# Are the Darwin Awards Offensive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 26, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-darwin-awards-offensive/511650 "2009-09-26T15:59:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-darwin-awards-offensive/511650/61 "2009-09-30T20:59:01Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > What was the elephant doing on a vaction? 😃 And wearing my pajamas?? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-darwin-awards-offensive/511650/62 "2009-09-30T22:05:05Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Are the Darwin Awards offensive as it makes fun of people who died or it is not as it is treating idiots as they deserve to be? Choose any or all of the following. They are: 1. Outstanding 2. Awesome 3. Spectacular 4. Funnier 'n hell ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-darwin-awards-offensive/511650/63 "2009-10-05T03:19:38Z")
I reread the latest collection, and while there are a few that don’t deserve to be there, I think most of them do illustrate spectacularly stupid/entertaining deaths. Who can argue with the [inclusion](http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2007-18.html) of the chemistry student who thought he could live forever by drinking poison? Or the man who tested whether his jacket was [stab-proof](http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2006-10.html)- while wearing it? Even for those sensitive souls who find the whole concept of Darwin Awards wrong-minded… I think even you guys can laugh at [this one](http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2007-07.html) guilt-free. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-darwin-awards-offensive/511650/64 "2009-10-05T07:54:51Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Can you assend all the way in an emergency (getting the bends) and reverse it with a decompression chamber? In theory, yes, but people die or are injured all the time if they don’t make it to the decompression chamber quickly enough. There are lots of variables involved that make it a lousy “Plan A”, but a hyperbaric chamber is probably going to be better than nothing. Does anyone have any first-hand SCUBA experience that can elaborate? My knowledge is second-hand. EDIT: The Wikipedia article suggests that decompression sickness sometimes sets in as much as a few hours after the dive. Consider my ignorance fought; I thought it was a lot faster than that. > **[Decompression sickness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decompression_sickness)** > > Decompression sickness (DCS; also called divers' disease, the bends, aerobullosis, and caisson disease) is a medical condition caused by dissolved gases emerging from solution as bubbles inside the body tissues during decompression. DCS most commonly occurs during or soon after a decompression ascent from underwater diving, but can also result from other causes of depressurization, such as emerging from a caisson, decompression from saturation, flying in an unpressurised aircraft at high alti... ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-darwin-awards-offensive/511650/65 "2009-10-06T02:55:10Z")
I find them potentially offensive, but they are they are far too funny to make the accusation stick. ETA: It’s what makes America’s Funniest Home Videos as funny today, to a large subset of the population, as it was a couple decades ago. It’s slapstick, the comedy style that will stay funny until we annihilate ourselves in a fashion that aliens will find funny. “Kang! Look at this dumbfuck, launching a missile that will kill millions of people he has no personal grudge against! Hahahaha! Shithead!” ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-darwin-awards-offensive/511650/66 "2009-10-07T15:26:35Z")
Here’s a couple of contenders: > [@](#): > > While the pair scuffle, a club-goer dressed as Spiderman appears from the queue and attempted to diffuse the situation but himself became the target of an attack. > > After raining down blows on the Superhero clubber, the young thugs walk away apparently buoyant from the incident. > > But they then made a mistake of confronting a man walking innocently by who was wearing black hot pants and a pink wig. > … > The victim’s friend, who is wearing a short black dress and stockings and suspenders, suddenly appears behind them and fells them both with lightening punches. > > The confrontation is over in seconds, the men in drag turn to walk away — but not before one has leant over the pair to retrieve his dropped clutch bag. [Video: ‘Drag queen’ floors thugs in Swansea street fight](http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/southwalesnews/Drag-queen-floors-thugs-Swansea-street-fight/article-1395475-detail/article.html) [Youtube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSILex-2Uu8&feature=player_embedded) ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-darwin-awards-offensive/511650/67 "2009-10-07T16:52:07Z")
I always thought that a better concept for the Darwin Awards would be cool examples from the animal and plant kingdom of how they have adapted. Like the [Pistol Shrimp](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKPrGxB1Kzc) that **literally** creates a sonic blast with it’s claw to stun it’s prey. It is pretty fricking’ cool and it is just one example ofrom the natural world. Those are the kind of Darwin Awards I want to see. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-darwin-awards-offensive/511650.md?page=3)