Why is everyone dying

[Munchkin]

Shouldn't be surprised by that but I am.

[Duhkha]

Yeah, I'm surprised too. It's sad, he was a brave guy...

[Leishpod]

I was so shocked when I read that, poor guy. Good on him for fighting as hard as he did since his paralysis.

[SR]

Okay, I admit, my first thought just then was "Oh noes! What is that going to do to my friend M's joke?"

Apart from, y'know, making it even more bad taste.

[Laney]

on channel 10 they reported the story making some poor joke about kryptonite which i thought was in fairly bad taste for a new reported story.

yes i'm shocked too. he was quite young too

[sugarplum fairy 85]

Very sad.

It's weird that I was so shocked when I heard it because I guess i really sohuldn't have been. Very sad anyway.

[SR]

French philosopher Jacques Derrida, the founder of the school of deconstructionism, has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 74.

[Mythor]

Poor Superman.
Also poor people who're disabled, since they just lost a very high profile person fighting to give doctor's a chance to discover a cure.

[jess]

My mother got teary when she heard the news re: Christpher Reeve. It's sad that it happened and she always had great respect for him, for being such an inspirational man in defying his disabilities to supprt others.

[Renee_Turner]

Originally Posted by jess

My mother got teary when she heard the news re: Christpher Reeve. It's sad that it happened and she always had great respect for him, for being such an inspirational man in defying his disabilities to supprt others.

This is in poor taste, at the moment, so if you're likely to be offended, don't read it. If not, I agree with what the guy is saying.

http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=creeve

[Munchkin]

Originally Posted by Renee_Turner

This is in poor taste, at the moment, so if you're likely to be offended, don't read it. If not, I agree with what the guy is saying.

http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=creeve

I don't know if I'll be offended or not, it set off the offensive language filter.

[Laurenandë]

It's offensive if you liked the guy and what he stood for, or how he helped research into spine and spinal cord injuries etc.

The person sounds bitter... I'd respect the writer more if I knew he'd done something as worthwhile for disabled people. Sure, Reeve didn't care about crippled people before his accident, but that's no reason to bucket the man for caring about it after the accident. *shrugs*

[Gutter Monkey]

Originally Posted by Munchkin

I don't know if I'll be offended or not, it set off the offensive language filter.

Here's the main part:

Update (10-11-04): Christopher Reeve passed away October 10, 2004 due to heart failure. The title to this article was inappropriate given this tragic event, so I changed it:

Christopher Reeve was an a$$hole.

For those of you who don't know, Christopher Reeve is the guy who played "Superman" in all four coma-inducing movies during the 80's. Before I even get started about his injury, I'd like to point out that "the curse of Superman" is bull$hit, and I'd love nothing more than to punch the guy who came up with it. Just like the E! True Hollywood Stories "curse of The Little Rascals," it's much publicized Hollywood trash. Half the time they try to pass off a tragic event due to a "curse," it turns out that the actors died at the age of 86. Yeah real tragic, dumba$$. An actor got murdered or paralyzed after living a healthy youth? Excuse me while I $#it myself in awe at the mysterious power of the curse.

In 1995 "the curse" struck Reeve as he was riding a horse called "Eastern Express." The horse was running around, trying to get the gangly a$$hole off of his back when he finally came to an abrupt stop before a jump, leaving Reeve's $#it in ruins. Reeve became paralyzed from the neck down after the accident (more like conspiracy, another reason to add horse to the dinner menu).

(Note: At this point in the article there is a screen shot from the Mortal Kombat game with a bucking horse, Christopher Reev hitting the ground, and the word FATALITY)

Why is Reeve an a$$hole?

Simple: because he's selfish. Reeve didn't give a $#it about paralysis before his accident, but now that he's paralyzed, suddenly he opens up a paralysis foundation and cares about the plight of cripples? Where was his foundation in '95 when he played the role of a man with spinal cord injury? Sure, some of you might argue that he's doing a good thing by bringing attention to paralysis, but the underlying message being sent here is that nobody gives a $#it about cripples until a celebrity becomes one.

