# Is David Blaine asking to be abused? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 15, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779 "2003-09-15T18:59:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/1 "2003-09-15T18:59:13Z")
As many people know, [David Blaine](http://www.davidblaine.com/), the American magician/illusionist/performance artist/charlatan (whatever you want to call him) is currently [suspended in a plastic box over the Thames in London for 44 days](http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/D/david_blaine/index.html) taking in nothing but water in a feat of endurance. In [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=209964), several of our UK Dopers are either supporting or actively participating in his public ridicule, consisting mostly of throwing things at him (eggs, cakes, etc.) and and doing things to break his concentration (laser pointers, flashing him, playing loud music to keep him awake, etc.). The justification? **"He’s asking for it."** Is he? Esprix [Fixed link. – MEB] ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/2 "2003-09-15T19:07:15Z")
> [@](#): > > The justification? “He’s asking for it.” > > Is he? Yes, in my opinion, he’s trying to attract as big a spectacle as possible. On the other hand, that doesn’t mean I don’t think the people that are trying to annoy him aren’t… well… annoying. A better tactic would be to print huge signs that point out just why Blaine’s little trick isn’t that amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/3 "2003-09-15T19:24:36Z")
I have my suspicions that he had “his people” start the ridicule as part of the whole act. It’s easy to cheat when your cube is covered in chocolate sauce (and that’s a mantra I aim to live by). ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/4 "2003-09-15T19:27:23Z")
Argh. Can a Moderator fix my coding? Thank you! Esprix ---
**Author:** ![An\_Lu\_abu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@An\_Lu\_abu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Lu_abu)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/5 "2003-09-15T19:40:10Z")
Hunger striking has historically been a political activity in the British Isles, notably with the Suffragette movement and Republicanism in Ireland. Worldwide there are countless dying of starvation every day. I have fasted for charity for short periods, however self starvation it for the sake of spectacle and notoriety makes something of a mockery of these things, particularly when most are convinced that it’s a trick of some sort. I’m not saying that the ill wishers are motivated by this, but it’s a possibility. Another, possibly more realistic point of view is the inherent cynicism of folks over here, much more than I have found in the US. I have little doubt that if Blane were to pull the same in Dublin he would get just as much abuse. Written more eloquently than I could, from this mornings New York Times: > [@](#): > > \*\* > [Disillusionment Over the Thames](http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/15/international/europe/15LOND.html) > > LONDON, Sept. 13 — To the extent there was a consensus among those watching the illusionist David Blaine’s latest endurance feat, it was that Mr. Blaine did not deserve to be pelted with eggs, attacked by golf balls, harassed with laser pens or jolted awake by people banging on drums, as has happened to him since Sept. 5.\*\* The piece about the burger van was the best! In conclusion- I think he deserves ridicule, flashers and rude gestures, but physical attacks on his abode, such as it is, are a little beyond what is called for. IMHO regards, Ken [Edited text for copyright and added link. – MEB] ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/6 "2003-09-15T20:00:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Projectiles aside, Mr. Blaine still has his fans. More than two million people watched the television special in which he entered the box, and he is attracting a corps of loyal observers, including one the other day dressed as Saddam Hussein. I love the British. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/7 "2003-09-15T20:07:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Munch \* > **It’s easy to cheat when your cube is covered in chocolate sauce** —A sig line if ever I heard one! ---
**Author:** ![musicguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@musicguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/musicguy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/8 "2003-09-15T20:13:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by An Lú abú \* > \*\* > > The ridicule started soon after his stunt began, when he was pelted with bananas, French fries and eggs that dripped down the side of his temporary home. Humiliatingly, his German girlfriend, Manon von Gerkan, had to be cranked up on a crane to wash the box with a cloth. “I find it quite bizarre that people here have felt it necessary to throw eggs and other things at David,” she told reporters. “We never had anything like this in New York.” > \*\* This may be the first time I have ever heard of New Yorkers being considered more polite than the british. 