# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/81 "2003-09-17T21:36:27Z")
Sure, but do you then agree that Blaine and his management should maybe have researched the “national character” and discovered that taking the piss is ubiquitous, especially for people Blaine, who have their heads rammed all the way up their own arses (particularly in the Eamonn Holmes interview, in which Blaine was incredibly damn rude himself, and humiliated Holmes on live TV in front of millions of viewers). Maybe not “asking” to be abused, but abuse was a likely outcome… ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/82 "2003-09-17T21:42:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted \ by London\_Calling \* > **Humiliatingly, his German girlfriend, Manon von Gerkan, had to be cranked up on a crane to wash the box with a cloth.** If she really loved him, she would have eased his loneliness while she was up there by sticking one of her German boobs into one of his airholes. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/83 "2003-09-17T22:56:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by suranyi \* > \*\*…After all, when you go see David Copperfield, do you think he REALLY makes a woman disappear? > > Ed \*\* Come to think of it, Claudia Schiffer has been out of the news lately… ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/84 "2003-09-17T23:24:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*Sure, but do you then agree that Blaine and his management should maybe have researched the “national character” and discovered that taking the piss is ubiquitous, especially for people Blaine, who have their heads rammed all the way up their own arses (particularly in the Eamonn Holmes interview, in which Blaine was incredibly damn rude himself, and humiliated Holmes on live TV in front of millions of viewers). Maybe not “asking” to be abused, but abuse was a likely outcome… \*\* Then again, they may have discovered that taking the piss out of Eamonn Holmes is ubiquitous… 28th September: West Ham v Millwall. I reckon Blaine will learn one or two things about abuse that day… ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/85 "2003-09-17T23:46:00Z")
Can someone tell me why his girlfriend and not some stagehand is wiping the crap off his cage? I think that actually throwing stuff at him is too much. I’m all for the laser pointer/stripping/food truck/yelling stuff though. For one thing I want the trick to be hard! If nobody gave a crap and he was all alone at 4 a.m. then the stunt would be useless. Face it, him withstanding the taunting and being under constant surveillance are what makes this at all interesting. ---
**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/86 "2003-09-17T23:54:48Z")
I think the only interesting thing about David Blaines latest stunt is the abuse he is getting. I find it insulting that he is deliberatley starving himself in the name of entertainment without even giving a vague nod to the plight of the millions of people who are genuinley starving and who won’t get a cheque for $7 million for at the end of their torment. I think a few thrown eggs is a walk in the park compared to dying a horrible, horrible death. So I am going down there to express my displeasure by lobbing stuff at the foolish goon…any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/87 "2003-09-18T00:10:15Z")
I was up in London today, just a short walk away from where this whole thing is going on; I had intended to go along and take a look, but in the end, I couldn’t be arsed and just made use of the time by catching an earlier train home. I’ve heard people speculate that (because he is clearly after attention), the whole thing must have been planned this way; isn’t he clever for getting the food-throwing british public to play right into his hands? Well, I hold a slightly different opinion on the matter, if there’s one thing he might have done that is clever, it would be the way that, no matter what reaction he gets, he’s somehow made people willing to attribute it to intention on his part. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/88 "2003-09-18T00:40:36Z")
> [@](#): > > shame on those who bring a rape analogy into this. I stand by what I said. And I was not saying that being pelted with rocks and getting raped are the same thing. I just said that one punishment is as much deserved as the other. (hint: neither are deserved) ---
**Author:** ![Jojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecd19e/32.png) [@Jojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jojo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/89 "2003-09-18T01:53:58Z")
Esprix said: > [@](#): > > Well it certainly doesn’t speak well of the British people. Even his girlfriend said New Yorkers treated him better than this. You people are rude. Please don’t judge all of us by the actions of a few. I agree with you entirely. I laid out my position in the pit thread and I haven’t read anything yet that’s made me change my mind. The arguments about “doing it for charity” and “what about the starving people in the world” and “what about hunger strikers” are all just so silly I can’t even be bothered addressing them. I went to see Blaine and I didn’t see anyone throwing anything. Most people (the silent majority) feel the same as you and I. British people can be both extremely polite and unbelievably rude. They admire both traits so that is why you see people here supporting the egg throwers. They wouldn’t throw eggs themselves but they admire the “rude streak” that the egg throwers embody. As regards spirituality, there is such a thing as a “vision quest” that I believe the native Indians used to undergo. You go without food for a long period and, apparently, you start to have visions. I once knew somebody who stayed in Death Valley for a week without food in search of a vision. All he saw though was a cactus that appeared to breathe. ---
