Steve Irwin Dead

mkosmo writes "News.com.au is reporting that Steve Irwin was killed in a freak accident while filming one of his well known documentaries. Surprisingly it wasn't a crocodile, it was a sting-ray."

Comments

He played the game

[pair-a-noyd]

Anyone that takes that many chances with that many dangerous animals is going to get it, sooner or later.
I was always appalled at how he behaved around animals, what an idiot.
Darwin 1, Irwin 0

Freak?

[geoff lane]

As a serial animal botherer, it was bound to happen eventually.

Re:Honestly, this was a long time coming

[flood6]

Yeah, I saw that study. The University of I-Just-Pull-Nonsense-Out-Of-My-Ass found that 9 out of 10 American's like to leave their children at home while they go out to rodeos.

Did you see the one showing that 99.9% of people named "the_B0fh" are jack-offs?

Quick! Think of something funny!

[wwiiol_toofless]

Try to get a couple mods to chuckle. When you detached morons are done, have a chuckle thinking about his little children. Still no emotion? Put down your PSP and picture your childhood without a father. I like humor too but it's too easy for people to take shots behind the internet curtain; would it still be funny if you told it to his family. Take a breather and ponder life and death for a moment. Not TV death, real death. Do you think the magical elf Jesus is going to hand you an eternity in a bright white suit when you go? Get fucking real. This is it, the rest is the terrifying nothingness of the unknown.

Idiot

[WebfishUK]

See what happens when f**k with Marina?

Re:With all due respect to the man ...

[dfenstrate]

We're identified with a jingoist leader that 50% of us opposed. Even those of us who challenge the stereotypes and work to change things (though I am a fatass, so I guess one strike) get to deal with the constant barrage of negative images.

Of course, living in the wealthiest center of power in the western world certainly has advantages, so I can't complain, but I've never really found it possible to take pride in my country the same way others do. I wouldn't be upset at all if we were identified with a loveably corny and passionate conservationist and educator. I know Steve Irwin represented a stereotype, but I've never thought of it as a particularly negative one.

Yeah, we all get it, you hate Bush. How about not bringing it up in unrelated threads?

You've got to be a real bore at parties, tying everything to politics and probably blaming every unpleasentry in your life on Bush.

Re:oblig

[E 99]

I'm all for perspective in addressing tragedy and agree that the ridiculous coverage 9/11 gets cf the millions that die annually in the third word is farcical.

There's nothing disproportionate or farcical about the coverage 9/11 gets. There is nothing necessarily terrible about dying. There is something very terrible about murder. On 9/11, group of people, out of nothing but idealized hatred for the people of another country, intentionally created a living hell amongst those people, in which thousands of innocents were burned alive, suffocated, or crushed to death, and thousands more survived to live with the memory. Having accomplished this, they rejoiced and celebrated. The nature of this act sets it apart as one of the vivid examples that history provides us of the nature of evil.

Of course, the highly confused will say stupid things like "America is the real terrorist." Do they understand the destructive power of America's nuclear arsenal? If an American president had the mentality of any one of these Islamic death cultists, Mecca and Medina would be smouldering grease smudges in the desert, and Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Syria would be one big glowing wasteland. But those following or attempting to follow a path of good have such "burdens" as nuanced thought, compassion, and restraint.

Why Australians hate the US so

[donscarletti]

Because when there are two countries that both are similar in many ways, the differences stand out more.

Americans particualarly admire success over good to the community, Australians see most rich as morally inferior since they spend money themselves which could help someone else more (this is also why the Australian middle and upper classes are impossible to distinguish without finantial records). Americans haven't got a welfare system that an unempoyable individual could live on, America doesn't have a heavily subsidised healthcare system for all citizens, America has education on a local basis so poor people have underfunded schools. This is so the most prosperous indivduals can pay less and the military can get more. Americans have the death penalty which Australians think is barbaric. America has handguns and assult weapons for civilians, Australians think that means a society is warlike and uncouth. Australian think about these differences every time they watch it on an American sitcom (which many Australians love to watch).

There are worse places in the world than America of course, but Australians don't see it like that. Because Americans speak English, like Jesus, vote for their leaders, like eating beef, chicken, carrots, potatoes and white bread with penut butter, play sports that somewhat resembling cricket and rugby, like to watch television at the end of the day and many other similarities; to Australians, Americans are not just another exotic race with a strange culture, Americans are Australians that have gone astray. We do actually care about you guys and it's like your brother has done something that you disapprove of. We both came to the New World to form a new identity, we just think you did it wrongly.

It's not everyone who dislikes you guys anyway, just the ones you're likely to meet, much of the Australian working class admires the United States and love their music and TV shows. The Australian middle class largely can't stand American music or TV shows, despite large amounts of it being around in the media. This is a lot to do with American nationalism that comes through movies and tv shows, flag waving, jingoism, insularism, etc. Nationalism is very uncommon in Australian society (perhaps too uncommon) and every nationalist (from any nation, even our own) is seen as distasteful. Australians REALLY get pissed off when Americans start describing themselves as the freest, capital of the free world and that President is the Leader of the Free world (there are many democracies out there with rights for individuals). Also, stuff like hearing about the Baseball "World Series" that Japan, Mexico, Cuba and ourselves are not invited to play in makes us pissed off because it is insular and disrespectful. Thus, their intense dislike of American media rubbs off on their opinion of Americans in general. If American media stopped coming to Australia, this would stop rather quickly. Thanks to the American media we all know a LOT about your history, geography, politics etc. which helps us work out what exactly we don't like about you.

If you want Australians to like Americans, you should campaign to ban all TV and Movie exports to Australia. I sure will miss Southpark, Futurama and House, but the image of America will go up the less we think about you.