Well, it isn’t really much of a surprise that the guy died. Anyone who grew up in a farm can tell—it’s actually sort of a proverb, something people say—that if you play with snakes [ehm, and crocodiles, I suppose], you’re bound not to get away everytime.
And it’s pretty enlightening that he died, actually. I’m not saying it was nice, only I’m betting a lot of people learnt something from that. Humans nowadays seem to have a superman syndrome of some kind. “It won’t happen to me.” Oh, but it will. Children jump off of high buildings believing they will fly. Teenagers get pregnant and HIV–positive (not to mention addicted to anything from alcohol to heroin—yes, including pot, don’t come tell me it’s not addictive, I’ve seen it happen, it ain’t a nice thing to look at the remains of such process).
Adults bankrupt companies, lose all their money, marry the wrong people and end up so scared they have to work in a small cubicle with timed breaks for coffee to feel safe. Old people fall downstairs because they don’t need no help. Everyone thinks it’s not going to happen to them. It’s grothesque.
Among all these people who fear not, there was this man who hunted crocodiles for documentaries. He probably knew better than most people what he was getting into. He probably knew the chances he would get caught and die.
He probably “knew” he wouldn’t, like the others did, like (as I commented with T on messenger just yesterday) a criminal “knows” they won’t be caught—people make comments about how stupid a criminal was because the crime they did has severe punition. Do you really think they go to bed with the civil code in their hands to check what crime will have the lightest punition? They’re sure they won’t be caught doing whatever it is they’re doing! And the same goes for crocodile hunters, teenagers with the prospect of getting laid, kids watching too many cartoons even though the TV told them they “shouldn’t try this at home” and pretty much everyone else.
He died. We all learn a lesson. Not something unheard of in the history of humankind. What I think is most fascinating about this, though, is people’s reactions. “He was an idiot.” The only reason someone would write that is because they care. They feel personally treasoned. Which leads me to think they watched this guy’s show every day and really wanted inside to be somewhat like him. He cheated on them. He died. They have to grow a thick negative layer around that sense of respect they had to him, because they don’t want to learn from the fact. They don’t want to learn from the guy who died that people inevitably die, that if we play with death we might get what we asked for. No. “This guy was a retard. I can’t believe I trusted him.” And they set off in a quest for another superman to admire, for another celebrity to give them the false sensation that they can mess up and it will be ok.
The more humankind develops technologically, the more it seems to retroceed morally and wisdom–wise.