Steve and Conan, together again for the first time!
It seems what I reported here as rumour is indeed true: Steve Irwin said, “If I’m going to die, at least I want it filmed.”
Does that mean he’d want it shown around the world, rather than just to the people who were his friends and family? Does it mean that he’d be okay with it being interrupted every thirty seconds for commercials and stamped with a watermark, as it undoubtably would be?
Would you watch?
from the BBC:
Crocodile hunter Steve Irwin’s final moments were captured on camera. But should that film ever be broadcast to the watching public?
Steve Irwin made a career partly based on taking risks with wildlife. His death this week at the barb of a stingray on Australia’s Barrier Reef was filmed, and in a Sydney Morning Herald poll 40% of the 24,000 or so respondents thought it should be shown.
It’s typical of the elite-driven media in the UK that they thought only medical ethicists should be interviewed about this, rather than any other kind of philosophers. This is far too narrow-minded for me; they should, if they really wanted two different viewpoints, have gotten two different kinds of philosophers.
In any case, the answer for me is that I began searching for the video immediately upon hearing news of Steve‘s death. Why? Because I do think he’d be okay with it being broadcast; he was always very clear about the risks of what he was doing and I think that he’d want to show that sometimes you pay the ultimate price. He showed videos of animals dying and dead, and are any of us in any doubt whatsoever that he revered them? He’d have asked for no different treatment himself. If I find the video, I will watch it and post it, with a very clear warning, and you can make your own choices.
I also want to find out what watching the video can tell me. I’ve seen people die in hospitals, and it’s not horrible; worse is watching their faces the moment they realize that their death is inevitable, and close. I’ve read the manual of Afghani Jihad, and the Japanese kamikaze manual, and I’ve learned about myself, the world, and right and wrong by reading those “forbidden tomes.” This is, in its own way, as disturbing, but that in itself is no reason to turn away from it.
That said…do I believe that Steve‘s wishes have to be obeyed? I’ve spent the last few years trying to ensure that my father’s last wishes were obeyed, with mixed success, but I realize very clearly that while the wishes of the dead are to be respected, they do not have to be obeyed. If you wouldn’t obey them when they were alive, it makes no sense to do so when they’re dead, and it is in fact a betrayal of your real relationship.
His family should make the call. They knew him better than anyone, and they’ll have to deal with the fallout. Whatever they say, whether the video makes it to the Net or not, I’ll respect their wishes.
You?
raincoaster 
Assuming he was serious when he said that, I see no reason why it shouldn’t be available. He was in the enviable position of being able to state unequivocally and with clarity what he wanted, and it would be no worse than anything made available on rotten dot com.
I would not watch it myself, but if he truly wished this, then why would I want to stop anyone else from watching it?
–The inherent problem with censorship and the legal system. No-one ever went to a judge and said: “Please make a law forbidding me to do this thing I want to do.”
Besides–I recall someone expressing a willingness to buy me a sixer of Unibroue once the video appears.
Weren’t me. I know quite well Unibroue doesn’t come in sixers.
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It’s a snuff movie, of course I’d watch it, nothing like death to get the old curiosity aroused.
Of course it doesn’t COME in sixers. You’d have to do something creative like, oh say, buy six of them or something.
And it damn well were you too!
I tried to make my blog after a few beers tonight – i’m not getting on very well
http://stevenl.wordpress.com/
I’ll try some more tomorrow, off to drink a bottle of wine and eat some cheese
Good, then you can make your posts for the sake of stirring the pot over there. You haven’t got what it takes to go to Iraq, and I don’t think you have what it takes to watch this video either. But now at least we can see if you have what it takes to post it.
Wine and cheese? Sounds suspiciously French to me.
JMO if it’s Steve’s wishes, and his family concurrs then as a dying wish of a man who lived his life on camera then sure it should be available. Would I watch? No.
Which is also your choice. Hell, lots of people made the choice not to watch him when he was alive!
LOL! Tru enough. And yes, I’m all about freedom of choice. :)
I think youre an idiot but people want to see it so why not show it but any way in every case its rood and i think he wouldnt want you to show it anyway. butt head!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think big trucker is a ka-ka-poopy-doody-head.
And in any case, multiple exclamation marks are the sign of a deeply sick mind.
Well, he runs around the Internet calling people buttheads, so when he talks about “rood” I guess he knows what he’s talking about.
For once.
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yes, i think they should show the tape but then a gaian if i were him i’d say no but yes go ahead and show it anyway…….amber
come on let see him die u know he wants us 2 see it i love him and my cat love him 2
Well, I think he did want people to see it, not to feed the death junkies, but rather because he wanted ALL his mistakes shown, to show that you can’t mess around with Nature. Still, I believe the wishes of his wife and his friends do count. They get a veto.
I’m disappointed, but I’ll respect their decision, if the tape gets leaked.
Steve Irwin, evidently, was a celebrity. People watched him on TV & video all the time. If in fact he stated(with sound mind) that he would have his death recorded, why would he do that if not to have it seen? As for Steve_L to call this, if it were to air, a snuff movie, I have to disagree. Mr. Irwin was not murdered. His death was accidental… big difference. I for one would watch it.
I agree, but I’ll respect the wishes of his family. They do get a veto on this, although there’s a chance they could change their minds down the road.
i would because he ways said that all the videos he made never has to be away from his fans
I wonder if someone will leak it. I don’t think they’ve destroyed the copies, but there were only two I’d heard of: one for Terri and one that the producer had.