Once again, Bear Grylls teaches us an important lesson, even if it's not the lesson he intended. ROFL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tmEmUGodw0

For someone who is "supposed" to be"e" a survival expert he actually has someone pull the stinger out (Note: when you pull the stinger out you squeeze more venom into the area)instead of scraping the stinger with a card or in this case he could have used his knife.

Mike

OH MY GOD! I love watching Man vs. Wild! It is like watching Darwinism in action. I cant help but wonder if the producer will actually show the episode when he finally does something so STUPID that he causes his own death. The wife and I actually feel that he is transported to his "survival" destination in a short, yellow bus. Upon arrival, he is reminded not to forget to breath, instructed to take off his "special helmet" "aaannnndddd GO!"

Being in the medical profession for most of my adult life I think to myself "self... with people like this running amuck in the world, you will always have a job..."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, sorry... I really have to stop laughing at others misfortunes (someone called it PROFESSIONALISM - whatever). Thank you CityBoyGoneCountry for posting that. I needed a good laugh.

Bear Grylls and Tim Taylor (Home Improvement show) are both good examples of what not to do. Tim Taylor shows how to have body parts removed or damaged in a most unpleasant way. Bear does things that would likely kill or seriously harm you if you did not have the support network he has. Just because he is the only person you see on the show doesn’t mean he’s out in the wild alone. Unlike Les Shroud (Les’s show is actually about him being alone and having to cope.) I would imagine there is a lot of Bear’s show that doesn’t get aired because it’s him sitting and recovering or taking a time out (with a cappuccino in his hand and a blanket around him) having his crew wait on him because he did something stupid.

Another good example of what not to do was Steve Erwin, he always taunted animals and was trying to be the showman; he would stand a few feet from an alligator or some other dangerous animal and look at the camera and devide his attention between the animal and the camera. He was stupid, even going so far as taking his baby with him (he should have went to court and jail for this.) Well it caught up with him; no one was surprised how it finally came out.

I can see Bear Grylls ending up like Steve Erwin at some point in time. He does so many stupid things that none of us here would be surprised to learn one of them killed him. I hope it doesn’t happen, but you almost expect it.

Does anyone on the forum know who Charles E. Taylor was?
If you ever find yourself at Bob Hope Airport, AKA Burbank, AKA United Airport drop by nearby Valhalla memorial park.

At the entrance is the Portal of Folded Wings. This beautifull structure is the resting place for many aviation pioneers.

Aron Ralston amputated his own arm after a series of foolish errors in judgement. Timothy Treadwell anthropomorphised bears and got ate.Steve Fossett set a bunch of bragging rights records, largely on superior technology pioneered by the people in this memorial.

And then there is Grylls, who I refuse to honour with that powerfull animal's totem. Society lavishes adulation ( and no small amount of cash ) on idiots. For every Pop Idol in rehab @ 18 years, hundreds of classicaly trained singers and musicians go unheralded.

Grylls is a waste of this website's resources.

Charles E. Taylor was the machinist who sat down with Wilber and Orville to design and build the engine they used.

I don’t think so, he stands out as a good example of what not to do and how arrogance can kill you. I think all of us have some arrogance in us, but seeing his foolish actions reminds us to keep it in check.

I'm glad I wasn't drinking anything when I read that! That's the best laugh I've had in days.

Seemed like a lot of work and risk for a little bitty chunk of honeycomb. And, sick puppy that I am, I was kinda disappointed that he only got stung once. I have been stung more than that while walking down the street minding my own business. That guy is wasting air that normal people need. He did get that fire goin' real fast, I would have liked to see a close up of that. I wonder what kind of lighter he used...

I enjoy the show but I don't watch it as a "do this and survive" instructional video (just as I would not have expected a sit-com using a home improvement motif to teach me how to renovate a house).

I take everything on tv, in print and online with a grain of salt because I don't really know how many takes, edits, etc. were used in production. Healthy skepticism, critical thinking and being able to recognize what to take and what to leave can be worthwhile lessons when watching "Man vs. Wild."

Gotta say he kills and eats more things and more strange things than I need to see. The guy seems to know how to climb. I often wonder how they get the camera angles and footage they show.

i couldn't help, but laugh at this one. it had to be his most blatantly stupid act to date. most of the time the stuff he does could fool the uneducated, but this stunt with the bees just flew in the face of common sense normally acquired by age 7.

Epirider,

I have only caught Man vs. Wild on one occasion and I admit I was truly amazed at the outright stupidity.

Now for the hard part for someone who has been a long time lurker (this really, really isn't how I want to introduce myself).

I was dismayed and disappointed by your comments about the "short, yellow bus" and the "special helmet". I have the pleasure of knowing several individuals who need various types of assistance to overcome circumstances that none of us would choose for ourselves or anyone we cared for.

Your comments are essentially equating mental disabilities (e.g. physical and mental limitations that make learning/doing difficult) to what I consider intentional stupidity (e.g. refusing to learn or refusing to act based on what you know). This is especially disheartening for me to hear from someone in the medical field.

I have always enjoyed the generally well thought out discussions on this forum and the level of decorum and consideration given to others has been amazing. In the future I would greatly appreciate it if that same consideration is given to those who are least able to defend themselves for the wounds simple words can inflict.

Thank you,

- Eric

You are not beaten until you admit it. - - General George S. Patton, Jr

I’m sure it was just meant as humor. In a lot of ways it’s sad that people get offended at some things that were not said to hurt anyone, and even if it was, no one can make you feel inferior without your help. You are helping all you can.

We have been run over with political correctness to the point that you are afraid to even talk any more.


