Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mack the knife]

There's been a lot of buzz lately about whether or not the footage of Steve Irwin's death will or should be shown. Terri Irwin has said that the film will not in fact be made public. One can understand her reluctance to release the tape, as it would surely be circulated on the net and would serve as a constant (and visual) reminder of her husband's untimely and gruesome death.

The real question remains: Why would anyone want to see the footage anyway? Why are humans so fascinated by the deaths of other humans, as evidenced by the success of certain videos, myriad websites, and other media which portray death? Is it simply morbid curiousity, or perhaps something deeper?

While death media certainly does strike a chord with many simply because of its "raw power" as an unusual (some would say disgusting) form of "entertainment", something far more visceral must be at work. Why else would otherwise "normal" people be so interested?

It comes down to survival. If one can watch (or read about) a person's demise, we can say to ourselves "Oh, at least THAT will never happen to ME", or "I could survive THAT", or "That guy was just unlucky." But beyond the ability to calm our own nerves, watching a death (or deaths) occur is actually a way of planning our own defense, should the same situation ever occur.

Of course, the odds of anyone ever being impaled by a stingray or crashing in an airplane are miniscule; nevertheless, knowledge IS power, and having knowledge about a person's demise in one situation could potentially help us survive another. One could argue that it is enough to simply educate ourselves about certain situations, or to simply hear or read about the manner of death. But, as everyone knows, there is no substitute for experience. By watching footage of death we come closer to the experience; we can more easily visualize how WE might survive such an incident. In most cases, we'd be wrong; nevertheless, it gives us a certain peace of mind knowing that at least we might be mentally perpared should such a situation arise.

Everyone dies. Most of us will die mundane deaths, surrounded by loved ones in a hospital, hospice, home, etc. No amount of footage showing someone succumbing to cancer will ever palliate our minds. For some reason, viewing a sudden, unexpected, or particularly gruesome or tragic death makes us feel that much more alive.

I feel sorry for those Steve Irwin left behind. Anyone who has lost someone dear can empathize. However, it would simply be foolish to destroy the ONLY footage ever shot of this kind of death. Yes, it's gruesome. Yes, it's tragic. It's also KNOWLEDGE.

KNOWLEDGE is GOOD.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

It's also potential money. Terri should hold an auction with the procedes going to 'Save the Stingrays'.

[-X-]

i think in this particular case, the fascination with wanting to witness Irwin's death stems from 2 factors:

1) the way in which he was killed was quite bizarre and quite rare. that alone generates a lot of curiousity regarding exactly how the event took place.


2) he was a celebrity the world over mainly because he was constantly face to face with dangerous, often lethal, creatures and had aquired a reputation for being able to handle them effectively. naturally many people will want to see just what took place in order to bring down a man who was immersed in life-threatening situations all the time.


i definately agree with the family's decision not to release the tape...but a large part of me would also be interested to witness, from a purely scientific perspective, just how deadly a stingray attack can be.

[dogbert]

Not long ago, there was a man who was tragically killed while making love to a horse. For whatever reasons, a video existed of this that made its way to the World Wide Web.

Like the OP said, I think it was something that was deeper. Much deeper, in that man's particular case.