A man shouting that God would keep him safe was mauled to death by a lioness in Kiev zoo after he crept into the animal's enclosure, a zoo official said on Monday.
"The man shouted 'God will save me, if he exists', lowered himself by a rope into the enclosure, took his shoes off and went up to the lions," the official said.
"A lioness went straight for him, knocked him down and severed his carotid artery."
(Via Chapel Perilous.)
This is almost as funny as that kid who died from lead poisoning after gnawing his "WWJD?" bracelet.* What bothers me here isn't the element of human tragedy -- there is none -- but the possibility that zoo officials might have been compelled to "put down" the lioness to placate spectators.
*True.
5 comments:
Maybe the guy was actually an atheist with the courage of his convictions.
Major premise: If God exists, he will save me.
Minor Premise: God didn't save me.
Ergo....
w.m. -
What. You. Said.
Or to put it in Latin...
Post Hoc, ergo Propter Hoc.
Indeed...BALLSY!!
Kyle
UFOReflections.blogspot.com
Maybe the guy was actually an atheist with the courage of his convictions.
Or maybe he was just a dumbass. I know, I know. I'm being cynical.
Kyle -- Thanks! (What did I say?)
jezzie -- I do wonder how individuals manage to let themselves be taken over so completely by what some writers call a "meme." The ancients, however, did actually used to do stuff like this just to make a philosophical point. For example, Socrates drank the hemlock when he could easily have slipped off to some place other than Athens, as many of his disciples urged him to do.
Or, alternatively, this could simply be yet another "urban legend." The more I think about, the more likely this seems. What truly amazes me is that urban legend sometimes seem to get picked up by reputable venues such as local papers and narrated as though they were somehow eyewitness events. So I've got to say, I'm very sceptical of this one after thinking about it some more.
weevee: zthbvf ("Absolutely the last, final BVF"?)