Not to sound insensitive, but a ten-year-old dog died peacefully in his sleep, and some dumb kid earned a Darwin Award nomination by standing under a roller coaster. Where is the tragedy here? There are so many more terrible, heart-rending things happening everywhere, every day, to people far less deserving of their fates. What's so special about these two?
The tragedy for the darwin kid is that they weren't taught better, that they ended their life early instead of going on to make the world a better place.
There is no tragedy in the end of UGA's life, but sadness does not imply tragic events. I've met the last three UGA bulldogs, and it makes me sad to know another has died, even when I know the spirit of the mascot, and the bloodline, continues.
And, finally -- these are two events that made the news in the past 24 hours. Those people less deserving of death or other suffering may also be less interesting to the news outlets, leaving me uninformed of their fates. Without knowledge I cannot properly react, right?
So, what is special? They were newsworthy, in the eyes of the media. You may disagree, of course, but they got to make the decision.
Kermit Love, muppet fabricator and creator of Snuggle, the fabric softener bear, died of congestive heart failure at the age of 91 after a full life.
Michael Turner, comic book artist on Witchblade/Black Panther/Superman/Batman and some of his own projects, died of cancer at the age of 37 far too early.
I have a cute little ceramic UGA from when our yearbook staff visited their newspaper office back during my senior year. Even though I went to Tech I'll always like the Bulldogs. How can you not like a school that trains future vets and farmers?
I mean, I don't think that any mentally stable rival of UGA could go without feeling bad for the (temporary) loss of their mascot (especially the family who cared for the doggy).
Fortunately, like The Doctor, they'll soon enough have a new drooling mass of wobbly flesh panting furiously under the hot sun while veterinarians and FFA reps run around throwing the football, worshipped by good, simple, hardworking people.
It may be exasperatingly provincial, but if it glues a people together, it's good enough for me.
I'm sure all UGA alumni know this, but I thought I'd mention it for those elsewhere reading this thread.
An interesting thing about the University of Georgia bulldog mascots is that they don't reside anywhere near Athens, Georgia. Savannah is about 226 miles from Athens, and on game day the owner of the mascots, Sonny Seiler, flies UGA to the game in his private jet.
Seiler, obviously an extremely enthusiastic alumnus, is a lawyer in Savannah. He was the lawyer for the guy on trial for murder as retold in MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL. In fact, Seiler has a cameo in the movie MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL (As does one of the UGA bulldawgs, playing its ancestor). --------------------- As for the kid killed by the rollercoaster, yeah, it was pretty dumb what he did, but for those Internet wags who'll chortle about Darwin Awards, he was a 17-year-old kid who had a momentary failure of perspective. Suddenly his lost hat became the most important thing in the universe. I think I'm smarter than the average bear, but I've done things where later I've thought, "That was pretty stupid, that could have been fatal."
(Several more increasingly bile-filled paragraphs deleted).
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no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 12:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 01:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 02:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 02:20 am (UTC)The tragedy for the darwin kid is that they weren't taught better, that they ended their life early instead of going on to make the world a better place.
There is no tragedy in the end of UGA's life, but sadness does not imply tragic events. I've met the last three UGA bulldogs, and it makes me sad to know another has died, even when I know the spirit of the mascot, and the bloodline, continues.
And, finally -- these are two events that made the news in the past 24 hours. Those people less deserving of death or other suffering may also be less interesting to the news outlets, leaving me uninformed of their fates. Without knowledge I cannot properly react, right?
So, what is special? They were newsworthy, in the eyes of the media. You may disagree, of course, but they got to make the decision.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 02:44 am (UTC)Kermit Love, muppet fabricator and creator of Snuggle, the fabric softener bear, died of congestive heart failure at the age of 91 after a full life.
Michael Turner, comic book artist on Witchblade/Black Panther/Superman/Batman and some of his own projects, died of cancer at the age of 37 far too early.
I mourn them both.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 02:59 am (UTC)I mean, I don't think that any mentally stable rival of UGA could go without feeling bad for the (temporary) loss of their mascot (especially the family who cared for the doggy).
Fortunately, like The Doctor, they'll soon enough have a new drooling mass of wobbly flesh panting furiously under the hot sun while veterinarians and FFA reps run around throwing the football, worshipped by good, simple, hardworking people.
It may be exasperatingly provincial, but if it glues a people together, it's good enough for me.
(Bye Bye UGA!!)
no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 11:40 am (UTC)An interesting thing about the University of Georgia bulldog mascots is that they don't reside anywhere near Athens, Georgia. Savannah is about 226 miles from Athens, and on game day the owner of the mascots, Sonny Seiler, flies UGA to the game in his private jet.
Seiler, obviously an extremely enthusiastic alumnus, is a lawyer in Savannah. He was the lawyer for the guy on trial for murder as retold in MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL. In fact, Seiler has a cameo in the movie MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL (As does one of the UGA bulldawgs, playing its ancestor).
---------------------
As for the kid killed by the rollercoaster, yeah, it was pretty dumb what he did, but for those Internet wags who'll chortle about Darwin Awards, he was a 17-year-old kid who had a momentary failure of perspective. Suddenly his lost hat became the most important thing in the universe. I think I'm smarter than the average bear, but I've done things where later I've thought, "That was pretty stupid, that could have been fatal."
(Several more increasingly bile-filled paragraphs deleted).