Poll: Is it always wrong to laugh at a deadly incident?

[demoman_chaos]

Wow that guy was dumb.

 

[The Red Spy]

I'll be quite honest, when I first saw the thread title I first thought about this clip...


Then I saw the thread material.

Hearing about the circumstance of someones death can be rather comical. Witnessing it is for the most part, another matter. Making a gag out of an event is a good way to break the tension and deal with grief, to crack a joke can help in dealing with the realisation of futility of it all.
I rarely smile at videos with similar... endings, but I don't think less of people who do.

 

[gigastar]

Its not wrong to laugh but sometimes its just not ok to laugh. Even evil has standards.

Snipped

That guy in the video is currently winning the 2010 Darwin Award. If youre not fimiliar with them its a reward for ridding humanity of stupidity with your death or accidental self-sterilisation, which is always due to the award nominees being retards in one or more ways.

Yes you mentioned that anger gets the better of us all at times but unless he was blind too i dont see how he didnt see the elevator doors break open with the second ram.

 

[Dygen Entreri]

We all know of the famous Darwin Awards, and then there's this:


Yeah, that guy died: http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20101008-241407.html

I guess the question is, considering so many people die every day, is it wrong to laugh if someone dies in a hilarious way?

I'm not trying to troll here, and I want a mature discussion, if this question disgusts you, go somewhere else, because that is not my intention.

Personally I did laugh at the video, I don't really think that's wrong, I don't really subscribe to the notion that once someone has died, nothing bad can be said about them. What that guy did was stupid, really stupid, period.

EDIT: I'm kind of surprised at the overwhelming response of "NO", I mean, that's my opinion, I'm just surprised so many share it.....YAY!

If we couldn't laught at all of the idiots that kill themselves doing something ridiculous, then the world would be much more unhappy. PLUS, people fear ridicule right? In fact, a huge reason people don't do a lot of stuff is because they don't want to be embarrassed, fearing that over death in many cases. So by laughing at the idiots, other people will be more cautious about forgetting their common sense.

And serously, what must they have said at the elevator guy's funeral. I bet some people were cracking up behind their tears during the eulogy.

 

[internetzealot1]

The part where he rammed through the door and fell down the elevator shaft was funny. The part where he landed wasn't.

 

[theMediator]

Nobody linked to it yet, so here is the Darwin Award Nomination for this man:

http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2010-08.html

 

[Danpascooch]

If he hit the doors once and fell I would feel bad, but did you see the second time he hit them and the doors opened up halfway? What the hell was he thinking hitting them a third time?

I don't think it's so wrong to laugh when someone does something so stupid.

He wasn't thinking. That's the plain and short of it. Like I said in another one of my replies, when somebody you know has a stroke sometimes the things they do will seem idiotic or crazy and other times they'll just break your heart. You can only laugh because you're ignorant. I don't blame people for their medical conditions. I have seen my own dad act the same way, which leads me to believe this man had a stroke. It terrifies us and we have to stop him immediately. That said, maybe he didn't, maybe he is just a moron. I still find it hard to laugh contrasting it to my own experiences. I don't know what you've gone through in life but somethings change you. If you lost a child let's see if you'd still laugh at dead baby jokes for instance. It's my firm belief you can laugh only because the situation has never hit home for you. You're just like the people who hit the door close button when they see a person in a wheelchair come rolling up. That's humanity. Say what you want about our secular world, it would be nice if more people would utter the phrase "there but for the grace of God goes I." once in a while or some secular equivalent there of.

I understand why you laugh. Mel brooks summed it up with his comedy/tragedy observation. I don't have to like it and if history shows us anything the vast majority of people are idiots anyhow. Stalin also had a saying about statistics that had a similar spirit though. That's why tragedies are a never ending part of human existence. Because this makes most of you laugh. But that's the world for you.

I'm not saying it isn't also sad, and I'm sure as hell if I had any experience in life similar to that I sure as hell would not be laughing.

