Death porn, media, and socmedia

["Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon & Hannah" <rMslade () shaw ca>]

The big Olympic news of the moment, of course, is the death of luger Nodar 
Kumaritashvili in practice.

http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/luge/story/2010/02/12/spo-luge-georgian-alert.html

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Olympic+tragedy+Death+porn+sharing+news/
2557992/story.html

http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/techsense/default.aspx

You can already search for this on Youtube.  Most of the videos are "tributes," but 
actual footage of the crash is available.  Of the ones I found this morning, two 
require that you log on to the site (in order to "prove" your age).  One has been 
taken down because it is the property of the IOC.  This is because all of the 
footage is the same CTV footage (CTV being the "official" provider).

CTV showed it on the news last night, just after the opening ceremonies.  The 
anchor earnestly assured us that the video was graphic, but necessary to illustrate 
some aspects of the story.  The aspect that was illustrated was that someone died.  
He came off the track like a human being out of control, and fell off the 
stanchion like a rag doll.  I've got enough medical background to know when I see 
someone die, right there.

Couple of thoughts.  One is that the media has now collected and reported all the 
comments about the track being dangerous.  Had this death not occurred, the luge 
story for the games would have been the world record times, and the comments 
would have been from those who said that it was a hot, sweet track.

Second is that skeleton (the head first version) was first done as an Olmpic sport 
in Turin, and Canada one.  Cam Cole (who did a lovely piece combining the 
ceremony and Kumaritashvili's death: 
http://www.canada.com/sports/2010wintergames/Games+begin+with+emotional+tri
butes+Georgian+luger/2561175/story.html )  did a piece on it, and I've kept a 
quote from it in my file ever since:

[N]o one goes downhill head-first on a cafeteria tray better than Canadians ... If 
you've got something really dangerous and not terribly smart planned for an 
Olympic sport, the sort of thing that two guys out drinking heavily one night at 
the top of the bobsled run probably thought up, we're in.  
                                 - Cam Cole, Vancouver Sun, 20060218

Kumaritashvili was not highly ranked, and not very experienced.  Luge involves 
some skill; Gloria noted that Kumaritashvili was lifting his head a lot during the 
run, so he was not sure of himself; this is not something anyone can do, but it is 
something you can do if you've got more guts than brains.  The Olympics is 
increasingly involving "extreme" sports: exhilarating, not necessarily skilled, and 
dangerous.

======================  (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer)
rslade () vcn bc ca     slade () victoria tc ca     rslade () computercrime org
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`Big Brother' housemates has been seen having sex.  (I think the
reasons are slightly different: we are inhibited, while the
Americans are prudish.)           - Kate Fox, `Watching the English'
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