Now, forgive me for this little rant, but I grew up in South Africa. There are people there that actually starve to death and don’t get television coverage. There are people (our great leaders among them) that spent 20 years in prison cells not much larger than his silly little glass box. Mandela’s decades in prison meant something — he was malnourished, badly treated, viewed as a political threat to all and sundry, but at the end of the day he emerged to lead my country. His struggle was worth something and the fact that he is not bitter, following this long ordeal, in my mind makes him the closest to a saint that I’ll ever believe in.
David Blaine, on the other hand, is a bit of a monkey. He’s fattened himself up (cheating!) to go on an elaborate hunger strike FOR NO REASON. It will not help bring about world peace, increase the realms of democracy or do anyone but himself, his agents and Sky (or whoever’s bought the rights) any good whatsoever.
There are good reasons for hunger strikes … there are also people who I’m sure have gone “44 days and 44 nights” (with contaminated water, as well) without food … if he were giving his money to them, I might be able to respect him. However he’s doing all this for his own good, his own publicity. He deserves all the derision the British public wish to heap upon him.
Comments (1) Permalink
October 21st, 2003 at 9:40 PM
I think people are being unfair on David Blaine. Firstly, anyone who does the kind of things he does will get on television. People (yourself included?) are interested to see such feats of endurance. However, the cynical British public will criticise Blaine, as they criticise anyone who is more famous or successful than themselves. It’s a predictable response. In Britain noone likes a success story – we call them glory-seekers and fat-cats. Most of all, Brits hate successful Americans. Brits sit back and smugly revel in their distaste of “Living the American Dream.” We assume Americans are simply naive and take haughty pleasure in our understanding of the “way things really are.”
You could question the distaste of what Blaine has done when there is real suffering and hunger in the world. Well, I would question the sincerity of your position. What about all the violence and distaste you watch for entertainment in films and TV? Also, plenty of affluent religious folk fast for reasons I consider intangible – but dare we condemn them?
David Blaine has had a pretty shitty life and a lot of people close to him have died. His grim fascination with death makes him an interesting character and he pushes himself closer to the end than any of us would dare. He expects condemnation because he recognises that people will not understand him. It’s human nature to repel things or people that are not understood. Can’t we rise above this?