stupidity in the news
January 15th, 2007 by herichon
Two stupid things caught my eye in today’s news – one gently stupid and amusing, one horribly stupid and tragic.
Patrick Agin, a high-school senior in Portsmouth, has submitted for his senior yearbook a picture of himself in chainmail, wielding what can only be described as a big-ass sword. (Patrick is an active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism it seems his uncle makes armor and his mother sells it at ren faires.) His school has refused to run the picture, quoting their zero-tolerance weapons policy. Agin and his family, with the help of the local ACLU, are suing the school for restricting his free speech.
Three thoughts on this:
- This is kinda stupid.
- For ironic bonus points, the NY Times article notes that the mascot of Portsmouth High School is a rifle-toting Revolutionary War soldier.
- Now that the Agin family is pressing suit, can I please be the first blog to refer to the debacle as the Battle of Agincourt? (And it’s obscure medieval battle references ftw!)
In other news, Jennifer Strange, a 28-year-old mother of three, is dead today after participating in a radio contest called “Hold your Wee for a Wii.” Apparently some genius on a morning show at Sacramento’s 107.9 (a station nicknamed “The End”, presumably for its location on the dial and not for any kind of morbid premonition) thought it’d be a good idea to give away a Nintendo Wii to whoever could drink the most water without urinating. Ms. Strange really wanted to win this Wii for her kids, but unfortunately she drank so much water that she succumbed to water intoxication and was found dead by her mother shortly thereafter.
Thoughts on this:
- Every death is tragic. (Yes, even those.) But how much more tragic is it when a young woman – barely more than a girl, at 28 – dies for something so stupid and trivial as a contest to win a video game console? Three kids today are without a mother because of this stupidity. This makes me very angry and very sad.
- Who do you suppose will be the first asshole to publically give these poor kids a Wii, as if it were some kind of consolation prize? “Hey, sorry about your mom, kids, but here, here’s that cheap plastic video game console that she died trying to give you. Have fun, and don’t forget that wrist strap! Safety first!”
- As a side note, how much more stupidity are we going to have to deal with from Bay Area radio stations? Yeah, I’m looking at you here, KSFO.
UPDATE: CBS reports this morning that ten staffers at KSFO, including the entire morning show team, have been fired in the wake of Jennifer Strange’s death. Cold comfort to the family, of course, but it’s good to see the station taking some action, I suppose.