“Helmetless in Hailey”
This blog is becoming almost as fun as driving a motorcycle on ice –helmet or no.
But, please let us shift gears away from motorcycles for a brief RPM. What about those other extreme sports stars, who go around posing without helmets? Shortly after the
http://www.mtexpress.com/2003/03-07-16/index.htm
Soonafter, brainy presidential candidate John Kerry was featured snowboarding here, also without a helmet.
Below is a pertinent story regarding topless mountaineers, extracted from the Adventure Network:
http://www.adventurenetwork.com/cgi-bin/adventurenetwork/Helmets_Are_NOT_An_Accessory.html
“NO HELMET-- Ontario, Milton, Kelson Conservation Area, "Jolly Rodger" Route-- One climber, after declining a safety belay from his partner, attempted a rappel down the route, but made an error and did not clip in properly. He fell 20-meters. Other climbers at the site offered assistance, but he died at the hospital. It was determined that a helmet would probably have saved his life. -- Accidents in North American Mountaineering, 1996
I look like a GEEK!.
Now we're getting somewhere. Expert climbers state that the number one reason not to wear a helmet is peer pressure and the geek factor. "If all the star climbers are not wearing helmets, then how can anyone imagine that fledgling climbers looking up at these stars, seeing their photos flashing routes in magazines, will want to wear one," say the experts.
"Because of the long-standing tradition of flashy magazine photos showing flashy climbers on spectacularly difficult climbs wearing nothing but nylon short and shoes, it's hard to make a solid case for the helmet," adds Hansen. Bracksieck agrees, but adds that it will take the top climbers being willing to wear helmets, and he doesn't see that happening unless there's sponsorship money in it for them.”
So there it is, extreme sportspersons, posing without helmets sends a message to the kids that it is okay to do the same, if their worshiped idol’s are doing it.
And where does responsibility lie for publishers who encourage front-page features, of unhooded heroes? Is there an editor alive today in Paparazziville, who would hesitate to publish page-one photos of superior sportspersons visiting their small town sans helmets?
Or, I am just being too much of a Grumpy here?
Okay then, let’s take one last lap around Funsville:
Transmogrifying my brain backwards twenty years, I was doing some yard work for an elderly woman, Mrs. Munson. She had just returned from the Post Office with her mail and the TV guide featured a front-page photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger with explosions blasting out from every direction of his helmetless body.
Mrs. Munson became agitated and actually called up TV Guide to complain. Being already well acclimated to onscreen violence, I started laughing, as I was tamping earth against her outside foundation from the yard. I started thinking, “Gee Wizz, lady, what’s one person going to accomplish by calling in to complain?”
Soonafter, another violent program came to TV, the Itchy and Scratchy show. If there was ever one cartoon character who needed a safety helmet, it was Scratchy.
Marge Simpson wrote the producers of the show a letter, asking them to tone down their violence and in response, the CEO of Itchy & Scratchy International, Roger Meyer’s Jr.—wrote a letter to Marge, telling her one person can not make a difference and calls her a "screwball". In response, Marge decided to "show what one screwball can do". And ended up getting a large group of protestors together, which ultimately led to the (brief) ban of the violent cartoon.
Okay, now I’ve kind of lost my train of thought with how I was going to tie this all in. After all, I did bump my head today against a wall, while moving furniture without a helmet or facemask. Someone help me wrap it up here. Perhaps another lesson to be learned could be “don’t blog unless you’ve donned a proper-fitting thinking cap.”
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