Whose side are you on? by reginaroadie

TALK STORY

Whose side are you on?

POSTED BY: REGINAROADIE
UPDATED: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 18:44
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Wednesday, September 13, 2006 1:55 PM

Hey all

One blog that I check on a regular basis is the one Kevin Smith has at silentbobspeaks.com. And today, he had a blog that mused about perspective, which happened to include this clip courtesy of leaked security camera footage and YouTube.

Here's his blog for context.

Terror and Pleasure are incredibly subjective
Wednesday 13 September 2006 @ 2:41 pm

Since many of us spend so much time on the internet, we tend to forget that the life is NOT made up of absolutes. Often, we read about how this movie sucks or this person’s career is “over”, and because it’s in some form of print, defended with such vitriol and bluster as to put the Founding Fathers’ passion for liberty to shame, we tend to buy it as truth, or at least as a common consensus. But if “Snakes on a Plane” taught us anything this summer (other than what happens when motherfuckin’ snakes take over a motherfuckin’ plane), it’s the following: what often passes for a majority (at least on the internet) barely constitutes a blip in the real world. The most hyped movie since “The Phantom Menace”, tipped to earn 30 to 40 million in its opening weekend, performed like almost any other “thriller” or horror movie: respectable, but not earth-shattering (and relative to its hype, written off by most Monday Morning Quarterbacks as an “under-performer”).

There are no absolutes, folks. Life is a subjective experience, different for all of us. What’s rapture (in the euphoric sense) for some is Rapture (in the Biblical sense) for others. Universal truths are few and far between.

Which is why I’m so fascinated by this image and clip…

Taken from the security camera of a theme park ride, it succinctly exemplifies what I’m talking about: two people share a common experience and react as differently as if they had just, respectively, ran amuck in a Hostess sample room and broken out of a window in Hell.

More than that, though? This clip is really, really fucking funny.

Friends - there’s only one absolute in the world: the grave waits for us all. But as long as there’s stuff like this to watch in the interim… well, then I can’t complain.

When I saw this clip, I gotta admit that I was on the side of the woman. She, unlike the over-reacting butterball next to her (hey, I used to be fat, so I have a license to make fun of fat kids), was able to appreciate the ride for what it was and get a delirious kick out of it. I showed this to my brother (whose always had a fear of heights), and he was like "That's not cool. That kid could have fallen out of there." Well, they wouldn't let people on amusement park rides unless they were 100% safe, so there's nothing really to worry about in the first place. And besides, the kid is so fat that he would have gotten stuck if the straps were loose.

So my question is, whose side are you on? The woman's or the kids?

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Wednesday, September 13, 2006 2:02 PM

CHRISISALL

Oh please. You're supposed to have fun when you're a kid, feel invulnerable and all that. I feel sorry for the kid, man.

Speed it up Chrisisall

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Wednesday, September 13, 2006 2:20 PM

VERSEEXPLORER

Quote:
So my question is, whose side are you on? The woman's or the kids?

I don't know if I can pick a side. The woman's laugh made me laugh, and the boy's cries made me feel bad for him. I saw it more philosophically. The woman relaxed and went with the flow. The boy paniced and struggled, and he ended up hurting himself. When it comes to Life, I'm much more like the woman.

I do love Kevin Smith.

_______________________________
Mal: Saffron, you're pleasing, you're all kinds of pleasing, and uhh...it's been awhile, a long damn while, since anybody but me took a hold of my plow.

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Wednesday, September 13, 2006 2:31 PM

KANEMAN

The woman's laugh made me laugh, and the fat kids cries made me laugh. I call it a draw...Well, it's true.

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Wednesday, September 13, 2006 6:44 PM

NOSADSEVEN

I can't honestly say I find this funny. If you look closely it looks like the lap-belt on the kid breaks or rolls or something - and that's when he really starts freaking out. Then he's sliding out and getting choked by the straps. Meanwhile, "Janice" doesn't take any of his concerns seriously. I guess Kevin Smith didn't notice that detail, since he pointed out that they had different reactions to the same circumstance.

In any event, I hope they sued. Of course, that would require someone to have taken the kid seriously at some point.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ain't. We. Just.

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