2009 Darwin Awards Announced
- Thread starter Greg Tito
- Start date
I find myself on the side of DestroytheTyrant and TheLastCylon. Human beings are dead. They had families, friends, and lives. Sure they made poor decisions, but are we not all imperfect.TheLastCylon said:
Where is your compassion for the loved ones of the deceased, people?
This threads reported.
Yes the dead do not care that we are lauging at them , but I'm sure their families would. Can't you just leave a tiny bit of courtesy?Amnestic said:
Here's a large collection of end of the world stories/myths/theories. [http://exitmundi.nl/exitmundi.htm] I don't think there's a larger list available anywhere since people can submit new stories, but the website hasn't been updated in a very long time(well, from what I've seen).Chaos-Spider said:
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but wouldn't a woman of that age have already undergone menopause? I'm pretty sure she's already out of the gene pool, so I don't think she's eligible to win a Darwin award.Greg Tito said:
Social Darwinism ≠ stupid people dying in stupid ways. Social Darwinism is the idea that weaker/poorer societies/people are not worth helping because their dying off strengthens the human race as a whole. But yes, it is a philosophy embraced by assholes.samaritan.squirrel said:
Nnnnnooo, not really. See, these are funny because these people are doing something they KNOW is stupidly dangerous, yet they do them anyway. Call it rather a gene for recklessness, which manifests itself as dying in a really stupid way because you refuse to accept the danger inherent in whatever you're about to do.Zac_Dai said:
If your arguing from the point of non-genetic behavioural traits, then sure you don't want that taught to the next generation. But its not genetic based and its beyond the scope of Darwin's work, since you're moving onto Meme theory. Not to mention that someone as respected as Darwin doesn't deserve his name being used for such cheap laughs, especially when its more fitting to call it the Dawkin's award.canadamus_prime said:
So we should hand out Darwin Awards for Soldiers, Fire-fighters and everyone else who knowingly put themselves in danger? I mean who the hell would ever be a solider right? Only the genetically inferior I guess. Which doesn't make sense since we often hand out medals to those who willing gave their lives during service.GRoXERs said:
Genes don't command you to do things, they just give a propensity for a certain behaviour. For instance you can have a gene that gives you an inclination to addictive behaviour. But it doesn't mean you will automatically become say a gambling addict and even if you do in no way does it suggest all gambling addicts have an addict gene.
People are largely the sum of their life experiences and their local culture more than their genetic propensities. You aren't born with a gene for the English language or having the cultural attitudes of an American. Yet you still somehow speak English and have a staunch belief in Democracy. Its all thanks to the environment you were brought up in.
In the same way someone who does something stupid enough to get themselves killed was brought to that point by thousands upon thousands of environmental, social and psychological variables. To actually find out why it happened you would have to have in-depth knowledge of that persons life and the circumstances of their death, which you don't get from the stories on that site.
To just say "lol must be stupid gene!!" is just bad science.
Thanks. I'll have to check out this site sometime.Flour said:
what's the meme theory?
But I do see your point that the Darwin awards are more influenced by the social environment than genetics, making it an example for the nature vs. nurture debate. Also any genes that were eliminated by the deaths of these people would not have been present in significant numbers in the population anyway.
*thinks*
Shouldn't there be an age limit/child restriction for Darwin Awards?
The "runner-up" had a daughter who spoke to police. If she procreated and raised a child, then natural selection failed to prevent her from doing so.
Shouldn't there be an age limit/child restriction for Darwin Awards?
The "runner-up" had a daughter who spoke to police. If she procreated and raised a child, then natural selection failed to prevent her from doing so.
When you're feeling down and lonely. Remember, you're at least smarter than SOMEONE. But yes, we shouldn't be finding these riotously funny.
I didn't think this was the kind of article The Escapist News Room would come up with. It's kind of sick, especially to really think someone dying is a good thing because their children may be stupid, if they had any, or that their one act (usually just an accident... which we all have) before their death would somehow bring down the "gene pool". To me, the majority of adults would look at an article like this and not really like it, while the main demographic of the site, the younger audience, will have no qualms having a laugh over a persons death. I like getting my news here and everything, but who is this catering to, and what does it have to do with gaming?
What about the families of these people? Why would any respectful individual want to point and laugh at the deceased? It's like people forget that it was a person with hopes, dreams, and a future like the rest of us. Even if I did something stupid and croaked, if my family ever found out there was some website making light of it I'm sure they wouldn't be happy, or what if my children found it, or their friends?
I really like the News Room, but this left a sour taste in my mouth.
What about the families of these people? Why would any respectful individual want to point and laugh at the deceased? It's like people forget that it was a person with hopes, dreams, and a future like the rest of us. Even if I did something stupid and croaked, if my family ever found out there was some website making light of it I'm sure they wouldn't be happy, or what if my children found it, or their friends?
I really like the News Room, but this left a sour taste in my mouth.
Schadenfreude aside, I stopped finding these things funny shortly after discovering them.
It seems most of the internet has developed a rather morbid sense of humour, at least regarding human beings.
Unless you know Zsasz.
It seems most of the internet has developed a rather morbid sense of humour, at least regarding human beings.
Because people can be alive and do funny, and/or stupid shit. Dead people just kinda lay there...Booze Zombie said:
Unless you know Zsasz.