Just because someone takes risks doesn't mean they were a bad person

[Quixote1818]

I have never understood the logic that, just because someone takes risks, they deserve death, or they got what they deserved???? Steve Irwin knew the risks and said he wasn't afraid of death. He took those risks primarily for education and to get people excited about the natural world so they would want to preserve nature.

By this same logic, perhaps we should all be celebrating every time a police officer gets killed in action or a fire fighter gets burned up by a fire. Why not? They knew the risks, so weren't they stupid for putting their lives on the line? Didn't they deserve death the same way Steve Irwin did? I am not saying what Steve Irwin did was as important as say a police officer but it's possible it was just as important, just in a different way. After all, he did educate people about snake bites and conservation. He may have saved a number of lives.

The chances were small that Irwin would ever have died doing what he loved because they had all kids of people trained to jump in if he ever got into trouble. They also had medical professionals present, ready to give him snake bite medication. What happened to him was a fluke and his death was no more his fault than when John Denver died flying an ultra light plane.

Ok, feel free to dog on John Denver now for being stupid.

[TomInTib]

1. What it boils down to is there are a lot of people here who think

he deserved to die because of his conservative political views.

Complete and utter immaturity.

[Jamastiene]

3. He has been called conservative by a lot of people today, but

I can't recall the last time a conservative cared about the planet we live on, cared about animals, took the time to stop and enjoy the beauty in nature, risked their own lives to save a croc that was in danger of being shot because humans encroached on the croc's territory, or any took any other environmentally positive actions. Steve Irwin was well loved by many here on DU because so many of us care about nature. Pure and simple, he was respected by many of us here because he DID care about animals.

What specific views of his were conservative? I wonder what exactly made him to hate worthy by some people. :shrug:

[mcscajun]

8. I've been dealing with the negative crap about Irwin all day...

...and I'm sick of it. I know your post is NOT one of those.

You ask a legitimate question, though, about his conservative views. He was supposedly an open supporter of the conservative "Liberal Party" in Australia, and said this about the Australian Prime Minister: "In front of us right now is the greatest leader Australia has ever had and the greatest leader in the world," Mr Irwin told the pro-Howard audience at Australia Zoo, north of Brisbane.

That, and he had some nice things to say about Bush, seems to be the crux of the argument about him re: politics.

[Branjor]

4. By that logic....

police and firefighters, indeed anyone, with conservative political views would deserve to die.

[AX10]

5. But not ever cop and firefighter are conservative though.

[seabeyond]

7. not to speak to you, but are we really becoming a people that wish

the worst on our fellow man because of their political beliefs. if that isnt disgusting, not to mention sad and just plain wrong. what a world that would be.

[AX10]

11. Thanks for the response.

:hi:

[TomInTib]

13. We are becoming Them...

DU is beginning to make me think of bad things like hysterical ideology or Lord of the Rings craziness.

I think we are headed towards alternative freeperville.

What are we going to do?

[seabeyond]

14. drag me kicking and screaming. yes, for a year i have been seeing it

but i battle it. i am not going to. i can remember when the posts were few and far between, and now there are many more. i dont know if it is the younger crowd for drama and shock value, or if it is truly that we are just feeding off each other which tends to happen. s tarting in the bush administration and feeding thruout their party, then feeding thru out the nation. i can remember those that said we need to be like them to win. we dont, and i wont. because this is what we get if we become like them. it does not just sit in one part of our lives, it becomes the whole.

[OzarkDem]

6. and I've yet to see a shred of evidence

that he was the conservative some folks describe. Nothing. I really would hate to think DU ers jump to conclusions and label people based on rumor. That's not the Democratic way.

[mcscajun]

10. See my post, #8, upthread.

.

[seabeyond]

2. i had exactly this conversation with 8 and 11 yr old at dinner table

my oldest started with ya but, he did take risks.... so.....

i stopped before he finished and said so all that sky dives, or riding a motorcycle or your father that scubas. i will never be eaten by a shark because i am afraid, but.... i will never have seen the beauty and had the joy he experienced either because he was willing to take the risk.

and then again i smoke, taking a risk

and those that are totally cautious in all ways walks outside on day to a freaky accident and dies. or the baby dies, or the teenager or or or

i hear it often on du. the judgment of how people should live life. i dont know at what point we have decided that we are all to decide how we all should live, in a tight and safe little cocoon.

i like you post. i agree with you.

[sandnsea]

9. Stingray stings happen all the time

My understanding is that he was swimming along and got stung, that he wasn't doing anything to the stingray at all. That happens all the time. The freak part is that it went into his heart. If true, this was just a freakish accident that can happen to anybody. There are some people who think that they can control everything, that luck or circumstance plays no part. Well, they're wrong. And this accident just goes to show it's true. I hadn't been to a doctor in ten years and got a weird cuticle infection and simply had to go. Turns out my thyroid was so badly out of whack that the doctor could tell by looking at me. Now you could say I got some luck that you'd have preferred to go to somebody else, but it's luck none the less. So all these people who say he got what he deserved or he should have expected something like this must also believe all the poor and homeless got what they deserved too.

[King Coal]

12. I don't have any problem with people who take risks for money.

I did it for years. But it's silly to deny it. Steve was a showman and a daredevil. The fact that he "was a great educator" about crocs is fine and dandy, but he made his money by taking risks.