On 2013-06-24 07:32, Vlad_77 wrote:

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On 2013-06-23 23:35, Bob1Dog wrote:
Wonderful stuff! He and his family are a national treasure. Make that an international treasure!

I agree Bob, but this amazing feat - as Mr. Cassidy so eloquently stated that was about dreams - was not broadcast at all in The Netherlands. For the Dutch at least - and sorry my Dutch colleagues if this offends you - if a story from another country isn't about a tragedy, or if a program doesn't show other countries at their worst - think NatGeo's Doomsday Preppers - or, if it isn't their sacred "voetbal", it gets no coverage.

Nik Wallenda did something that again borrowing from Mr. Cassidy, was symbolic of human achievement yet even this morning, there was not a word about it here.

All of you who saw this last evening are blessed to have witnessed a great achievement.

On 2013-06-24 18:07, Chessmann wrote:

However, I feel that his chosen profession does not merit the risk of life and leaving family and children.

On 2013-06-24 18:07, Chessmann wrote:
Bob, one clarification. Within the context of performance art (or whatever one wishes to call it), Nik Wallenda is way up there. High, high accomplishment, no doubt. It was not my intent to disparage what he has done.

However, I feel that his chosen profession does not merit the risk of life and leaving family and children. So, I marvel at what he can do (no lie) but at the same time feel he is taking selfish risks by not making at least some provision for his life.

On 2013-06-24 18:57, Pop Haydn wrote:

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On 2013-06-24 18:07, Chessmann wrote:

However, I feel that his chosen profession does not merit the risk of life and leaving family and children.

Perhaps, Nik believes his art does merit such risk. Maybe the risk itself is a statement of his values...

Can performance art not be about facing our fears, mastering our bodies, and overcoming the impossible? I think this is about as beautiful a statement as any artist can make.

On 2013-06-24 18:20, Bob1Dog wrote:

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On 2013-06-24 07:32, Vlad_77 wrote:

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On 2013-06-23 23:35, Bob1Dog wrote:
Wonderful stuff! He and his family are a national treasure. Make that an international treasure!

I agree Bob, but this amazing feat - as Mr. Cassidy so eloquently stated that was about dreams - was not broadcast at all in The Netherlands. For the Dutch at least - and sorry my Dutch colleagues if this offends you - if a story from another country isn't about a tragedy, or if a program doesn't show other countries at their worst - think NatGeo's Doomsday Preppers - or, if it isn't their sacred "voetbal", it gets no coverage.

Nik Wallenda did something that again borrowing from Mr. Cassidy, was symbolic of human achievement yet even this morning, there was not a word about it here.

All of you who saw this last evening are blessed to have witnessed a great achievement.

I've felt your pain Vlad. I lived in south Netherlands for a year back in the eighties and it was the same then.

Several points-

When Wallenda walked across Niagara Falls last year he was widely criticized for using the tether. Many called that a form of cheating that removed all risk. Nik Wallenda, though, maintained that the tether actually was a hindrance to him and only wore it because he was forced to.

The Wallenda's have almost always worked without a net.

There was, in fact, a well-planned emergency routine that was well rehearsed and ready to be implemented. Wallenda trained to be able to hold onto the wire by wrapping his legs around the wire, while two separate rescue helicopters could have reached him in sixty seconds.

Tellingly, even his wife said, before the walk, that he loved his family too much to do anything that he thought was truly dangerous. (Which kind of shows that Wallendas are not normal humans. Things that are dangerous to 99.9% of the population are seen a bit differently by them.)

Yesterday, Nik GAVE something to the world that has really never been seen before on that scale. I wouldn't call that selfish.

So IMHO I think the idea that the media over there ignored the story completely is overstating it.

On 2013-06-24 20:27, Bob1Dog wrote:

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So IMHO I think the idea that the media over there ignored the story completely is overstating it.

To use a quote that MMR uses, and I've told him that I'm enamored with it, and I hope he doesn't mind my stealing it here.....

Well alrighty then!

Still, living as an expat in a country is far different from visiting it for a few weeks.

On 2013-06-24 21:18, balducci wrote:

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On 2013-06-24 20:27, Bob1Dog wrote:

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So IMHO I think the idea that the media over there ignored the story completely is overstating it.

To use a quote that MMR uses, and I've told him that I'm enamored with it, and I hope he doesn't mind my stealing it here.....

Well alrighty then!

Still, living as an expat in a country is far different from visiting it for a few weeks.

Experiencing it recently, even if only for a couple of weeks, is far different than living there 20+ years ago and relying on outdated experiences. Especially when it comes to current events. (For instance, what did you think of the newly renovated and recently reopened Rijksmuseum?)

But in any case I also provided concrete evidence that the event in question was not ignored by the media there.

And that should trump both of our first hand experiences.