Out of respect for Sebastian, the 6-year old who died after his skull was crushed by a 7 to 12-pound monster truck “frisbee”, and for my own father, who did everything he could to take me out in the world to see crazy shit while still keeping me safe, I cancelled all plans to go to Monster Jam on Saturday.
I thought more people might do the same. Wrong.
Monster Jams continued with four scheduled weekend shows. At the first of two Saturday shows, a moment of silence was observed and the lights were dimmed. Many would-be ticket buyers walked away in disappointment after being told that tickets for all 12,000 seats had been sold. –Seattle Times
Was I one of the very few that thought it was f-ed up to throw wads of my hard-earned cash at Feld Motor Sports after what happened? The show must go on?
It’s a monster truck rally. Why are you surprised by this behavior?
This is why America deserved Bush as President and probably he was too good for this nation.
Kelly, I did the exact same thing on Sunday. I’d made plans on a whim last week to check it out for only $10, then saw how the whole situation went down and made the same wallet judgment.
I’d read arguments from people on a P-I report that the show should’ve gone on–who stops a baseball game when someone gets popped with a fly ball in a really bad way? But the way I see it, if a driver at Monster Jam had been trampled or cut wide open, the show would’ve come to a halt. Getting hit with a fly ball is bad; getting sliced open–and then having to scream and throw cups to get any medical attention–is sick.
Personally, I don’t feel so sorry for the dad. Monster Truck?!?!? One less little football watchin, bible thumpin, fat because I can treat my body like shit while policing yours, drone.
yeah, I said it.
Considering that most of the people who go to Monster Jam and motocrosses love nothing better than a smash-up, the added possibility of seeing an audience member killed probably acts as more of an inducement than otherwise to the target audience.
What did you expect? These people are modern-day barbarians. Breeding twice as fast and at half the age.
But Kelly, if we don’t continue to support monster truck rallies, then “they” win.
That must be the small-town, pro-America, family values that Sarah Palin was so proud of. Kelly, you’re such a sinner, you just don’t understand.
Hey, more $ from tickets = more $ to the family for the wrongful-death settlement.
We, (meaning society) are only about two degrees of separation away from the ancient Romans.
Bread & Circuses, indeed.
One of the most significantly true comments you’ve ever articulated, Michael.
“Continuing the race was an abomination”? WTF? Come on Monster Truck people, YOU KNOW accidents happen. It’s part of what you go to see.
No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.
Great, now that Queen song is stuck in my head
Don’t be hatin’ on the Monster Trucks. I have gone to a few. They’re actually harmless fun. You spend a couple hours watchin’ shit get smashed up, and that’s pretty cool. Granted, it’s a sign of our wasteful excess but you know what, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to some things (how much electricity do all the lights in Vegas waste every day… every goddamn day?)
And it’s (to coin a phrase) good, clean fun. Nobody cusses, nobody gets beat up (leaving the tragic accident out of the picture for a moment), and you know what? Nobody loses. It’s not really a competition, any more than the hydro races are.
Compare that to the sad state of fans & sportsmanship at almost any other professional “sport” and see if you don’t agree. Or check out the ever-increasing amounts of violence in “Pro Rasslin” or any of the other extreme fighting sports that keep being invented. I’ll take watching big trucks smash old cars any day over that violence & sexist shit.
Not everyone there to watch the monster trucks is a right-wing gun-totin’ zealot out to strip you of your rights either. No more than every member of the crowd at any Saturday night show at, say, Nectar is a tree-spiking Greenpeace member who throws blood on fur coats. I’m also certainly not breeding like a rabbit and neither are most of the other people attending, from what I can see. Most are perfectly normal folk with two kids and ordinary jobs.
Nobody goes to a monster truck show hoping to see an accident. They want to see some big trucks smash stuff up. Yeah, it’s primal, noisy, and pointless. Isn’t listening to a band thrash away at full volume for a couple hours sorta the same?
And you know what? The shows really are for kids anyway (again, putting the tragic accident aside for the moment). Children have short attention spands, and enjoy things that are noisy and full of action. Monster truck shows fill the bill pretty well. Would you take a six-year-old to an art gallery, and try to explain why, say, the artist braided ropes out of his dog’s hair and nailed it to the walls and expect him or her to get it? No.
I go to art galleries, I actually enjoy a lot of the weird and strange stuff artists do in Seattle, so you can’t peg me as one of the philistines you’re railing against. However, if I did have kids, I’d take them to see monster trucks far more than I’d take them to art galleries (although I would do that too).
Having said that, the accident was tragic, my condolences to everyone involved. From reports it appears that a safety device meant to contain a mechanical failure failed itself – one of those once-in-a-million freak accidents that there’s not really a way to prevent.
Well, hasn’t this story gotten Seattle’s bike riding, hipster carbon nazis in a feeding frenzy.
Couple of gang bangers shoot each other at a hip hop show and suddenly these same tossers are out in the great defense of ‘culture’.
7- to 12- pound? or ton?
Seriously, its a 6 – year old kid. Not a lot of compassion here. Jerks… regardless of what your opinion of any of it is. Thanks Kelly.