🙂 > [@](#): > > \*\* > In conclusion- I think he deserves ridicule, flashers and rude gestures, but physical attacks on his abode, such as it is, are a little beyond what is called for. > \*\* I’m not sure I understand why “he deserves ridicule”. For being an entertainer? I would rather see him succeed or fail based on his ability, rather than because of somebody determined to do whatever it takes to make him fail. ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/9 "2003-09-15T20:14:53Z")
[snark]And Americans are supposed to be the rude ones? [/snark] That being said, if he’s got his mind set on starving in a cube for 44 days he could at least use it to increase awareness about starvation or something. As it is, he comes off as being a self-centered and egotistical attention whore. I don’t think people should abuse him, but he may well deserve that abuse. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/10 "2003-09-15T20:17:31Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m not sure I understand why “he deserves ridicule”. I guess because he’s seen as an attention whore. I’m sorry, _hungry_ attention whore. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/11 "2003-09-15T20:18:43Z")
I’m sorry. Hungry attention whore _wearing a diaper_. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/12 "2003-09-15T20:30:12Z")
Where exactly is he hanging? I’m going up to (Old) Scotland Yard just off Trafalgar Square on Thursday, I might go and ‘egg’ him on. ---
**Author:** ![musicguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@musicguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/musicguy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/13 "2003-09-15T20:36:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Marley23 \* > \*\*I guess because he’s seen as an attention whore. \*\* Aren’t all entertainers “attention whores” to some degree? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/14 "2003-09-15T20:48:02Z")
I wish no physical harm upon him (other than that which he’s inflicting on himself), but I believe he is indeed asking for it. This is a man whose job is to set himself up as a public spectacle. He courts attention for a living; that’s what has made him a multimillionaire. Without an audience, he would be nothing. There is no obligation whatsoever for that audience to react with any respect at all. The audience is at liberty to react with total derision. Furthermore, as I said in the Pit thread, I seriously doubt that he would be suffering such abuse if he weren’t receiving (something like) $7 million for his trouble, but rather was performing the stunt for charity. I feel that his management did not do their research. Blaine comes across (to me and clearly to many people in England) as someone who takes themselves too seriously, is “full of himself”, is self-serving, and presents himself as a pseudo-mystic. We don’t mind attention whores, just not self-important ones. Yes, it’s rude. Yes, it’s disrespectful. But pricking the bubble of pomposity is a long-standing British tradition, and I applaud it. ---
**Author:** ![ChaosGod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac91a4/32.png) [@ChaosGod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChaosGod)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/15 "2003-09-15T20:50:57Z")
Don’t americans annoy the “Royal Guards” all the time? , trying to make’em flinch or laugh? Well… ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/16 "2003-09-15T21:01:34Z")
Think of it another way - how would New Yorkers react to a 44-day televised mime-a-thon…? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/17 "2003-09-15T21:02:15Z")
> [@](#): > > Aren’t all entertainers “attention whores” to some degree? I’m trying to guess at the perception of the heckers. I’d be out there heckling him just because I think it’s funny. I suppose you could indeed make that argument, but I think a guy who locks himself in a box and refuses to eat for six weeks is MUCH more of an attention whore than, say, a musician. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/18 "2003-09-15T21:05:18Z")
That’d be “heckLer” in the first sentence. Also: most of the people who willingly go through fasts like this are probably Buddhist monks seeking enlightenment. That might be silly, but it beats getting rich off it like Blaine. Nevermind that, intentionally or not, he’s offering himself up for comparison to Gandhi. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![musicguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@musicguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/musicguy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/19 "2003-09-15T21:19:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Marley23 \* > \*\* I suppose you could indeed make that argument, but I think a guy who locks himself in a box and refuses to eat for six weeks is MUCH more of an attention whore than, say, a musician. \*\* Well, I know a lot of starving musicians who probably would consider locking themselves in a box for six weeks if they could get the attention and money that Blaine is getting. Hell, they aren’t eating anyway. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/20 "2003-09-15T21:20:35Z")
Good point, good point. But I’m giving musicians credit because I think playing an instrument is a talent and being hungry isn’t. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779.md?page=2)