Kid's Death Blamed on SvR

[MolotovMocktail]

Complete with Jeff Hardy's name misspelled.

www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/04/15/2009-04-15_a_9yearold_wrestling_fan_jumped_off_his_brooklyn_apartment_roof_wearing_a_homema.html

[TheDieselTrain]

Been there threaded that. Its on page 2

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

Apr 16, 2009 15:48:58 GMT -5 TheDieselTrain said:

Been there threaded that. Its on page 2

And the thread did not end well. Hell it didn't even start well.

[Lenny: Smooth like Keith Stone]

They spelled Jeff Harvey's name wrong!!

[DiBiase is Good]

Ok then.
The last thread on this did not end well. However, seeing as this is a big story so there can be discussion on it.

I'll link the previous thread so everyone can see why it got locked. It's here.

If this thread even looks in the same direction as that other thread went, then this will be locked.

[Red Lion]

"Robert Zimmerman, a spokesman for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), said the video was designed for ages 13 and up and none of the characters use parachutes or jump off buildings. "

This

"the boy, who received special education instruction"

and this

[unoriginalalex]

Aw.

[Brother Coyote]

I'm going to lump this kid in with the one who buried his own head in sand to imitate the show Avatar and assume that sooner or later they were going to do something to either kill themselves or seriously injure themselves no matter what subject matter they were currently into.

[El Cokehead del Knife Fight]

Apr 16, 2009 18:20:31 GMT -5 Brother Coyote said:

I'm going to lump this kid in with the one who buried his own head in sand to imitate the show Avatar.

....what?

[ICBM]

Wow, I missed the other one and I am glad of it. This is a terrible tragedy. Nobody blamed wrestling but media does point out things that could be associated with a situation because people will ask "why did he?" they are not assigning blame but providing information to a reader so that he/she can formulate thier opinion in a case such as this that has no answer to "why did he?"

[Jay Peas 42]

Kevin Sullivan is pleased.

[Crappler El 0 M]

So will the future wwe games also have the 'Please Do Not Try This At Home' spots on them from now on?

[Brother Coyote]

Apr 16, 2009 18:34:00 GMT -5 El Cokehead del Knife Fight said:

Apr 16, 2009 18:20:31 GMT -5 Brother Coyote said:

I'm going to lump this kid in with the one who buried his own head in sand to imitate the show Avatar.

....what?

There was this kid who had his friends bury his head in SAND to imitate something he saw on that show Avatar, he subsequently died due to his inability to breath SAND.

Aw my bad it was Naruto not Avatar, same difference.

www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_031008WAB_boy_buried_LJ.3e86c380.html

I know this is bound to get some heat but I remember the story mostly because when I saw the picture they had of him I thought "Man he looks smurfing SMUG for a dead kid."

[vacillatingfan]

Let me start off by saying this event is a tragedy that shouldn't be taken lightly.

With that said, this is a WWE board, and a WWE video game is being attributed to the child's by principles of the story, so I think that element is worth exploring.

Other than the parachute, the first thing that caught my attention was that no one actually saw the boy jump. So when his friend says he was imitating Hardy, he's purely speculating on some tenuous relationship between a video game move the deceased liked and his fatal leap.

While that's a bit bothersome, it isn't a big deal since it's natural to seek out answers after such a tragic event takes place. What truly annoys me about this article, however, is how the WWE is asked to defend itself by issuing a statement regarding the use of one of its games, yet there's nothing from the owners of the apartment about its broken alarm, nor anything from whomever was supposed to be supervising the child about his or her whereabouts while the child was preparing for his fall. Although I'm sure punishment will come for the latter participants, it's really unjust for the WWE to be seen as the first suspect in this case.

I think what it amounts to is that childcare in general is just such a complex issue that, instead of confronting intricacies and working hard at trying to manage the problems that arise, people find it easier to label some party with indirect influence as the culprit. Video games, film and music have become the popular targets because, in young people, they are ever-present, and their content is often flagrantly violent or harsh. It takes less effort to convince someone that the reason a child decides to shoot another is because of a video game that involves shooting another person, rather than arguing that the child committed the crime because he or she was being bullied by his or her peers and was not taught the means necessary to confront and fix the problem by their overseers.

