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MurraysWorld Discussions  >  General Community  >  Sports Talk  >  Dan Wheldon dies following IndyCar accident 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. « previous next »
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Author Topic: Dan Wheldon dies following IndyCar accident  (Read 684 times)
Aileen
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Re: Dan Wheldon dies following IndyCar accident « Reply #15 on: October 19, 2011, 03:47 PM »
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Quote from: Caz on October 19, 2011, 02:53 PM
I could never understand why people would want to watch executions! Apparently, some of them even used to bring picnics or treats.....you know, like having hotdogs and popcorn at the cinema! I find even the thought of watching something like that upsetting! Mind you, there were probably people in those days too, who would have kept well out of the way!
Just think of "La Guillotine" as well, where during the French Revolution women even took their knitting with them to while the time away in between the beheadings!  Witch hunting and watching these unfortunate innocent women's ultimate death by drowning or being burnt at the stake was also another popular spectacle throughout Europe.  And you can add to the list of these attractions public torture as in the Spanish Inquisition, cock-fighting, bear-baiting, bull-fighting, gladiators ...

What really does bug me is when you come across the scene of, say, a run-of-the-mill road accident, and there's a growing crowd standing there.  Apart from the fact that such things have no appeal for me, my attitude is that if you can't do anything to help, e.g. by administering first aid, then there's nothing useful to be achieved by hanging around gawping at the scene.
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Caz
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Re: Dan Wheldon dies following IndyCar accident « Reply #16 on: October 19, 2011, 03:52 PM »
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Yes I agree Aileen, and these ghouls often hamper the emergency services!
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Aileen
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Re: Dan Wheldon dies following IndyCar accident « Reply #17 on: October 20, 2011, 02:29 AM »
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Out of curiosity have just checked youtube for videos of this accident.  Looked briefly at one of them, which has so far received over 200,000 hits.  It was an American news station and it just kept showing the same scenes over and over again, although from slightly different angles.  What on earth is the point of doing that?  Fair enough show it a couple of times, but surely people can get the message without having the incident in all its gruesomeness rammed down their throats?  It's absolutely hellish.
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blueberryhill
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Re: Dan Wheldon dies following IndyCar accident « Reply #18 on: October 20, 2011, 06:24 AM »
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Aileen, free horror movie? Do think our modern media blurs the lines between reality and fiction anyway. Also, so much trickery is now possible, eg UFOs, who knows any more what is real? To clarify, I'm making the point that some people probably didn't know what they were watching, but there again there's "OMG thank goodness that's not me/mine" element.
However, even trickery's not new. Remember how two charming Victorian girls pretended there were fairies at the bottom of the garden and had photos to "prove" it? Barnados faked photos of poor children, though God knows why!
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Aileen
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Re: Dan Wheldon dies following IndyCar accident « Reply #19 on: October 21, 2011, 01:55 AM »
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I do indeed remember the story about the "fairies".  It's regarded as one of the biggest hoaxes of all time, and a pretty pointless one at that.  Also look at all the trickery which has and still does surround spiritualists and mediums, yet there are a few genuine ones around.  As for UFOs - well I did start a thread on that topic about a year ago, and the posts were very interesting, but I remain unconvinced about them one way or the other.

You're right about the "thank goodness it's not me" aspect, but I still think the ghoul element wins out.  I recall that when I was a child a small plane crashed in an isolated part of the countryside a few miles from where we lived, killing the pilot, and my Dad taking me to the site the following Sunday afternoon.  Young though I was I remember being amazed at the number of people who also turned up to view what was just pieces of wreckage with bits of debris strewn around.  Some entertainment!

I agree totally about the blurring of the lines between realty and fiction. I can well imagine somebody turning on their TV, not realising that the news was on, and thinking they were watching yet another horror film.  I've even experienced it myself.

Incidentally, I switched the TV news off last night.  I did NOT want to see close-ups of a dead Gaddafi nor the disturbing footage of the manner of his killing.  Of course I realise that there are many who will gloat over these images, and I notice one website is offering them as computer wallpapers - and that really is plumbing the depths.
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blueberryhill
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Re: Dan Wheldon dies following IndyCar accident « Reply #20 on: October 21, 2011, 05:17 PM »
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Ooh Aileen, that's horrible! Am not sorry he got shot though, he was a very nasty piece of work. Now I see UN committee on human rights wants an investigation. Think there are more pressing issues that require investigation myself Frown
OOps, very off topic, sorry everyone.
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Aileen
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Re: Dan Wheldon dies following IndyCar accident « Reply #21 on: October 21, 2011, 07:28 PM »
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Don't worry about this thread going off-topic.  It's not unusual on threads like this where one discussion leads to another but is still has some relevance.

I read the Daily Mail and it truly excelled itself by devoting eleven pages to Gaddafi and his death, including a full front page photo of his bleeding face as he pleaded for mercy from his killers in a sewer.  The photos on pages 2 and 3 were just as graphic.  So he was a brutal tyrant who showed his own victims no mercy, but did we really have to see the ultimate degredation of this man in all its stark gruesomeness?

Incidentally, psychologists have a name for the sort of morbid curiosity which accompanies accidents like Wheldon's - "the pornography of grief". 
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blueberryhill
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Re: Dan Wheldon dies following IndyCar accident « Reply #22 on: October 22, 2011, 06:36 AM »
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Didn't Lady Di's death trigger that name?
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Aileen
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Re: Dan Wheldon dies following IndyCar accident « Reply #23 on: October 22, 2011, 02:44 PM »
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Quote from: blueberryhill on October 22, 2011, 06:36 AM
Didn't Lady Di's death trigger that name?
Very interesting information about "mourning sickness" and "grief porn".  It seems it all started in 1996 following the Dunblane massacre in March of that year -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_sickness
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Bevc
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Re: Dan Wheldon dies following IndyCar accident « Reply #24 on: October 23, 2011, 11:24 PM »
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I see the motorsport world lost another participant this weekend.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2052436/Marco-Simoncelli-dead-Malaysian-MotoGP-crash.html

Another tragedy unfolds on tv.  So very sad for all concerned no
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Aileen
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Re: Dan Wheldon dies following IndyCar accident « Reply #25 on: October 24, 2011, 12:43 AM »
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Quote from: Bevc on October 23, 2011, 11:24 PM
I see the motorsport world lost another participant this weekend.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2052436/Marco-Simoncelli-dead-Malaysian-MotoGP-crash.html

Another tragedy unfolds on tv.  So very sad for all concerned no
I just saw that on the BBC late news, although we were spared the horror pictures they showed of Wheldon's accident.  However, I notice that the Mail, and no doubt all the other newspapers, has made up for that!

Simoncelli was only 24 - another young life so tragically lost, especially as he wasn't taking the huge risks that Wheldon was.  The photo of his father is truly heart-rending and says it all, really.

 
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