Crikey Part II

I guess I hit a nerve. I consider that a good thing.

My initial post was in direct response to a couple of sentiments I heard over and over during the 24 hours following Steve's passing.

1. SHOCK. Call me an asshole, call me a jerk - but show me someone on this earth who was "shocked" to hear of Steve's death on the job and I'll show you someone who considered Librace "slightly flamboyant." C'mon people. If a firefighter dies in a fire, is it a shock? If a police officer is shot during a robbery attempt, is it a shock? No. Is it tragic, yes. Is it sad, yes. Are you shocked? Give me a fucking break. The guy tackled man eating creatures for a living. As Chris Rock so perfectly put it - "That tiger didn't go crazy...that tiger went tiger!"

2. REPSONSIBILITY. I never said he didn't love what he did. IN FACT I wrote about my personal experiences with the man - something I am sure 99% of the people reading this have not had. He was a good guy who was passionate about what he did - no question. But in my opinion, once you decide to bring children into this world you have a sense of responsibility. To feed them, to clothe them, to love them, to support them and to stay alive to do all of the above. If you are doing something truly brave - truly selfless - such as a police officer, a firefighter, a soldier - I completely understand, respect you and thank you for it. If you drag man eating animals out of swamps, tackle them and film it - I don't put you in the same league. The man made a lot of money and he could have considered toning it down a bit. He didn't as was his perogative. But do not deny me mine.

Steve Irwin was an entertainer. Pure and simple. Sure he was conservationalist, but that is irrelevant. He was not living amongst gorillas for 20 years studying their natural habitat. That would not have made for good television. He was grabbing crocs by the feet, dragging them out of swamps, rolling around on the ground with them and putting them back. On his W-4 his occupation was no different than Evil Kneivel or the guys from Jackass. He did super dangerous stuff to entertain us.

And we loved it. We loved it because there was a very real threat that at any moment he could get hurt.

Well people he did. What a fucking shocker.