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Accident at Alton Towers

I think the term we're looking for is "special pleading" which can describe people applying a double standard to themselves.
 
caffeine_demon said:
Oh, This comment is awesome:

"THat ride in the picture looked small and overloaded with the weight of 4 people on it which is a fair amount weight. THere should be a user warning on these rides which warns people they use them at their own risk and there is no guarantee of safety on them and people should be warned that they might shatter"
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By that logic, these 'warnings' should apply to literally anything ever created. Everything you do is you taking a risk, no matter how small that risk may be.

Of course, there's no point trying to explain that to any of these people who think that roller coasters are death traps.
 
TommyAlex said:
Of course, there's no point trying to explain that to any of these people who think that roller coasters are death traps.
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I think - and hope - it's just ignorance. People rarely give a thought to what kind of work goes into things they rarely interact with. To the casual observer, the process of making a rollercoaster seems to begin and end with "acquire track, bend in a knot, put in supports 'till it looks stable, and clause your way out of legal ramifications whenever somebody inevitably dies". We're annoyed when it comes to coasters, because we know coasters rather intricately, but I'm willing to bet everybody on here is guilty of something similar when it comes to other stuff. "It's just ____, how complicated can it be?"

Or in another form, whenever something goes wrong, "It shouldn't be that hard to make this work, it's just a simple process of _____". We naturally tend to assume the people responsible were lazy, incompetent, or even malicious, because superficially, the problem seems like it'd be trivially easy to prevent (see: traffic lights, ink printers, politics, and other seemingly simple but horribly complex stuff).

Because I like XKCD, and I think this image is relevant, I'm going to post this recent reminder of how easy it is to overlook that a shocking number of manpower is required to make even basic stuff work well:
work.png
 
Hmm, just noticed the crash celebs appear to be fading out of favour. On a little Twitter stalk, I noticed Balch's is now set to private. Why the Mirror hasn't turned that into a story is beyond me. Leah and Joe (who I actually have respect for) tweeted about not attending the Pride of Britain Awards this year when last year they were the little darlings. although they did recently appear at a local charity event alongside the Chuckle Brothers.
 
According to Coasters101, the ride's safety system had been overridden manually by the workers themselves. There's a camera on the batwing element where it stalled. They would've seen the car there and wouldn't have launched the ride. If you ask me, either the ride operators were trying to get fired or they just REALLY wanted the ride removed. ATR would never remove a ride they probably treasure the most. Before it was opened they put the ride logo on sheep in the area, as well as a mobile app game that was released on the ride's opening day in 2013. In a way, it kinda seems like they spend more money on the decoration than on the ride itself. I'm not entirely sure. The ride is still one of my favourites though.
 
TLARides said:
According to Coasters101, the ride's safety system had been overridden manually by the workers themselves. There's a camera on the batwing element where it stalled. They would've seen the car there and wouldn't have launched the ride. If you ask me, either the ride operators were trying to get fired or they just REALLY wanted the ride removed. ATR would never remove a ride they probably treasure the most. Before it was opened they put the ride logo on sheep in the area, as well as a mobile app game that was released on the ride's opening day in 2013. In a way, it kinda seems like they spend more money on the decoration than on the ride itself. I'm not entirely sure. The ride is still one of my favourites though.
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lFe0thL.gif
 
If you ask me, either the ride operators were trying to get fired or they just REALLY wanted the ride removed.
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I guess you never make mistakes, ever.

Don't be **** ridiculous.

Why am I even giving you attention.
 
TLARides has a point, I reckon it was those nearby villagers who issued sound complaints. They thought if you can't beat 'em join 'em, and they got a job there so they could crash all the rides.
 
I expect some sort of Scooby Doo reveal where Nick Varny pulls off the ride op's mask and reveals the Ropers!

And I do agree that putting the logo on a sheep might have had something to do with the accident.
 
Yep, I can definitely see the shell of a once-famous celebrity reduced to shambles after a career-ruining accident. Oh how will she ever return to her former glory?

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Have noticed a trend in the less media attention she gets, the less clothing she wears in a photoshoot.

Last picture is fire though I don't even care.
 
Despite their stupid soundbites, they're probably not as annoying as the tabloids have managed to make them appear.
That said, I'm surprised newspapers don't have enough **** to stir with the world how it is at the moment, without having to drag these nonentities up yet again.
 
To be fair I admire her for doing stuff like this in regards to body confidence and that tra la, she looks great and this will have a positive influence on others with similar issues. Whilst it seems she's still cashing in she's actually forming to be a role model for a small yet important group of amputees. If you forget all the coaster stuff and the accident she's just a girl that actually wants to prove that you can still be sexy no matter how down you're feeling.

I wonder if she's been offered a porn role yet?
 
Chris Brown said:
To be fair I admire her for doing stuff like this in regards to body confidence and that tra la, she looks great and this will have a positive influence on others with similar issues. Whilst it seems she's still cashing in she's actually forming to be a role model for a small yet important group of amputees. If you forget all the coaster stuff and the accident she's just a girl that actually wants to prove that you can still be sexy no matter how down you're feeling.
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See, I fundamentally agree with this. However, I just can't get over that rather than actually being like this, she's actually looking to become a personality, rather than the positives. That could just be how the media portray this, or my jaded view on the modern world where everyone wants their 15 minutes in the jungle with Ant and Dec. Its difficult to overcome that scepticism. I'm also sure that this isn't the first time there has been amputees in this situation (Pokemaniac's link shows there's a lot of interest in this). This is just the first time that it's been a high profile accident caused this where the people of the UK have some kind of interest.

So is this a cry to become famous, or to do some good in the world for similar victims using the fact the case is well known? Jury is out for me at the moment.
 
I guess the only way we'd know, @furie, is if somebody found out if she gets a fee for her media appearances. And if she does, does she donate it to the charities she is promoting? If somebody believes in a cause enough, they will offer their services for free to raise awareness. Just like the people who sit in a bath of beans for Comic Relief, or Paul O'Grady for his Dogs Home adverts.
 
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