OK... about this kid who cut his arm off...

[Dookus]

Aron Ralston.... the guy who got his arm stuck between a boulder and a wall and after 6 days, amputated his won arm. He's on an episode of "Ellen" I Tivo'ed.

He's way cool. I can't imagine going through such an ordeal. But the whole POINT of his book (called "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" - a little obvious, but we'll let that go) is that the ordeal taught him the importance of priorities. Spirituality, friends, family were more important than career and money-making.

Sounds good...

Except...

He's on a goddamn book tour! The whole point of a book tour is to sell books and make money!

[jdj]

1. Honey, if I cut my arm off, I'm gonna get paid.

[Dookus]

3. no doubt

but do you get paid for saying you've rejected money because of your ordeal?

[jdj]

7. lots of people do it, it's called the talk show circuit.

I admired him because when he was on 60 min/Nighline/20-20 or whatever it was and Dan Rather/Tom Brokaw/Ted Koppel/orsomeotherclone was baiting him about the so-called "spiritual angle" he never would get specific about that, or preachy, which was cool.

(But it was Utah, so he may be a Mormon and just thinks everyone knows)

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. Dookus,

In a nutshell, if people are willing to pay for his story, the boy deserves the $.

It's truly a unique story and what he's selling isn't just entertainment, (as macabre as that sounds) it's inspiration.

He's a young man and he's going to have to make a living somehow and raise his family, which he's entitled to do. I'd rather buy his book, than have to see him on a corner panhandling in fifteen years.

[demconfive]

2. According to standard american bartering vernacular...

...trading your arm for a million bucks is often said (i.e."it costs an arm and a leg"), although rarely carried out. If he wants to sleep with a supermodel, however, it'll cost him his left nut.

[rumguy]

4. He's not really a kid, is he?

Isn't he like in his thirties?

[Dookus]

5. didn't seem like it

but I just looked it up... he's 27.

[drumwolf]

6. does he have a prosthetic now?

[jdj]

8. yes,

several that cater to whatever sport he's doing. He even has one that has an ice ax attached to it.

[getoffmytrain]

9. "taught him the importance of priorities"

Apply a tourniquet before you cut your arm off?

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

12. that would be MY priority

*cleaning diet pepsi off keyboard*

:D

[gbwarming]

10. Book tour could about getting the message out too.

It could be. And money.

[gardenista]

11. Why is it that people get up in arms (no pun intended) about memoirists

selling books about their extraordinary experiences?

First of all, I bet that when it's said and done, he will have actually made very little money. Secondly, he obviously created a product, putting time and effort, and probably no small part of his soul, into it. Why should he not get paid for it? And in what way does getting paid for the book diminish his ability to focus on friends and family?

I have an author friend, (who sells books, goes on book tours, but probably lives near the poverty level, anyway), and when he does a tour, he stays exclusively with old friends, all over the country.

There was a huge hoopla here on DU about 6 months ago when Jessica Lynch had her memoir of her experience published. Many people jumped all over her for it, despite the fact that she gave nothin to Bush, (much to his dismay, I am sure), and donated a significant portion of her earnings to a fund for Lori Peistewa's children.

Sorry to rant, but it just burns me when people think that every published memoirist or author who tours is raking in the bucks. Most of them are not.

edit: punctuation

[Dookus]

13. I know most writers don't make a fortune

but he's a NYTimes best-seller, on tour. And the point of his tour is to espouse his spiritual acknowledgement that a career and money aren't his priority.

I just find that odd.

[Donkeyboy75]

14. It's impossible to know the particulars of the situation, but

perhaps he wanted to tell his story (to inspire...spirituality?) to the general public, but the publisher is making him tour as part of the contract to promote the book.

Ah, who knows? :shrug:

[Tom Kitten]

15. Without knowing any details

Like I'm sure all of you don't, you just feel like bitch slapping someone!