GMT -5
No one said he was bitten...duffus. I enjoyed watching his shows as well, with disbelief that is.
John, you are a big JERK...
OFF
Hi John!!!!
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R.I.P.
Sept 6, 2006 21:24:55 GMT -5
Post by Ryan Thames on Sept 6, 2006 21:24:55 GMT -5
Point of fact, Steve was never bitten by a venomous snake. actually i believe he was.....i think there was an episode were the snake struck at him and he raised his foot, and the fang when through his sole and got his foot, but theu rushed him to the er just intime. maybe wrong but i believe i saw that episode.
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R.I.P.
Sept 6, 2006 22:18:38 GMT -5
Post by John Stanton on Sept 6, 2006 22:18:38 GMT -5
He was bitten by NON venomous snakes but never venomous snakes
I never said you said Allen, pay attention to the conversation you backwoods country hick. Although you never disagreed about being a JERK
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R.I.P.
Sept 7, 2006 16:35:59 GMT -5
Post by Brittany Bordelon on Sept 7, 2006 16:35:59 GMT -5
Found a great article on the topic. If you have time, it's worth the read in my opinion.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Death, Where is Thy Stingray? By Mary Beth Crain
Steve Irwin, the guy who did all those wild and crazy things with crocodiles and lived to tell about it, met an unexpected end yesterday when he was killed by, of all things, a stingray.
Irwin was known for getting up close and personal with all sorts of deadly creatures. His forte, of course, was the croc, but "I've worked with more dangerous snakes than anyone in the world, and I've never been bitten," he often boasted. And then, more humbly, "It's a gift." And yet, his gift didn't work on the stingray that punctured his heart.
Irwin's death is a lesson in irony. Irony No. 1: He was filming a documentary entitled "The Ocean's Deadliest," when the ray got him during an off-camera swim. Irony No. 2: The stingray is usually non-aggressive. Irony No. 3: While it's a deadly fish, very few people actually die from its bites. In fact, Irwin was one of only three people in Australia ever to die from a stingray attack.
Was it God's joke on Steve? Just desserts, for a daredevil life? The stingray's revenge, for annoying the creatures of the sea and poking his nose and camera where they didn't belong? Or was it a fitting end, a mercifully quick conclusion to an exuberant if incautious life, staged and executed by nature?
Lots of people expected Irwin to meet his end sooner rather than later. Most, myself included, passed him off as a camera-hungry thrill seeker whose egomania was simply astonishing. He'd wrestle a croc while yelling melodramatic observations like, "I'm being whacked around, facing death at every turn.... Bruises, broken bones, you name it, all in the name of crocodile conservation!" Yeah, right, I'd think. All in the name of Steve Irwin, who'll not only do anything to prove his manhood, but actually has the gall to tell you just how brave he is.
But you know, I don't feel that way anymore. After reading about Irwin, and watching Larry King's 2004 interview with him, which was rebroadcast last night, I have to say that Steve Irwin was a man who lived life to the absolute fullest, and died doing what he loved. Yes, he was crazy, by the average person's standards. Yes, he craved the spotlight. Yes, he tempted the fates. Yes, he was hyper—he'd often been accused of being an adrenaline junkie, and his friend John Stinton, who was with him when he died, admitted that, "One problem Steve had was that he couldn't sit still for five seconds and because the weather was bad today and for the last couple of days, he'd been liked a caged lion because he hadn't really been able to do anything much in the way of filming. So he said, 'Look, I might just go off and shoot some segments,' anything that would keep him moving and his adrenaline going and that's what happened..."
It seemed, on the surface, to be these silly character flaws, and not the stingray, that got him in the end.
Yet the truth of the matter, I now believe, is that Irwin was a man of enormous intensity who sincerely believed that "God put me on this earth for a mission, and that mission is wildlife conservation." He was born to his calling; at the age of eight he was already catching crocs, and he took to animals, and danger, "like a fish to water," as he aptly put it. He knew that he was living on a constant precipice, but, as he said, "I have no fear of losing my life," and "Fear helps me from making mistakes—but I make a lot of mistakes."
Yet Irwin never let fear stand in the way of his love of life. He was out there risking, every day, and learning and growing and, well, living. His death is being called, of course, a tragedy. He was only 44. He was a happy husband and father of two great kids. He was a great conservationist who, had he lived, could have done so much more for wildlife preservation. One of his dreams, for instance, was to use the money he was making from royalties and his famed Australia Zoo to buy large tracts of wilderness land and create wilderness reserves that could never be bought by developers.
But is his death really all that tragic? I know a lot of people who are so afraid of dying that they end up afraid to live. So afraid of failure that they end up failing to try. It makes you ask the question, what's worse? Living an unlived life, or dying a lived one? We know what Irwin's answer would have been.
I can't say I'll miss Steve Irwin, because the only time I ever watched him was when I was channel surfing. But I can say that even in death, I envy him. I'm 55, out of shape, diabetic, and afraid of dying. I could get in shape, change my diet and my attitude, and really kick ass and start living, but I haven't. When you think about it, I live in just as big a danger zone as Steve Irwin did. I could use a little more of his hyperactivity, or, if you prefer, boundless enthusiasm. I could use a shot or two of his brazen disregard for fear and disdain for inertia. I'm not saying I need to wrestle crocs or hunt pythons, but I wouldn't mind experiencing life to the fullest instead of waking up every morning afraid to test my blood sugar.
To me, Steve Irwin's death is a reminder that everybody's life is an enigma, and that we are not here to rate others, only to improve ourselves. I was quick to dismiss Irwin as a numbskull nutcase who got what he deserved—until I looked at myself and realized that I am certainly no paragon of wise living. Something tells me that the ebullient, passionate, adventurous-to-the-end Mr. Irwin was too busy living to pass judgment on how others spent their time. That—and not his risk-taking excesses—could be the real lesson of his death—a lesson we all could learn.
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R.I.P.
Sept 8, 2006 16:47:40 GMT -5
Post by TK on Sept 8, 2006 16:47:40 GMT -5
..He played with Crocs / snakes / and dies by a stingray.......talk about when you're # is up....jeeeesh... R.I.P.....i have spent many hours watching this fool play with snakes and crocs..and will watch hours more.... ..... Goodbye Steve. TK
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