| January 7, 2003 Steve Irwin (aka The Croc Hunter) is my hero, for the most part --If you don’t know who the Croc Hunter is you either don’t have cable or satillite TV, or you’re anti-animal existence. Anyways, Steve Irwin is an international celebrity for his naturalistic achievements, dangerous pursuits, and all around antics. Heck he even has a major motion picture based on himself he’s so popular! Anyways, he’s been taking some heat lately for an “antic” he did last Friday involving his 1 month old son. In quick summary, he basically took his 1month old son Bob with him very close to a fully mature crocodile (see movie). Though Steve claims the child was completely safe, much of the international media found it as very dangerous, careless, and endangering of the child’s safety. MSNBC did an interview with Steve today. I guarantee this will be one of the funniest, but at the same time endearing and honest interviews MSNBC has done. You gotta watch it here: Croc hunter under fire for endangering child Jan. 5: Steve Irwin touched off a firestorm when he fed a 13-foot crocodile while holding his one-month-old child. http://g.msn.com/0VD0/10/00?m=tdy_lauer_hunter_040105&csid=Msnbc You’ll probably be like me when watching this interview. You’ll sway from one camp thinking Steve is a crackpot that should be locked up to the camp that believes Steve is one amazingly animated, yet sincere individual that loves doing what he does and showing the world his world. In the past I’ve always known Steve was a bit on the overly loopy side. Not at fault but at the point where you’d be “Ok Steve, calm down a bit, that stick bug ain’t that exciting.” Though Steve’s antics have seemed a bit reckless from our point of view, we must remember his point of view. And that is a hardened, knowledgeable, experienced, and expert crocodile wrangler. I’ve seen this guy take down crocs that would eat most men for second-breakfast. This guy, in terms of guts (some call it nuts) and zeal, is a man among wussy American middle-classers. Anyways, I began the interview half on Steve’s side in the fact that he is a professional and I’m sure he knew what he was doing, and half on the media’s side that Steve was being extremely careless and too prideful in his abilities when he held his 1 monther a couple meters from a 13-foot landshark. Fingers and limbs go in, but they don’t come out. Matt (the interviewer) basically started the interview off with a summary of the events and then gave Steve a chance to explain himself. Steve did. You gotta love Steve’s personality (notice I refer to him on a first name basis. I feel I know the guy because of our similar passion for adventure). He animates the camera with the best of them, and the best part is that he’s not even acting! I genuinely believe that’s the real Steve Irwin on camera. But Steve’s explanation didn’t completely satisfy me. Yes Steve, we all know you’re a professional, but come on, what if something did go wrong? Was it really worth it to put Bob in an even potentially dangerous situation? Are we to assume you’re using your kid as a shock-factor to get more viewers? Don’t make us assume that Steve, we love ya! So I’m a little on Matt’s side in thinking Steve went a little overboard with his shenanigans despite his credentials and safety precautions. Steve, I know you’re trying to get your son used to the environment, but tell me when was the last time anyone remember anything when they were 1 month old? You’re kid just isn’t at that formularized stage yet. He’s more qualified for croc food than croc management. But Steve brought up some good points that Matt seemed to ignore. How many babies die every day from parents getting in car crashes? I’d venture a guess it’s in the double digits yet you don’t see those parents ridiculed for putting their children in potential harms way depsite all their safety precautions? But Steve is a celebrity and we the public are jaded to things that happen often. Babies die in car accidents everyday, babies get murdered in would-be mother’s wombs everyday, yet we don’t really care do we? So when some crazy guy from Australia holds his kid with in a few feet of a croc we cry “Bad parent! How could he!?” I guess it’s our way of suppressing the should-be guilt of aborting our babies and being bad parents to our now screwed up kids. So Steve gets some quality-control points for bringing up good-points in refute to the attacks. But again, Steve is a celebrity, and like it or not, he’s under a microscope. The point in which I was about to Steve as a fraud was when he brought out his daughter and just went on and on (even if he was sincere, which I think he was in his own weird way). That seemed so cheesy in a sense and almost staged. Steve, we do not doubt your love for you kids or whether their well-adjusted or anything, we’re questioning your sanity in what you did last Friday. So Steve was on the ropes at this point. But the kicker was when Matt asked Steve if he could go back to Friday what would he do differently if anything. Steve could’ve maintained his egotistical stance, even if justified from a professional standpoint, and said he wouldn’t of changed anything because he knew what he was doing. But Steve was honest, he said he’d go surfing. I couldn’t think of a better response from a man in his shoes. No doubt he’s received tons and tons of media attention, mostly negative, since this incident, and he’s come to point that if he could go back he’d so something that is completely peaceful and satisfying to him, surfing. And asked whether he pull a stunt like this ever again, he again humbled his skills and said no absolutely not. He knew he made a mistake, even if he was in complete control, and he admitted to it and apologized wholeheartedly I think. It was at this point, this point of humility that I think I understood Steve’s attempts to show us he loves his children. I believe you Steve and I respect and admire you for your candidness and humility in front of millions of people. Even if you don’t have an opinion on whether or not Steve is insane or just very jovial, you can’t but be entertained by him, even in an interview like this, where Matt, the interviewer, couldn’t be a more boring, monotonous guy. Steve ads flavor and spice to any conversation he’s in. And the funniest thing about the interview is that the Steve I saw on Crocodile Hunter and other TV shows wasn’t an actor at all. He’s the same guy in front of a camera beamed to millions of people and in the middle of the Australia Outback with not a soul in sight. And that’s a respectable quality. Kudos Steve, you’re my celebrity hero. Why don’t you reward yourself by going to surf a couple sets over at Bells Beach...I’ll be right behind you. |