Words fail me!

[Eeyore'sthebest]

NYDisneyFan - feel free to pray for me all you want. My prayers are for my co-workers 4 month that is undergoing chemotherapy. And for the 3 year old that danced at my DD's dance recital. Her doctors just found more tumors, so more chemo for her.

I feel for the parents for having to deal with a brain damaged adult. I do, really. However, by the age of 18 he should have known better then to zap his body full of electricity. What were all of them thinking? I have a hard time finding sympathy for someone that took a perfectly good life and tossed it out the window because he thought it would be fun to electrocute himself.

 

[136368]

Odd.

 

[SaraJayne]

Idiot.

 

[NY Disney fan]

I have a hard time finding sympathy for someone that took a perfectly good life and tossed it out the window because he thought it would be fun to electrocute himself.

But he didn't intend to toss his life out the window. It was a stupid mistake. Something we all make. It is not like he committed suicide. Yes he was an idiot but some compassion might be in order. That could have been someone you loved.

 

[Magpie]

But he didn't intend to toss his life out the window. It was a stupid mistake. Something we all make. It is not like he committed suicide. Yes he was an idiot but some compassion might be in order. That could have been someone you loved.

Laughing at someone doesn't mean you can't also feel compassion for them.

You can easily laugh and wince at the same time.

P.S. I'd laugh even if it WAS someone I loved - or maybe especially if it was someone I loved. When I was a teenager, an acquaintance of mine almost put his eye out trying to throw up a telephone wire using a javelin-like object. It came back and ripped a hunk of his cheek off - he had a whole flap hanging down past his chin. I remember him rolling on the ground, bleeding and laughing at the same time, and his buddy kicking him in the ribs and calling him an idiot while his other buddy called an ambulance. He ended up with a huge scar, and was the source of much amusement for all of us. His buddies still loved him, though!

 

[NY Disney fan]

Laughing at someone doesn't mean you can't also feel compassion for them.

You can easily laugh and wince at the same time.

I can't even comprehend this. Maybe we are two different creatures.

 

[luvmy3]

Laughing at someone doesn't mean you can't also feel compassion for them.

You can easily laugh and wince at the same time.

P.S. I'd laugh even if it WAS someone I loved - or maybe especially if it was someone I loved. When I was a teenager, an acquaintance of mine almost put his eye out trying to throw up a telephone wire using a javelin-like object. It came back and ripped a hunk of his cheek off - he had a whole flap hanging down past his chin. I remember him rolling on the ground, bleeding and laughing at the same time, and his buddy kicking him in the ribs and calling him an idiot while his other buddy called an ambulance. He ended up with a huge scar, and was the source of much amusement for all of us. His buddies still loved him, though!

Laughing with someone is hardly the same as laughing at them.

 

[crashbb]

Magpie - were you the poster that said you were happy when a celebrity died of a drug overdose, because you could use it to teach your children that the celebrity deserved to die because they were stupid? I remember that comment going over just as well as your comments on this thread.

The guy was stupid for doing what he did (which I don't think that anyone is disputing), but kids do stupid things. As to the lawsuit, I'd need to know a lot more details before I could comment on it.

 

[diznygirl]

But he didn't intend to toss his life out the window. It was a stupid mistake. Something we all make. It is not like he committed suicide. Yes he was an idiot but some compassion might be in order. That could have been someone you loved.

A stupid mistake is sitting on your pencil, or backing up with out looking. Attaching live electrical wires to your nipples is not a mistake. That's just stupid.

I have compassion for his poor mother, who raised a dimwit.

 

[Magpie]

Magpie - were you the poster that said you were happy when a celebrity died of a drug overdose, because you could use it to teach your children that the celebrity deserved to die because they were stupid? I remember that comment going over just as well as your comments on this thread.

The guy was stupid for doing what he did (which I don't think that anyone is disputing), but kids do stupid things. As to the lawsuit, I'd need to know a lot more details before I could comment on it.

Uh, no... that wasn't me. I'm certainly never HAPPY when anyone dies. And celebrity overdoses tend to be the result of a lifetime of tragedy and mental illness, not a single moment of surprising stupidity.

However yes, I DO think this story is a useful one to share with the kids. "Look, do you really want THIS to be what everyone knows you for? Hey, it's the kid who stuck electrodes on his nipples and fried himself!"

 

[Magpie]

I can't even comprehend this. Maybe we are two different creatures.

Fair enough!

FWIW, I write humour. So maybe I'm just primed to look for the ridiculous in life. In fact, I use it in my writing to make the most awful things bearable in some way (like dying of cancer, or being overrun by zombies...). Life and death are no fun, if you can't laugh at them.

