Yes, Steve Irwin is dead, a fact that has been discussed to no end for several days now, starting late Sunday night when the news was first reported and reached someone in my WoW guild who shared it with the rest of us. Apparently so many people believed it to be a hoax that several news sites were swamped and were brought down under the deluge of web surfers trying to verify the story. It’s another celebrity death that will captivate the world for a news cycle or two, until the next bride runs away or some new clue is found in the Jon-Benet case.
Of course the loss will impact his wife and children for the rest of their lives in ways that can only be understood be people who have suffered similar losses. His death may also make the future of the various wildlife preservation initiatives he supported a little less certain. So please understand that if I seem a tad cynical over this event, my cynicism is directed at the media and public reaction, as opposed to the personal consequences it will have for those who were close to him.
BUT:
The man was a lunatic. Why does his death come as such a surprise?
(“Elvis is dead? No, it can’t be! He took such good care of himself!”)
Had he survived his encounter with the stingray, the voiceover on the documentary would very likely have gone something like this:
“The stingray is normally a docile crea-cha, but ‘e can get right nasty if you scare ‘im. So Oi decided to swim up to this buggah and poke ‘im with a shahp stick…”
A friend from out west offered what seems to me the best summary of the situation I’ve yet encountered:
“It’s like hearing Wile E. Coyote died!”
Hopefully more entries to come in the near future instead of these once-a-month-or-so blurbs. There are a number of minor items I’ve been meaning to post about, so maybe in the next couple of days I’ll throw together a big multi-subject entry.