In the end, I don't think WWE will really be blamed for this, and I think criminal charges will and should be coming from those who are actually responsible. But to me, this article still shows that the knee-jerk reactions against the influence of pop culture remain in full effect, while the responsibility of those in actual authority still go largely ignored.

[Eli]

Apr 16, 2009 18:41:10 GMT -5 Brother Coyote said:

Apr 16, 2009 18:34:00 GMT -5 El Cokehead del Knife Fight said:

....what?

There was this kid who had his friends bury his head in SAND to imitate something he saw on that show Avatar, he subsequently died due to his inability to breath SAND.

Aw my bad it was Naruto not Avatar, same difference.

www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_031008WAB_boy_buried_LJ.3e86c380.html

I know this is bound to get some heat but I remember the story mostly because when I saw the picture they had of him I thought "Man he looks smurfing SMUG for a dead kid."

Having watched that when I was young, and as tragic as it is, because believe you me, I give the kid my respects- I find the fact that this actually happened- and I'm not calling the kid stupid, and I'm not saying isn't sad and I don't care- quite funny. And the inability to breathe sand comment for some reason was quite amusing.

[The Peoples Elbow]

Jeff Harding? Is Adamle working for this newspaper?

[PKO]

When I was 4 I jumped off a bunk-bed with a parachute I made trying to copy something from a book I read. I can understand the notion of kids wanting to copy something they see, hear etc.

However, I think at 9 you should be able to understand if what you're doing is right or wrong and if it's going to work. It says he recieved special education but that is very briefly touched upon- it could mean he had trouble grasping things or it could mean he was troublesome, I don't know. It's a very odd link between jumping off a building with a parachute and Jeff Hardy in a video game. I can understand friends/family desperately trying to understand why this happened so I won't condemn them grasping at straws.

Still, sad news.

I'll quote the wisest thing said in that article: "We should allow the authorities to conduct a full investigation... including insecure roof access, before conclusions are made about this unfortunate incident."

[Red Impact]

Apr 16, 2009 18:35:27 GMT -5 ICBM said:

Wow, I missed the other one and I am glad of it. This is a terrible tragedy. Nobody blamed wrestling but media does point out things that could be associated with a situation because people will ask "why did he?" they are not assigning blame but providing information to a reader so that he/she can formulate thier opinion in a case such as this that has no answer to "why did he?"

Exactly. In these types of stories, there are always two questions asked. 'Why did it happen?' and 'where were the parents?' The story included both of these. The story mentioning the kid imitating wrestling isn't a condemnation of it, it's part of providing information. People can grasp at straws and talk about agendas or anything of that nature, but it's something people would be irate if it wasn't in there. The article presents the information they had available.

This was a tragedy, it's not being used as an attack on anything. There were a lot of things that happened that lead to this, but the story doesn't condemn anyone itself. It's just a sad event.

[Beans]

From what I recall the only person "blaming" WWE is his best friend who given that he's just lost his buddy, is a young child himself and was likely asked a question by a journalist, think we can kind of cut the kid some slack.

I agree that the story doesn't condemn anyone and I think sometimes fans get ridiculously oversenstive to perceived criticism even when none is really there.

[salTy]

I really don't see how this can be classified as a tragedy. Call me cold-hearted all you want to, but I don't see you crying over the other 150,000 people that die every day and calling all of those deaths tragedies.

Like it or not, this was a foolish kid that made a foolish mistake, and it unfortunately cost him his life. Is there really any excuse that a 9 year old thought he could use a grocery bag for a parachute? I don't think we lost an Einstein here.

Sorry if this leads to the thread getting locked. If the kid was this impressionable, then his parents should have been keeping eyes on him 24/7and certainly shouldn't have lost sight of him long enough to climb on the freakin' roof.