 

[Rora]

I don't quite know how to feel.

Was it stupid? Yes. Should an 18 year old know about electricity already? Yes. My 3rd graders do. But is it tragic and sad? Absolutely.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

It's called Schadenfreude. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude

We share these stories with our kids all the time, with the warning, "If you EVER do something this stupid, we will mock you! Yes, we'll also be sad that you're (limbless/brainless/vegetablized/dead), but we'll still mock you. Because you'll deserve it."

How creepy. I must be humorless. I can't imagine mocking my limbless/brainless/vegetablized/dead child no matter what. Ever.

 

[PaulaSB12]

If you look at the story it says this

The lawsuit alleges Mr Kelley knew what his students were doing and claims: ‘One student heard Mr Kelley state that Kyle should try it with his nipples and that he, Mr Kelley, would give him a Mountain Dew if he did so.’

Several students reportedly told police Mr Kelley was involved in the dare, but confusingly, Dubois has since defended his teacher and claimed it was a fellow student who challenged him and offered him the drink.

Mind you if you want really funny but stupid

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1307756/Man-blows-killing-spider-aerosol-can.html

 

[Heidict]

It's called Schadenfreude. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude

We share these stories with our kids all the time, with the warning, "If you EVER do something this stupid, we will mock you! Yes, we'll also be sad that you're (limbless/brainless/vegetablized/dead), but we'll still mock you. Because you'll deserve it."

It seems pretty sick and twisted to laugh and mock your own child who is now in vegetated state, or paralyzed. How does that show love, care or concern?

I have read Darwin stories also and I have laughed along with most everyone else at peoplse stupidity. But to laugh like that at your OWN child?

 

[mhsjax]

The pre-frontal cortex doesn't really develop until early adulthood and males lag behind females. This is an 18 year old boy for goodness sake. Auto insurance companies know this like the back of their hand.

If this an 18 year BOY and their brains aren't totally developed, then why in the world are they allowed to join the military at age 18.

I am sorry, but he should know that what he did was stupid. If 18 is old enough to join the military it is old enough to know what stupid is.

I do feel for his parents, now they have to deal with a brain damaged kid because of his stupidity.

 

[Magpie]

It seems pretty sick and twisted to laugh and mock your own child who is now in vegetated state, or paralyzed. How does that show love, care or concern?

I have read Darwin stories also and I have laughed along with most everyone else at peoplse stupidity. But to laugh like that at your OWN child?

You show love, care and concern with what you DO. Showing love, care and concern is sitting up with your parents after surgery, and holding your kidlets hair back when they're barfing. It's telling them you love them and then showing them the same thing every day.

Anyway, why on earth is it okay to laugh at stranger's stupidity, but not the stupidity of your own kin?

If I tilt my chair too far back and fall right over on my head, I expect people to be laughing as they help me up off the floor. I know they love me, but I also know I acted a fool. If I've hurt myself, they will make fun of me, even as they're driving me to the hospital and drying my tears.

So yeah! I laugh at my kids and my husband and my mom, and they laugh at me. They're hilarious - I really enjoy them, including all their foibles. I also hug them, and tell them I think they're fantastic and I admire them. Heck, I probably brag too much about them.

 

[LilyWDW]

ETA~ unfortunately, there are 3 sides to every story.....side 1, side 2 and the truth. Sure wish I knew what really went on that day.

Just gonna re-quote this from before.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS take things you read or hear on the internet (or in the paper) with a grain of salt. Unless you were personally there and witnessed every second of the incident you really don't know what happened.

In fact, a friend of mine and another family is dealing with this right now. The family was in a horrible car accident and there was an article printed about it in the paper that had MANY facts incorrect. The reporter actually had the nerve to get argumentative with them about it... as if the family that was in the actual accident didn't know some of these facts. I mean, really?

 

[NY Disney fan]

Anyway, why on earth is it okay to laugh at stranger's stupidity, but not the stupidity of your own kin?

....because they're brain dead.

 

[mrodgers]

Thirdly, what I found even more offensive were the comments form the Londoners calling Americans stupid. I would never do that if an English boy got hurt on American soil.

Welcome to the 21st century. If you spent any time on a UK/Europe based discussion forum where the majority are not American, you would realize that they hate us and think we are the stupidest people on earth.

A day doesn't go by on a forum I am a member of that Americans aren't called stupid or fat in at least 3 threads. Tis just what they think of us outside of North America. As I said, I see it multiple times daily.

I had to ask one time if they teach "American Hating 101" in school overthere.