Hehe. I have a tendency at times to mask the point I try to make by through ill-conceived ranting, typically seasoned with a healthy dose of invective criticism. What is more unfortunate is when I hit the "post now" button whilst still riled and standing tall on my soap box, only to realise later that the meaning behind my post could be conceived as being somewhat unclear
I don't see the issue,people need to take responsibility for their own actions.In the case of kids doing the monkey see monkey do thing, then their parents need to educate their children a bit better.
Oh, indeed. But what we're talking about here is someone who is, however indirectly, teaching people that basic safety precautions can be thrown to the wind. but I guess that's the norm. Believe me when I say I am ALL about people taking responsibility for their own actions (please, OH PLEASE don't get me started on THAT, or the ranting invective mentioned above will take on a whole new level
), but I just don't think people should be actively TAUGHT how to be stupid - there are too many people in this world who are already overly possessed of a natural talent for that!
As has been mentioned already check out Rob Bredl - The Barefoot Bushman.
I remember watching the Barefoot Bushman as a teenager, possessed - like all teenagers - with enough commonsense to rival a bowl of fruit. Even then however, I was shocked that a documentary presenter would be silly enough to be getting around barefoot in the bush... I guess I have more appreciation for 'traditional' nature-based media - more on that below
Presenters are mostly just the face in front of the lens, the producers and directors would have more influence over content, and seeing as documentaries are an entertainment medium before they are an education medium the shot-callers would be more inclined to have the "slightly out there host who has some unique or risky character" as it would generate more popularity than would the conservative safety prioritized host. IMO
Ok... deep breath... prepare for the inevitable onslaught these words will produce...
I am NOT a fan of the latest genre of
"extreme documentary presenters"! Steve Irwin (at least, from what I remember, he wore footwear
), Austin Stevens, and others like them, have absolutely NOTHING on the likes of presenters like David Attenborough. I would much rather watch Sir David sit quietly and wait as the animals come to him, speaking softly and moving slowly so as not to startle them. In my opinion, THIS is the way you produce a documentary and advertise the natural world. There is nothing natural, or particularly appealing, about watching a man dive head first into a river and chase down an annaconda, just to wrestle and manhandle it for the amusement of the small-minded amongst us. However, this is diverging from the point of the thread, so I will stop here before anyone decides to become personally offended by a broad general statement.
It is hard to make a definitive judgment not having watched the footage. There are certainly some places you could go without, no issues. However, in general terms, not wearing footwear in Africa is a potentially serious health hazard. Apart from danger of snake bite, which kills many thousands of Africans every year, there are some very nasty and prevalent parasites that can be acquired that way. So if is not a cultural thing for her to go bare foot and she is just being comfortable or different or “communing with nature”, given she has the capacity to influence those less aware of the dangers, I would agree with it being irresponsible. Perhaps if they had bothered to provide an explanation. I cannot help but wonder how she would go trekking barefoot across some hot desert sand at 1 pm mid-summer...
I added the bold format to the above, as I agree wholeheartedly. The footage in question was titled "A Lioness' Heart", or something similar. An otherwise reasonable documentary by an otherwise reasonable presenter.
