What’s Wrong w/ Showing Eight Belles Injury On Air?
May 5th, 2008 . by Dell
I want to preface this by saying I didn’t necessarily want to see an animal suffering, because in all honesty I don’t care about horse racing. In fact, I didn’t even watch the Kentucky Derby, nor will I watch next year’s race. However, seeing how everyone is patting NBC on the back for “doing the right thing” by not broadcasting the horse’s injury and death during the Kentucky Derby is quite frankly…full of horse shit.
After Big Brown crossed the finish line this weekend as the Derby winner, Eight Belles broke both ankles and collapsed on the track. The injuries were so severe that she had to be euthanized on the spot to prevent further suffering. The term that’s being thrown around in the media is that people didn’t want to see the horse “writhing in agony” in the moments before her death.
Ok…I’m assuming everyone reading this is a sports fan. How many times have we watched a football player completely snap his leg in half, with the producers showing the incident over and over before moving on? They zoom in on these *human beings* writhing in agony almost every week from their injuries and nobody bats an eyelash. How is it so different to apply the same standards to an *animal*?
This post isn’t about me wanting to see an animal suffer, it’s moreso pointing out a double standard by the sports media. I’ve seen Willis McGahee get his leg snapped in half, I’ve seen Joe Theismann get his leg snapped in half, Michael Bush, Michael Vick… I can go on and on…..
But god forbid this poor animal goes through pain on the airwaves. These thoroughbred race horses are treated better than more humans than we care to admit, I guess it’s only fitting to continue the preferential treatment to the very end right?
[Shout out to Ruth Hochberger of the Huffington Post, who shares my views on this subject]
How come I can watch Clint Malarchuk getting his jugular vein slashed over and over again on YouTube (which I do), but I can’t watch this injury? That’s the real tragedy here.
the difference is no one asked the horse if it wanted to be there and chance breaking it’s legs…
I blame Disney and Nickelodeon for giving people the notion that animals and inanimate objects are capable of abstract thought. Do you think Belles was just laying there on the track with all the doctors around contemplating whether or not she did enough with her life? No, if anything she was thinking ‘Oats, oats, oats, oats, run, run, run, run, ouch, ouch, ouch’ (Sopranos-esque cut-to-black).
LMAO
Ummm…..I don’t think they actually ask that question to anyone Tamena…but if they did ask Belles that question, and the filly answered. I really don’t think they would have raced her that day.
I think that animals are just as capable of thought as people are… they just don’t have voices to communicate it. I agree with Tamena, it’s not like she was the one that wanted to race. It was so cruel. A football player has a choice to risk breaking both ankles, a horse doesn’t.
You people are idiots.. and missed the point of the article.
I totally agree with you Chuck. All I can think of is Willis McGahee and Shaun Livingston being replayed over and over. They looked so painful I had to look away each time they replayed it, which they did, many times. You would even have to watch it on SportsCenter that night, and the rest of the week.
For some reason though, it’s too terrible to watch an animal suffer… I don’t get it either.
The horse had a choice. If it didnt want to race it shouldnt run so damn fast. The great THINKING horse could say “hey, F this, im gonna go slow as shit”
Animals do have thoughts like people and CAN communcate, we just cant understand them. Like a mexican and and asian…