Butchering Baby Brother

There is a new movie coming out – or maybe it’s out – we don’t have movie theaters in The Sandbox so the movie won’t be playing here. [There are movie theaters an hour and a half away – across The Causeway – in Bahrain.] I recently saw a commentary on the news about the movie – Greg Boardman, who owns a movie theater in Illinois, has refused to show the movie – or “drivel” as he calls it – on the grounds that the type of person that is drawn to this genre is not the type of person he wants in his theater. The movie is Jackass Two. I never saw the first Jackass movie; and I’ve never seen the television show, Jackass.

From what little I cared to research about Jackass, the premise would appear to be basically a guy or a bunch of guys doing really stupid “someone could get hurt doing this and don’t try this at home” type of stunts. Whether the television show or either of the movies has any plot or story line at all… Who knows? Perhaps there is a Jackass fan that can enlighten me.

Unfortunately, the satellite dish, although technically illegal, has provided homes here, in The Sandbox, with unfettered access to “western” television programming. A variety of systems are available, as well as different tiers of service, depending on what it is you are willing to pay for – rather like in the States where you have “basic cable” and “premium cable” packages. Thus, Jackass may well be available on one of the satellite systems that are broadcast in The Sandbox; it certainly is not a program that this household is able to view on the very limited “basic” service we have.

How many lawsuits have been filed because some kid – a child – made an attempt at imitating some stunt that one of the Jackass’s did? I have no clue. I’m sure I remember hearing about one – and after a quick Google search I found this:

"Though this is perhaps the most unique blast against the defunct MTV series (it ran through 2000 and 2001 before Knoxville called it quits) and $60 million-making film, it is most certainly not the first. The show has been hit with other lawsuits and much criticism after teens around the country tried to replicate the dangerous stunts and bizarre practical jokes.

A New Mexico teen died in early December trying to copy a stunt in the film, and a Seattle teen suffered severe burns when imitating the TV show in November. And in 2001, several other kids were hospitalized for trying to pull off a Knoxvillian stunt, including one boy who was burned when his friends poured gas on his legs and set him on fire and two teenagers who tried to outrun a moving car. Even one of Knoxville's own pranksters, model Stephanie Hodges, broke her back and fractured her pelvis in a TV stunt gone awry."

More than one lawsuit has been filed. You’d think “kids” would know better, but apparently not. Oh – and – remember the twelve-year old boy in Florida imitating a professional wrestler that killed a six year old?

Which leads us to this:

"A 10-year-old child was about to kill his younger brother when he tried to imitate butchers slaughtering animals, Okaz reported Sunday.

He laid down his brother and pierced his jugular vein with a sharp knife. The scene of the blood pouring from his brother’s neck drove him crazy and he started screaming hysterically – which alerted his parents – who then rushed the younger brother to the King Abdul Aziz Specialist Hospital.

A team of surgeons in the hospital rushed the child into the operation to stop the bleeding by stitching the torn vein."

I am only going to partially lay blame at the feet of the parents – mother and/or father – I realize that most parents aren’t going to be watching a ten-year old child every single waking minute of that child’s day – and I think it would be unreasonable to expect that. The parents do need to shoulder part of the blame, however, for their negligence with regard to teaching their child that a knife is NOT a toy. Further, that the parents would allow an impressionable ten-year-old child to observe animals being slaughtered by the butcher is reprehensible.

I sincerely hope the younger brother is fine – or at least okay – how can you be “fine” when you’ve just had your jugular vein pierced?!? As for the older brother? I have some doubts. This child is going to need some very serious supervision! Somehow I picture this child continuing down a rather wayward path… I know if I was his neighbor I’d be keeping an extra close eye on my two four-legged “Kids” or any two-legged ones if I had them.

If this was the “West,” a lawyer would have already contacted the family. You know the type. The “ambulance chasing,” personal injury, pay nothing unless you get a settlement, dial 1-800-IAMHURT kind of attorney. A lawsuit would be filed on the grounds that the child would not have tried to “butcher his brother with a knife” if he hadn’t seen “Jackass” on television – or professional wrestling – or the butcher down the street.

After all, shouldn’t the butcher AND the knife manufacturer – or, in actuality, the insurance companies – take responsibility for this ten-year-old child’s actions by making a knife that is used to slaughter animals and for not slitting the animal’s throat behind closed doors? One doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to deduce that butchering animals should not be done in front of a child who might glean the slightest iota of an idea that he too could do what the butcher does, and “doesn’t Mommy have a knife similar to that one at home?” Um-hmm. Immediate lawsuit.

Does this happen here, in The Sandbox? People filing [frivolous] lawsuits on a whim because they refuse to take responsibility for their own actions and believe that whatever bad happens is the fault of someone or something else? To the best of my knowledge, it is just not done here on anything remotely close to the proportion it is done in the States. Having had the unparalleled privilege of working for far too many years at a “dial 1-800-IAMHURT” firm I believe can offer my opinion in this regard as an authority on the issue. Which, of course, is not to say that lawsuits are not filed here; they are. But with an entirely different type of justice system [Sharia] coupled with the fact that insurance is a concept still in its infantile stage in The Sandbox, it is not likely that The Kingdom will be spouting billboards and television commercials touting the “1-800-IAMHURT” rationale anytime soon.

This scenario of a boy whose jugular vein has been pierced with a knife has ramifications that could have been much, much more grave if the young boy’s parents – parents as in two – Mom and Dad – were not home. Imagine for a moment what would have happened if this “let’s pretend I’m the butcher” game took place on a typical weekday: The boys are home from school and have gone off to play while Mom is sitting in front of the television watching the latest episode of her favorite soap opera. Dad is not home – he is still at work. Mom hears screaming and discovers to her horror that one of her children has blood gushing from his neck!

In ANY other country Mom simply grabs her pocketbook and the CAR KEYS and immediately rushes her child to the nearest Emergency Room. Only, here, in The Sandbox, is it haram* for Mom to drive! Uth-oh. Now what? Wait for the ambulance? Wait until DH can leave work and get home to get Mom and Boys to go to the Emergency Room? Hope one of the neighbor’s has a car and driver ready and available? And how much blood has this child now lost in the meantime?

Just food for thought… How many little children have to die before women are going to be allowed to drive in this Country? [Actually, the ten-year old son could have driven his brother to the hospital – believe it or not that would be more tolerable than letting Mom – or ANY woman – get behind the wheel.]

That there won’t be a lawsuit filed against Jackass or the World Wrestling Federation is a plus. And, unless I’m quite mistaken, there aren’t too many video games that involve butchering animals – so suing Nintendo or X-Box is out as well.

*Haram – Arabic term for “that which is strictly and specifically forbade in such a way that doing it would bring punishment in the hereafter and possibly a penalty in this life as well.”