Tag: death video

Irwin death film ‘will never air’:

Steve Irwin’s widow Terri has said that the film of Irwin’s death will never be aired. If she doesn’t have the film destroyed I at least hope she keeps it under such tight wraps that it doesn’t leak out. For her sake and the sake of their children.

You death mutants can suck it.

Thanks to Elessarion for the tip.

The Irwin video: Would you watch it? :

Now it’s the BBC’s turn to debate the topic. First the pro…

While we might question what kind of person would want to watch such a gruesome spectacle, I suggest there are reasons why we should at least consider making the footage available to the public. Steve Irwin was a well-known public figure, whose popular TV shows regularly drew large audiences.

His death occurred while he was in the process of filming another documentary – hence the existence of the footage in question. The life and death of a public figure are – naturally – of public interest. This is particularly the case when a person is well-known because of the risks he takes.

Up till now we have witnessed Irwin sporting with crocodiles, poisonous snakes and tarantulas, always emerging unscathed and as lively as ever. The footage of Irwin’s final film can in itself be regarded as a necessary part of our education: these animals are dangerous, and fooling around with them can be deadly.

And now the con…

Even if his entourage gives the green light and the tape is released – and many believe this last event will inevitably happen – there remains a question of personal morality. Should you, the viewer, watch the footage?

Why watch?

The answer depends on your motives. Are you a marine biologist or ethologist (someone who studies animal behaviour) eager to understand the defensive behaviour of a frightened stingray? Are you a cardiologist or toxicologist interested in aspects of the injury itself?

Before watching the footage, we should ask ourselves: why do I want to watch this? I suspect many people would answer “for entertainment” or “out of curiosity”.

Is there not something discomforting about these answers? Do they not reflect a morbid desire to witness a fatal tragedy? Sometimes our instinctive “yuk” response to an event or suggestion is not based on reason but on deep-rooted prejudice or ignorance.

This time, the “yuk” is more firmly grounded. It is a mistake to say that watching the clip in private would harm no one, as the event has already occurred.

It may well harm the watcher, whose humanity and moral sensibility will suffer. Irwin’s passion for nature and his exuberance leapt out of the screen. Let that memory remain, and let the footage of his pierced heart disappear with the stingray into the depths of the ocean.

One of the BBC commenters put it best when they said: “Irwin is a public figure but not public property”.

TOF to Elessarion.

FoxNews.com published an Associated Press article entitled Should Video of ‘Crocodile Hunter’ Steve Irwin’s Death Be Released?. Of course, my answer is a resounding no but as Kate can attest to the death mutants are already scouring the web looking for the video. For those people let me share some quotes from the article with you…

For its part, Discovery Communications, the network where Irwin became a star, said there was absolutely no truth to rumors that the footage, now in possession of police in Queensland, Australia, might be released.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t concerns that someone could attempt to get their hands on it and publicize it for lurid means — or just to show they had it. That, said media analyst Martin Kaplan, would be tantamount to a snuff film.

Irwin’s manager and close friend, John Stainton, had the painful experience of watching the videotape where Irwin pulls the stingray barb from his chest. He called it “shocking.”

“It’s a very hard thing to watch, because you are actually witnessing somebody die, and it’s terrible,” he told reporters.

Samuel G. Freedman, who teaches a media ethics class at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, says the issue is “whether there is any compelling public interest” in the release of something so shocking as footage of a death. Here, he says, there clearly isn’t.

“The lay person is not going into the water trying to have encounters with stingrays,” Freedman said. “It would be purely titillation and necrophilia if anyone were to show this.”

“Only in the sense that there’s a race for the bottom in our culture,” Kaplan says. “This will take substantial vigilance on the part of the family.”

Do you see that? If you’re one of the freaks that like to watch real people dying then you’re a necrophiliac at the bottom of our culture. In case you were wondering there is something wrong with you.

With any luck, the video will be destroyed or locked away forever.