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Author Topic: Tragedy? I think not.  (Read 2300 times)

Offline Xyrael

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Tragedy? I think not.
« on: August 01, 2007, 12:32:32 AM »
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6920156.stm

Normally I would be upset that this happened, but the fact American media requires 5 helicopters (+1 police helicopter) for a car chase is absolutely pathetic.

Quote
In Los Angeles, a service exists whereby viewers, in return for a monthly subscription, are paged every time a pursuit is being shown.

I am sorry, but if you believe humans to be evolved and civilized, you are wrong. What other creature asks to be interrupted in the middle of often important activities to idly watch another man nearly kill people?

More importantly, why was Los Angeles media covering a car chase in Phoenix? Is it really that important? I would think at least this would be more important to Los Angeleans: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-crash30jul30,1,5736403.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage
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Offline Omnipius

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Re: Tragedy? I think not.
« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2007, 02:05:31 AM »
Car chases are a more popular past time and entertainment for Log Angelenos than soccer is for Brazilians.
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Offline Tacolicious

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Re: Tragedy? I think not.
« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2007, 02:08:34 AM »
The other stupid thing is that they have the pilots doing the reporting as well as the flying... something like this happening was only a matter of time. Personally I'd like to see more news blimps or satellite news could be interesting to see.
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Offline Eientei

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Re: Tragedy? I think not.
« Reply #3 on: August 01, 2007, 02:09:39 AM »
This is why NASCAR is the most popular entertainment in the US.  People don't go to a racetrack to see a bunch of cars drive in an oval five hundred times, they go to see sploshuns.
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Offline Myroria

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Re: Tragedy? I think not.
« Reply #4 on: August 01, 2007, 02:10:17 AM »
This reminds me of a stand-up routine.

"The helmet is the perfect example of human stupidity. At some time in our history, we were doing things that involved heads being cracked open. So instead of avoiding doing these things, we invented the helmet so we could continue our head-cracking lifestyle."
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Offline Tacolicious

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Re: Tragedy? I think not.
« Reply #5 on: August 01, 2007, 02:20:42 AM »
Gotta love being a race of schizophrenic apes!  :D
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Offline Omnipius

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Re: Tragedy? I think not.
« Reply #6 on: August 01, 2007, 02:56:17 AM »
hey! Who you calling schizophrenic? I prefer paranoid delusional, thank you.
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Offline Osamafune

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Re: Tragedy? I think not.
« Reply #7 on: August 01, 2007, 03:45:59 AM »
Quote from: Eientei on August 01, 2007, 02:09:39 AM
This is why NASCAR is the most popular entertainment in the US.  People don't go to a racetrack to see a bunch of cars drive in an oval five hundred times, they go to see sploshuns.
Hey as a Nascar fan, I take offense to that  >:(

However that logic, it almost seems like F1 or Indy would be more popular... When they crash, they fly apart and everything. And the "sploshuns" are rare in Nascar. Fireball Roberts's crash changed that when he died (kinda ironic really...) back in the 50's or something and the new fuel cells were made to keep them from exploding .
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Offline Anniane

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Re: Tragedy? I think not.
« Reply #8 on: August 01, 2007, 04:40:17 AM »
Quote from: Xyrael on August 01, 2007, 12:32:32 AM
I am sorry, but if you believe humans to be evolved and civilized, you are wrong. What other creature asks to be interrupted in the middle of often important activities to idly watch another man nearly kill people?

This very much depends on your definition of "evolved" and "civilized". I think it's quite a remarkable evolution to be able to sit in morbid fascination at the reckless behavior of others on the television screen. We've turned what was once the unfortunate, inevitable tragedy of death (and near-death) into entertainment. Terrible things happen every day, but now, thanks to the omnipresent masses-pleasing media, the entertainment value is captured rather than dissipated and lost. These stupid, violent, reckless actions like people driving at 100mph from police, or drunks beating each other up, don't have any redeeming value in society on their own, but with the help of the media, they do - they, in a twisted way, make faraway people happy. Violence close up is a tragedy, but seen from afar, it's a show. So I say, what other creature can take the terrible nastiness of reality and turns it into entertainment? Morally right, probably not, but a unique and remarkable trait of us humans, yes.
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Offline Eientei

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Re: Tragedy? I think not.
« Reply #9 on: August 01, 2007, 05:32:34 AM »
Quote from: Osafune on August 01, 2007, 03:45:59 AM
Quote from: Eientei on August 01, 2007, 02:09:39 AM
This is why NASCAR is the most popular entertainment in the US.  People don't go to a racetrack to see a bunch of cars drive in an oval five hundred times, they go to see sploshuns.
Hey as a Nascar fan, I take offense to that  >:(

However that logic, it almost seems like F1 or Indy would be more popular... When they crash, they fly apart and everything. And the "sploshuns" are rare in Nascar. Fireball Roberts's crash changed that when he died (kinda ironic really...) back in the 50's or something and the new fuel cells were made to keep them from exploding .

Oh, yeah.  I suppose so.  I still don't see any other possible appeal, but I can't stand to watch that stuff anyway, and I live in the South.
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Offline Solnath

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Re: Tragedy? I think not.
« Reply #10 on: August 01, 2007, 12:51:06 PM »
NASCAR is as entertaining as watching the spin cycle on a washing machine.
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Offline Allama

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Re: Tragedy? I think not.
« Reply #11 on: August 01, 2007, 01:52:02 PM »
It would seem human beings (especially in "civilized" society) can find nothing better to do than be fascinated by bad things happening to other people.  A restaurant patron got beaten half to death by a random drugged-up stranger?  There's probably a video of it on YouTube with a 5-star rating.  Some asshat is driving drunk, endangering lives, busting up other people's property, and getting hunted down by the police?  That'll bring in the ratings.
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Offline Solnath

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Re: Tragedy? I think not.
« Reply #12 on: August 01, 2007, 02:46:17 PM »
This reminds me, can anyone tell a joke that's funny but on no one's expense?
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Offline Trey

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Re: Tragedy? I think not.
« Reply #13 on: August 01, 2007, 09:26:40 PM »
Quote from: Solnath on August 01, 2007, 12:51:06 PM
NASCAR is as entertaining as watching the spin cycle on a washing machine.

For the longest time, I refused to admit that NASCAR even qualified as a sport.  I've learned a little more about it and, though I still cannot watch a race in its entirety, I consider it a sport with marginal entertainment value  (though it still seems like the vast majority of its fans are rednecks; I mean, look at Jeff Gordon; he's hated because he is "sophisticated"; i.e. he's from California and owns a winery).  However, it's still pretty pathetic that they only turn right in two races.
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Offline Osamafune

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Re: Tragedy? I think not.
« Reply #14 on: August 02, 2007, 02:51:36 PM »
What's pathetic is the fact that they have those two races in there and won't take them out  >:(
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