WARNING – THIS VIDEO IS OF A GRAPHIC NATURE. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. [Video from ABC News]
Note: This is far, in fact from another realm from what I normally post, but I felt the need to put this out there.
Since WordPress won’t allow me to directly embed videos, you have to click this link and watch the video on ABC’s site. Click on this: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/video/nodar-kumaritashvili-video-fatal-luge-crash-9823485
News report:
On Friday of last week, just hours before the Opening Ceremonies, the collective world held its breath upon news that Olympic Luge Athelete, Nodar Kumaritashvili, had tragically died in an accident during practice on the luge course. And while some were later mourning the unexpected passing of an Olympic hopeful, others across the Internet chatted with each other and sought answers. What had happened?
As Kumaritashvili’s luge crash was caught on video, it did not take long for the infamous footage to find its way onto the screens of those who wanted to view it. In fact, it has been reported that the video of the accident appeared on YouTube an hour and a half before Kumaritashvili’s death was ever announced. Since its creation, the luge video has been a hot topic amongst the Internet crowd due to its easy availability among news sources and copy cat posters.
The search “luge tragedy video” is currently number 6 in Google’s hot trending searches, with a rating of “volcanic” with “luge accident abc” coming in at number 16. On February 13th “video of nodar kumaritashvili’s death” was the 10th hottest search and “nodar kumaritashvili” came in at number 4 on Friday the 12th. As you might have guessed, the trend is reflected on Twitter.
Videos of the luger’s death are banned on YouTube.
Whether or not people viewed luge accident footage for mundane or even macabre reasons, not all the chatter on the Internet was grim as well wishers erupted en masse to pass messages of peace and condolence to the family of the fallen athlete.
But the question remains, is having the easy availability of such a tragic video a benefit or burden on our society? For accident investigators that want to prevent further tragedies from occuring, it is truly a benefit. But for others just wanting to satisfy their curiosity, perhaps it is not.
Share this sad post via
Tagged: Death, Events, Journalism, Luge, News, Nodar Kumaritashvili, Olympics, Sports, Video