**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 18, 2003, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/90 "2003-09-18T02:52:42Z")
For the record, I do not see all Britons the same way. Esprix ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/91 "2003-09-18T10:09:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Attrayant \* > \*\*I stand by what I said. And I was not saying that being pelted with rocks and getting raped are the same thing. I just said that one punishment is as much deserved as the other. (hint: neither are deserved) \*\* And thus you _again_ completely ignore the doctrine of proportionality and the principal of a Just War. Clearly not a fan of the works of St. Augustine, then. Oh! But I see that you “stand by what [you] said”! Well then, I must quiver in fear and back off from your impenetrable position. Look everybody! He stands by what he says! It’s all over! pan ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/92 "2003-09-18T10:13:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Esprix \* > \*\*For the record, I do not see all Britons the same way. > > Esprix \*\* Wow! I do. If you really do have a method other than “with your eyes”, you should contact a Mr. D. Blaine. He’ll probably put you in touch with a Mr. U. Geller and between the three of you, you’ll clean up! pan ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/93 "2003-09-18T10:16:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Esprix \* > **You’re obviously _allowed_ to do all of those things, as no one has been stopped from doing so. And I’m in no position to tell you what you can or cannot do. I do not have to agree with it, however.** That’s right, ain’t choice a wonderful thing? You don’t have to agree with it, they don’t have to stop it and Blaine doesn’t have to puff himself up like a western Dalai Lama and suspend himself from Tower Bridge for 6 weeks. We’ve been throwing eggs at those who try to put themselves up as our superiors for centuries. Why in the bloody hell should we stop now? pan ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/94 "2003-09-18T10:21:13Z")
Lets do the math (as you oh so polite americans say) Reasons to taunt Blaine: He’s a fat yank. In London. In a box. Dangling from a crane. The muppet. He’s totally up himself He’s a total tit. He’s a pal of Michael Jackson It’s enormous fun. You can do it when you are drunk. It’s a game for all the family Reasons not to taunt Blaine I need some help here… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/95 "2003-09-18T10:24:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dewey Cheatem Undhow \* > **It’s OK – they’re throwing _British_ food at him, which is practically inedible.** Yes, those horrible, horrible ‘egg’ things that people eat here - yuck! (Or have you found a report somewhere of people throwing ‘kidney pie’ at him?) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/96 "2003-09-18T10:28:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by owlstretchingtime \* > **He’s a total tit.** Funny enough, these exact words formed part of my inner dialogue yesterday, as I made the decision to head to Waterloo instead. ---
**Author:** ![greandog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@greandog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greandog)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/97 "2003-09-18T10:40:10Z")
well, as a Brit who lives in London and works about 100 meters away from where the stunt is being performed (some might say a stones throw away), it is pretty bemusing walking past him at lunch. Pretty much all of the people standing there gawping at him are tourists! You know why? Because most of the population of london think this guy is a complete tit and can’t see the point of it. Plus, the British like nothing more than to take the piss out of people, especially if they are famous - and it’s very easy to do so when they are caged up suspended from a crane. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/98 "2003-09-18T10:52:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by owlstretchingtime \* > \*\*Reasons not to taunt Blaine > > I need some help here… \*\* “It’s rude” - **Esprix** (“Well, duh!” - Brits) ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/99 "2003-09-18T12:42:51Z")
Latest Blaine news (this is real - it’s from the Blainewatch site) "A group of gay men are planning to go and throw chipolata sausages at Blaine. " That is truly surreal. ---
**Author:** ![fizzygoodmakefeelnice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@fizzygoodmakefeelnice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fizzygoodmakefeelnice)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779/100 "2003-09-18T12:49:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jojo \* > \*\* > As regards spirituality, there is such a thing as a “vision quest” that I believe the native Indians used to undergo. You go without food for a long period and, apparently, you start to have visions. I once knew somebody who stayed in Death Valley for a week without food in search of a vision. > . \*\* As I said before, why does going on a “vision quest” necessitate dangling from a crane and being paid millions for television coverage? That sounds neither personal or spiritual to me. But what do I know. Was he really naive enough to expect us to draw him to our collective British bosoms (and damn fine bosoms too!)? I doubt it. I’m sure he had at least a small inkling that people might take the piss in various amusing ways. And he still came. So, yes, in a way he is asking for it. Or did he actually expect us all to say oooooh and ahhhhhh and be really impressed? Poor sausage. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-david-blaine-asking-to-be-abused/201779.md?page=6)