But I didn't, and I don't know the guy, and him and his family/friends will never know I enjoyed a laugh, so why is it so wrong?

If I die doing something stupid, I wouldn't mind if people had a laugh, lighten up people, it's death, everyone goes through it, why not share a laugh?

 

[Danpascooch]

If he hit the doors once and fell I would feel bad, but did you see the second time he hit them and the doors opened up halfway? What the hell was he thinking hitting them a third time?

I don't think it's so wrong to laugh when someone does something so stupid.

He wasn't thinking. That's the plain and short of it. Like I said in another one of my replies, when somebody you know has a stroke sometimes the things they do will seem idiotic or crazy and other times they'll just break your heart. You can only laugh because you're ignorant. I don't blame people for their medical conditions. I have seen my own dad act the same way, which leads me to believe this man had a stroke. It terrifies us and we have to stop him immediately. That said, maybe he didn't, maybe he is just a moron. I still find it hard to laugh contrasting it to my own experiences. I don't know what you've gone through in life but somethings change you. If you lost a child let's see if you'd still laugh at dead baby jokes for instance. It's my firm belief you can laugh only because the situation has never hit home for you. You're just like the people who hit the door close button when they see a person in a wheelchair come rolling up. That's humanity. Say what you want about our secular world, it would be nice if more people would utter the phrase "there but for the grace of God goes I." once in a while or some secular equivalent there of.

I understand why you laugh. Mel brooks summed it up with his comedy/tragedy observation. I don't have to like it and if history shows us anything the vast majority of people are idiots anyhow. Stalin also had a saying about statistics that had a similar spirit though. That's why tragedies are a never ending part of human existence. Because this makes most of you laugh. But that's the world for you.

By the way, consider this a little "extra note" from last quote of you.

I resent you saying I'm like those people who close the door, I have nothing but respect for the handicapped, and if I was there, I would sure as hell of kept that door open, who knows what happened anyway, she may have hit the wrong button or something.

The only reason I don't feel bad laughing is because it's a victimless crime, it's not like I'm laughing to the face of his family/friends, that would be fucking terrible.

 

[Reed Spacer]

I guess he got...shafted.

You forgot to put on your shades.

Oh, is it shades, too?

Damn. Well, I try.

 

[Mehtevas]

We laugh at the weirdest shit in the Corps. A guy in my unit got shot in the ass (got sent home for it too), and we laugh. What do we call shrapnel? Internal body bling.
Maybe we feel that anything we can laugh at can't be that big of a deal; or anything we find funny, we can beat.

 

[StraightToHeck]

depends on who died and in what manner

 

[xdom125x]

If you are going to laugh you either have to do it immediately and act like it was a nervous reflex or give it a bit of time (comedy is tragedy plus time or something like that). Also, I feel that the saying(which I very poorly paraphrase for you) "a tragedy is when you cut your finger, while comedy is a guy falling down a manhole" applies here somehow.

 

[Om Nom Nom]

Funny and tragic aren't mutually exclusive. It's terrible that happened, but how it happened is still hilarious.

 

[Tanis]

If someone is being stupid - or deserved to die - I don't see why not.

 

[Ghengis John]

I resent you saying I'm like those people who close the door, I have nothing but respect for the handicapped, and if I was there, I would sure as hell of kept that door open, who knows what happened anyway, she may have hit the wrong button or something..

My apologies Dan, clip brought up a lot of angering memories for me. Ugly feelings. That was uncalled for man. Hopw you can forgive me.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Yeah its wrong but don't beat yourself up over it, these things are subjective. One's person pain is another's humor. Still, at the end of the day if you know someone dieing is sad you're still a good person.

 

[Sandernista]

Of course not, if you can't laugh at everything how can you laugh at anything?

Not that I found that clip funny.

 

[Berserker119]

Yes, it is most certainly wrong. Why is that even funny?