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Thursday, January 4, 2007

Don’t Try This at Home, I Beg of You

posted by on January 4 at 9:48 AM

Living in the age of Jackass and extreme sports and stunt-driver car commercials, I’ve seen so many warnings of the “this is ridiculously dangerous so for God’s sake do not attempt to do it yourself” variety that I hardly notice them anymore. Such “don’t try this at home” warnings are so prevalent, I’ve wondered if they actually have any effect on the public’s behavior, or are just an automatic anti-litigation ass-covering.

Then along came the execution of Saddam Hussein, perhaps the only deadly stunt to be discussed at length in the media (and depicted via cell-phone photos on the internet) WITHOUT a “don’t try this at home” warning attached, and what do you know? Kids are replicating the “stunt” and dying.

First came the 10-year-old boy in Pakistan, who wrapped up a day spent watching footage of the Saddam execution on TV by “attempting to imitate the hanging,” and succeeding.

Then came the 10-year-old boy in Houston, who watched a news report about the Saddam hanging then attempted to mimic the event with his bunk bed and a belt. He, too, succeeded.

Finally (for now) there’s the 15-year-old girl in India, who also killed herself replicating the Saddam hanging but at least had a political point to make. “She said they had hanged a patriot,” said the girl’s father to the Associated Foreign Press. “We didn’t take her seriously when she told us that she wanted to feel the pain Saddam did during the execution.”

Whoops, and condolences to all who lost loved ones through reckless Saddam impersonation.

(Confidential to kids: Please try to find a better role model to emulate than an executed Iraqi dictator. May I suggest Mandy Moore?)

RSS icon Comments

1

You know part of me thinks this is horrible. But the other part is thinking how damn STUPID are people now days??? We were kids and seen violence on TV but did not go out and say "Hey, lets drop an anvil on your head like Wylle Coyotee!" Yeah, it is cold to say it but could you imagine what those kids would be like if they had grown up? Really, think about that....

Posted by Andrew | January 4, 2007 10:16 AM
2

The worst part about Saddam's hanging is that Arrested Development isn't around to poke fun at it.

Posted by Andrew Hitchcock | January 4, 2007 10:21 AM
3

Pardon me, Saddam, I'm trying squeeze past. Mandy Moore. Anyone know if she likes playing endless backgammon and eating my mom's Hungarian Goulash?

Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale | January 4, 2007 10:22 AM
4

thin the herd.

Posted by bill | January 4, 2007 10:32 AM
5

Re: The mixed blessing of stupid people killing themselves: Yeah, but I still feel terrible about that Indian girl, who was clearly just a teenage drama queen who needed an experience in radical empathy. If only she'd had a Smiths album instead of a rope she might still be with us...

Posted by David Schmader | January 4, 2007 10:36 AM
6

Why do you hate Darwinian population control so?

Posted by Will in Seattle | January 4, 2007 11:17 AM
7

Couple of doubts about this whole line of discussion...

- Would the warning "don't try this at home" really have any impact?

- What evidence is there that these kids were emulating the Saddam hanging - did they leave suicide notes like the Indian girl?

- I think it far more likely that these were suicides by emotionally disturbed/abused kids. The guilty parents conveniently blamed their deaths on the video.

Posted by orson | January 4, 2007 11:30 AM
8

Damn you Andrew Hitchcock! Now I'll have to spend the afternoon watching AD reruns and imagining the glorious possibilities...

Posted by Jessica | January 4, 2007 11:36 AM
9

The compulsion for mimicry is one of the most bizarre aspects of our species, but overall it has helped our species survive. Individual mimics that result in individual deaths still don't outweigh the vast mimicry that allows our survival... identifying appropriate food, forming relationships, workin' hard for the money, etc.

(Sorry, I've been reading too much Dawkins lately.)

Posted by L | January 4, 2007 11:46 AM
10

I agree with Orson. Maybe they just wanted to hang themselves. I doubt any kid thought "hmmm, I like swings and look at Saddam swinging around. That looks like fun. His eyes are bulging out so it MUST be fun!"

Posted by him | January 4, 2007 2:23 PM
11

Because I was around the same age, I'll always remember reading about the boy who killed himself because "Battlestar Galactica"--the first one--was cancelled. I'm sure there was more to it than that, but that's the reason he gave.

Posted by Kathy Fennessy | January 4, 2007 6:44 PM

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