 |
|
Nov. 20, 2009
Nov. 19, 2009
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game
with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf
with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith
with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality
with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Nov. 12, 2009
JWisdom.com Does God get tired?
with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven
with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole
in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to
have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How
to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Nov. 5, 2009
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking
Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker
With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater?
With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change
With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Sept. 8, 2006
/ 15 Elul, 5766
News, animals, actors, and others
By
Greg Crosby
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
As I peruse the news on the internet this morning, a few headlines catch my eye. The biggest news by far is that Steve Irwin, the guy known as the "Crocodile Hunter," died after getting stuck by the barb of a stingray which penetrated his heart. He was filming one of his shows, and evidently swam too close to the stingray. The fish got spooked and plunged its tail into Irwin's chest and directly into his heart. A freak accident, we're told, because very few stingrays have actually killed people.
Well maybe it's a freak accident if it happened to me or you or any other relatively normal person, but not so freaky for a man who is famous for getting dangerously close to some of the most ferocious and poisonous animals in the world. This guy made his reputation as a fearless "hunter" (albeit without a gun) who approached wild animals in order to get a rise out of them. I'm probably one of the few people on earth who never saw the show, but from what little I know, from the short clips I've seen, it looks to me like he used to jump around in front of these creatures, pulling their tails, waving his hands, throwing ropes around them, in short doing whatever it took to get them to do something threatening in order to entertain his television audience. Let's face it; a crocodile isn't going to snap at you unless he perceives you as a threat.
I'm really sorry for the family's loss. It's always sad when anyone dies at such an early age, but c'mon - the man asked for it. It's not like he was some innocent guy walking down the street and a safe fell on him or something - THE MAN WAS SWIMMING WITH POISONOUS STINGRAYS! HE ANTAGONIZES WILD ANIMALS FOR A TELEVISION SHOW!
I've been hearing that he was an animal lover. That he was an environmentalist. That he really cared about nature. That he taught people how to be at one with the earth and its creatures. Oh, he taught us something, all right. And the lesson is, "Don't mess around with wild animals." You know what? Leave wild animals alone! Respect their space and let them be. This thing reminds me of that other guy - the one who decided to live with bears. He wanted to be a bear. And finally he got his wish. He became a bear's dinner and soon he was part of that bear.
There are just some places on earth that people should stay out of. Leave the bears alone. Leave the stingrays alone. Leave the gorillas and the chimps alone. You want to be "at one" with an animal? Adopt an orphan dog. But even with a dog or cat, if you bounce around in front of it screaming and flailing your arms, if you put your face in its face and scare it, if you pull it around by the tail, you could very possibly get hurt.
Two other banner headlines on the AOL news page this morning were quite similar. One was proclaiming that Rosie O'Donnell would be joining "The View" this morning, while the other informed me that Katie Couric was becoming the new CBS news anchor. Now, these are very important news items - if you're Regis Philbin or Joan Rivers. But in the scope of the real world, who cares? I'm not putting down celebrity news gossip; there is a place for it - in the pages of People Magazine. And that's fine. But, (and this might come as a shock to folks in Tinsel Town) earth shattering news it ain't.
Oh, wait! Here's a real hard news story! This one has the headline, "Tattoo Parlors of the Stars." I am not making this up. That headline would have been the punch line for a Johnny Carson joke only a few years ago. And even as I type this I can hear hundreds of readers saying "Who's Johnny Carson?" Sigh.
The article actually lists the places (complete with addresses and maps) of where your favorite stars go to get their tattoos and piercing done. Not only that, but guess what, you can request THE VERY SAME TATTOO that your movie star hero has! WOW! Now you too can have the exact tribal markings inked into your pelvis that Janet Jackson has! This is so cool!!! Oh please, Mom, can I have the same picture carved on my left buttock that David Duchovney has? Oh, please, please, please. I won't ask for anything else ever! I promise! No, wait. I changed my mind. I want the peace sign inked into my left breast just like Queen Latifah. I won't ask for anything else, I promise.
That's all, folks.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Greg Crosby, former creative head for Walt Disney publications, has written thousands of comics, hundreds of children's books, dozens of essays, and a letter to his congressman. A freelance writer in Southern California, you may contact him by clicking here.
Greg Crosby Archives
© 2006, Greg Crosby
|
|
Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Michael Barone
Dave Barry
Tony Blankley
Andy Borowitz
David Broder
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
John Fund
Frank J. Gaffney
Lloyd Garver
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Lewis Grossberger
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Laura Ingraham
Cheri Jacobus
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ed Koch
Ch. Krauthammer
Michael Ledeen
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Dick Morris
Bill O'Reilly
Jim Mullen
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Jonathan Rauch
Celia Rivenbark
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Pat Sajak
Debra J. Saunders
Culture Shlock
Roger Simon
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
Mort Zuckerman
Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
Lisa Benson
John Branch
Gary Brookins
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holber
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Ranan R. Lurie
Jimmy Margulies
Rick McKee
Michael Ramirez
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Ed Stein
Danna Summers
John Trever
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
How 2
Lori Borgman
The Savvy Consumer
Elder matters
Fixit
Dr. Peter Gott
GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko
Richard Lederer
Tech Maven
Every Monday Matters
Nutrition Myths
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
How Stuff Works
|