What really pi$$es me off about Reeve is the sheer arrogance. Look up a Reeve biography and you'll find praise like "he has now found new meaning in life." Let me tell you something: any time you find new meaning in life because of a debilitating injury, your "old" life didn't have much meaning. Paralysis could strike anyone at any time, and if you're living your life in such a way that all your goals require the use of your arms and legs, then your life probably doesn't mean much to begin with. I'm sure people who were born paralyzed don't appreciate being told that their lives "have meaning too," as if they need affirmation from people who spend most of their lives working to pay off stupid bull$#it like sports cars, expensive houses, and other junk that they don't need.

The "still living life to the fullest" doctrine pi$$es me off even more because you can almost hear a voice in your head that finishes off the sentence with "...as a cripple." What does it mean to "still live life to the fullest"? Why should it require any extra effort or energy, or the addition of the word "still" in front if you were living your life "to the fullest" to begin with? What can physical mobility afford you that pure thought can't alone? It's so gracious of Mr. Reeve to acknowledge that you can "still" live a meaningful life, even as a cripple. I'm sure that people who struggle with paralysis every day are exuberant at having someone champion their cause, it's just too bad that Reeve is in all likelihood doing it because he cares about himself first and foremost. Would he have opened up a paralysis foundation before the accident? Doubtful. Of course, we can never know for sure, but the fact remains that he didn't open up a foundation before the accident, and he poured his heart and soul into research afterwards, so the only conclusion that can be made is that he's doing it simply because he himself needs treatment.

The fact that he's helping thousands of people as he helps himself is a side effect of his cure; not necessarily his intention. I have little doubt that Mr. Reeve would work as hard to find a cure for paralysis if he was one of only a hand full of victims, so I don't think he deserves praise for this "good deed," because if it was intentional on his part to help these people, he probably would have had a paralysis foundation before the accident occurred.

I didn't have any beef with Reeve before his accident, but it's the praise he collects for his selfishness that makes him an a$$hole in my book. If tomorrow Reeve selflessly dedicated all of his time and effort--or even half of it--towards finding a cure for cancer or heart disease, he'd have my respect (not that he's trying to earn my respect, but having my respect is an awesome privilege). Hell, he'd earn my respect if he just cut the condescending bull$#it for a few minutes, such as this prize quote "I've noticed that there are very few roles for people in chairs... I would like to see people with disabilities featured sympathetically." No $#it? As opposed to all those other movies that show people with disabilities being demonized? Like it happens so often anyway. Why should people with disabilities be featured any more sympathetically than people without disabilities? If his goal is to live a normal life, how normal could his life be if all his future roles were "sympathetic"? Oh look, here comes the cripple, everyone act sympathetic regardless of the plot, because real life cripples never experience conflict or drama. If I were in a wheel chair, I'd want an a$$ kicking role where I would spend the entire movie running over people's fingers and tossing old ladies off of cliffs, not some suck-a$$ sissy role where I'd sit around and cry like a pu$$y.

Before you send me email b!tching about me picking on cripples, ask yourself the following question: why is it any more acceptable to pick on non-cripples? Sounds like discrimination to me. If you're the type of person who would be offended by an article picking on Christopher Reeve without giving second thought to other celebrities I've picked on, chances are good that you're racist*.

*Note: I know that "race" doesn't have anything to do with being crippled. I'm just connecting the dots here people, quit emailing me.


1,044,208 People didn't realize that Christopher Reeve was such a self-serving a$$hole before reading this article.

maddox@xmission.com

Also note that the original title was "Christopher Reeve IS an a$$hole".

Also note that I've changed all the swearing so the swear filter doesn't block the page for anyone anymore. PM me if it still does and I'll just cut them altogether.

[unfrufru]

i was extremely offended by that. my cousin is in a wheel chair. she has a very rare virus (one in a million and is the youngest person in the world to have contracted it at the age of 10).

its completely destroyed her life. not the wheel chair itself. she was in training for the atlanta olympics in about 4 sports. would have beaten louise savage by a mile but the side affects from this and there being no cure and treatment means she is constantly in hospital and had to give up her olympic goal and has metal rods inserted into her back.

the only hope she has is through the research reeve was trying to get funding for.

people are pricks

[Munchkin]

So do some of the celebrities he's picked on include the likes Michael J Fox and Olivia Newton John.

I get the impression that it's the media coverage that has set him off, a bit like the way the media uses the term 'brave' when the person they're applying it to would never use it themselves.