PS I have 3 x-brothers in law that are in wheel chairs, they have been in them from birth and they are in their 30s now. They hate it when people are afraid to talk like normal people around them. They don’t get offended like you would think. They laugh at a good joke just as much as anyone does.

Welcome Newguy...

Just a thought to put it in perspective,
“Humor is a rubber sword - it allows you to make a point without drawing blood”
-Mary Hirsch
A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs -- jolted by every pebble in the road."
-Henry Ward Beecher

Eric, welcome to the forum. Now and again someone gets offended, and someone else is offended that they're offended, and off we go. Never mind!

Nurit

I've never seen the show, but have read enough from everyone on this forum to know that I don't want to see it.

Kind of like the moron who went kite sailing in the tropical storm and got sent to the ICU. Sorry, but I just laughed. He was interviewed and said he wouldn't change a thing, and will do it again.

And I will laugh again. There's too many people in this world who have been dealt a bad hand in life, that would truly make the most out of a good life for me to care about morons who don't appreciate what they have.

I agree completely several of the comments made in response to my post. I get epirider's joke and if any of my friends heard me called politically correct they would probably wonder just who the heck you were talking about. Also (just for the record) I would put my self in the disappointed category vs offended.

My concern is not for my not so tender sensibilities but for those who won't get the joke or worse - to mangle one of Ranter's quotes - will get the humor, but to them the point (rubber or steel) will draw blood however unintentionally.

I know several people with mental disabilities who like to spend time on various forums like this. Many of them will not understand that they were not the intended target of the humor and they will be hurt. They will survive the hurt and go on but we may accidently keep them away from the great group of people that make up the ETS Forums.

This would be a loss for them and us.

My apologies to all for side tracking the discussion. We should probably let this diversion fade away before "off we go".

-Eric

You are not beaten until you admit it. - - General George S. Patton, Jr

I hear short bus jokes all the time. Does that make it ok? Maybe not. But it does make it a fact of life.

There I a push to sanitize speech (and therefore freedom to some point) in this country that it’s harming how we communicate. It use to be that if someone said something you didn’t like you walked away. Now many accuse the person of being offensive or raciest or whatever. It becomes an attack on the person in an attempt to shame him and shut down his words. And in many ways it’s working because people are afraid to speak out and to be thought of as being insensitive.


Political correctness run amuck. And it growing stronger every day.

I've always thought the term "politically correct" is a strange choice of words. Nothing offends people more than having an opposing political viewpoint.

As a matter of fact, the one and only time I've ever been temporarily banned from this website was for making a political post.

To all those I have offended I appologize. I guess that I find humor in all situations even if others can not. It is a defence mechanism that I have EARNED! I too have a brother that is "challenged", so I guess I should be offended by what I said. With that said, feel free to make fun of or poke fun at me and any situations that I have done, because I can laugh at myself right along with those that are laughing at me. Ask anyone that knows me - Am I politally correct? Not even close! I am not too concerned about it as I am part of the world with the rest of the people. My response is get over it as it is not meant maliciously to hurt - it is meant to bring a little humor into the world that is desperately lacking it!

Well, I guess we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one. Or in a bad paraphrase - I disagree with (some of) what you are saying but I will defend your right to say it. From your statements I am pretty sure you will grant me the same consideration.

Free speech involves an open dialog where people are free to express their thoughts and opinions. That is what I did - and certainly not for my own benefit (not with this as an intro to a group and to individuals I respect greatly). If in doing this I spoke poorly or came off as attacking epirider or trying stop him from participating I am truly sorry. My intentions were honorable even if the execution was flawed.

Political correctness is the dumbest blasted concept I have ever heard of in a country that supposedly enshrines freedom of speech. My personal belief is that sometimes people need to be inflammatory or rude etc. to make a point. I also think that people do need be aware of the potential collateral damage to others and to the point they are trying to make.

Being considerate of others is not being politically correct. Being considerate is basically being aware of the potential collateral damage of your words and actions and acting accordingly. Sometimes the benefit is worth the cost, sometimes maybe not. No one can make this call for anyone else.

As I said earlier, I have been very impressed with the general tone and consideration for others in these forums. I was trying (however poorly) to make a positive contribution in that area.

Thanks,

- Eric

If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.

Epirider,

I appreciate the apology and I hope you will accept mine as well.

I fully understand about having EARNED the right to certain views and actions. I actually have a rather dark and sarcastic sense of humor that is my defense against the challenges that face some truly amazing people I know that have to fight to overcome their mental/learning "challenges". Unfortunately on forums of this nature the context can get a bit lost and laughing with can be taken as laughing at. I think a loss of context is also noticeably present in my response to your post.

A frightening statistic I ran into the other day claimed that less than 20% of communication attempts are successful. I fear I have achieved a much lower percentage than normal this time around.

Best of Luck,

- Eric

Accept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.

It appears that at the Darwin Awards site, you can vote for your favorite idiot of the year. If Grylls DOES get himself killed, do you suppose he would win?

Sue

He'd get my vote!

- Eric

Take calculated risks. This is quite different from being rash. - - General George S. Patton, Jr

I can't believe PETA hasn't gone after this guy. So in the swamp episode over a week period, he kills a snake..that happens to be non-posinous..wink wink, probably dropped there by the cameraman, he then kills about a 3 ft alligator and follows that up by noddling for about a 20 lb catfish. Now was he feeding the whole crew? As on person has already stated, I see them sitting around drinking cokes and eating ding dongs when off camera.

He takes a couple of nibbles of the snake..raw and then throws it away...what a waste. Eats just a few pieces of the tail of the alligator...and just eats some of the fillet on the catfish. I was really aggravated at the wastefulness.