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Lauren Hill story

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Dick Whitman, Nov 3, 2014.

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  1. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    That guy pisses me off.
     
  2. Smash Williams

    Smash Williams Well-Known Member

    With the context of a brother who felt the need to be an inspiration, I can see it a little bit. If I thought this girl had her arm twisted into becoming the public face of a disease, of if she thought this would give her "strength" to help her beat it or something, it would be incredibly distasteful. But my impression is she seems to want the platform to be as big as she can make it.

    And it isn't really heartwarming as some try to paint it. It's damn sad. But what she's facing, and what other kids are facing, is sadder. I don't mind that intruding on my sports bubble.

    For full disclosure, I both volunteer with Make a Wish and on my local children's hospital's hem/onc floor. Her story obviously fits into a niche of things I am already interested in.
     
  3. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Maybe this is it, what bothers me. That it's white-washed as heart-warming. No offense to your efforts with Make-a-Wish, which are noble, but these people are going to die. They are going to die young, and soon. That gets to me, especially child-death-as-programming.

    But, you know, attention whore. And something about a treadmill.
     
  4. heyabbott

    heyabbott Well-Known Member

    from now on it is D'Erique
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2015
  5. Smash Williams

    Smash Williams Well-Known Member

    Well 70ish percent of the MaW kids survive into adulthood (common misconception is that they're all terminal - I've certainly had terminal kids before, including one with DIPG who died much faster than we were all expecting). Life-threatening illness - progressive, degenerative or malignant - is the MaW criteria. But yes, some are going to die. In my view, that doesn't mean we should wallow in that while they are still here - you can still do happy things in sad situations.

    Back on this topic, I don't mind occasional showcasing of the sadness when the goal is to help those going through things that we can't stop, either from a social aspect (giving them something awesome to look forward to/back on) or from a more research-oriented aspect. Some people can't deal with the sad so they whitewash it as heartwarming, but if they're moved to act on those feelings, then it's all the same to me. Being moved to act is what's important - the way you get there doesn't really matter.
     
  6. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    I thought it was pretty cool that they got 10,000 people to show up for a game that none of them could have possibly cared about.

    People like being happy, that's always the case. It's increasingly uncommon for people to get together to be happy. It certainly spiced up an afternoon and is worth celebrating just from that angle.

    And with 10,000 people it was probably even someone's birthday.
     
  7. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    For a randomly selected individual, on any given day the probability that it's not his/her birthday is 364/365. For 10,000 randomly selected individuals, the probability that it's no one's birthday is approximately 364/365^10,000 = 0.0000000000012.
     
  8. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Hill and feel good triggered my memory
     
  9. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    But wait until they find out someone gave her a free cup of juice while she was taking her chemo.
     
  10. Lugnuts

    Lugnuts Well-Known Member

    Right !!! Now who's trying to whitewash this and write a piece of fiction? Go 'head and write it the way YOU think it should be written... a lie.

    This is what happened. 10,000 people showed up. The news media reported it. What are they supposed to do, ignore it? Because they feel, on principle, the dying girl should have done it more quietly?

    What I get from you is, "The dying girl should've realized this kind of thing has been done before, and she needed to have been more creative with her dying days."
     
  11. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    Damn. Bomani Jones used to post here? Either I didn't realize that or completely forgot.
     
  12. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Rules are rules.
     
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