Darwin Awards

[KICK]

you all oughtta change the name of this section from "Safety" to
"Darwin Awards", seeing as almost every thread is about someone who self qualified thereselves for this particular award.

 

[KICK]

seems no one on the board has a sense of humor regarding peeps killing thereself on equipment.

I do.

generally I hope they haven't contributed to the gene pool before they get their award.

 

[N80]

The "Darwin Award" aspect of things is discussed here all the time. I guess you might say that that is a humerous, but I'm not sure that is the way it is usually intended. Even when someone does something stupid, I'm not sure it is 'funny' when they die or get injured. Anybody can make a bad decision. But even when someone seems to be 'asking for it', humor just doesn't seem like the proper response. Disgust, maybe. Frustration, maybe. Finding a moral to the story, maybe. But I don't see them as funny. Even the post about the case of the guy who electrocuted himself doesn't seem funny to me. And by all accounts he was just determined to get hurt or killed.

No matter how dumb or reckless folks are, somebody out there cares about them and when they get hurt or killed, its sad for someone.

Now, when someone does something super stupid and the only damage is to equipment and egos, well, I'll have a good laugh at, and hopefully, with them.

 

[daTeacha]

It seems to part of the American psyche to laugh at another's misfortune or embarassment. Perhaps we are made immune to actual pain and tragedy involved by our overexposure to violent situations on TV and movies, but most guys (not so much females) enjoy watching "action" and it can serve as an outlet for our more combative tendencies.

Besides, we can all envision ourselves doing something idiotic because we all tend to think the rules don't apply to us and/or that it can't happen to us, at least until it does happen to us enough times. We just hope no one finds out about itexcept through the anonymity of the internet, where very few actually know us personally and visually.

 

[Tig]

When Darwin awards were given to urban legends they were kind of amazing. I mean, who would put JATO on a chevy? They recently gave an award to a gentleman who did something foolish and later died of more or less natural causes without ever procreating. I would say that he is noteworthy and the award is not as mean spirited. However, when I went to the Darwin site earlied this year I saw that they gave awards to some teenagers who died in tragic misadventure. It kind of struck home and made me see the award in a whole different light. I doubt I'll ever visit that site again.

 

[Rara Avis]

When Darwin awards were given to urban legends they were kind of amazing. I mean, who would put JATO on a chevy? They recently gave an award to a gentleman who did something foolish and later died of more or less natural causes without ever procreating. I would say that he is noteworthy and the award is not as mean spirited. However, when I went to the Darwin site earlied this year I saw that they gave awards to some teenagers who died in tragic misadventure. It kind of struck home and made me see the award in a whole different light. I doubt I'll ever visit that site again.

You are aware that Darwin Awards are for real people and events unless otherwise identified...The comment about urban legends is when they confirm one of their submissions turns out to be an urban legend...

The Darwin Awards

 

[Bird]

It seems to part of the American psyche to laugh at another's misfortune or embarassment.

American psyche, or just human psyche? I don't think Americans are the only ones by any means. I think some the best laughs I've had in recent times have been while watching America's Funniest Home Videos on TV.

But I'm with N80; it ceases to be funny when someone is actually hurt or killed, even if they did something stupid. Most, if not all, of us need to be careful about calling someone else's actions stupid, because we've done a few stupid things ourselves, and fortunately, got away with most of them.

 

[Tig]

You are aware that Darwin Awards are for real people and events unless otherwise identified...The comment about urban legends is when they confirm one of their submissions turns out to be an urban legend...

The Darwin Awards

The Darwin Awards are given to stories of dubious origin as opposed to documented events. According to Snopes 6 of the 7 awarded in 2004 were unverified. I had a quick look at 2006 also. In this day of access to information it's not unfair to say that the Darwin awards are dominated by fiction.
Urban Legends Reference Pages: 2004 Darwin Awards
I'll try to reconcile the website you posted with the Snopes list to see if they refer to the same stories

 

[Tig]

Upon further review I see that the Darwin site is more dilligent than I thought. They have admited past mistakes such as the JATO story. 1995 Darwin Award: JATO Rocket Car
The Snopes articles refer to an email that is perpetually updated and circulated. My mistake.

 

[KICK]

there are 5 billion people on the planet,and I cant concern myself with all of them.

so it seems when someone meets their maker, and I don't know that person. its just a story to me, no different than reading the sports page.