# Nice hair, cancer girl. Need a light? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 3, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922 "2004-12-03T17:57:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/1 "2004-12-03T17:57:34Z")
It seems a 14 year-old boy in Wales has [set fire](http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_objectid=14939232&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=cancer-girl--11--has-her-hair-set-on-fire-at-school-name_page.html) to the hair of an 11 year-old girl who had just grown it back following a four year battle with cancer. Yeah, I’d like to resign from the human race now please? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/2 "2004-12-03T18:00:59Z")
No, \*\*Otto \*\* you _may not_. If people like you stop being human, we’ll \*only \* have losers like this kid. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/3 "2004-12-03T18:02:46Z")
Somebody should light that 14 year old boy on fire. Not enough to kill him, just enough to cinge off all his hair and the top layer of his skin. What a fucked up thing to do! ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/4 "2004-12-03T18:05:31Z")
He didn’t burn off all her hair, did he? Maybe some salon will step up and give her a nice new style. As for the 14-year-old…I hope they throw the book at him. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/5 "2004-12-03T18:06:21Z")
It’s not clear that this was intentional, from the little detail provided in the article. “He had a cigarette lighter and was messing around with it. But Bianca didn’t even know he was there until she smelt the smoke.” So she was walking by between classes as he was playing with fire. Could have been accidental. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/6 "2004-12-03T18:11:35Z")
> [@](#): > > "Bianca is already blind in her left eye and the left side of her face is paralysed. This part made me the saddest. Poor thing. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/7 "2004-12-03T18:12:22Z")
I lit somebody’s hair on fire once. It was at a “Take Back the Night” rally against rape and sexual assault. The rally had just ended, and, during it, she had told her story about being sexually assaulted. So, I hugged her, and forgot that I was holding a lit candle, and that she was wearing hairspray. (After that, we went out to a club, and her car broke down on the way back, leaving us stuck on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere while we waited for Triple A. All in all, it was probably a pretty emotional night for her, all things considered.) ---
**Author:** ![D.E.S.K.Top668](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@D.E.S.K.Top668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D.E.S.K.Top668)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/8 "2004-12-03T18:14:05Z")
From the linked article; > [@](#): > > "She’s told us she was waiting to go into her history lesson when this boy attacked her. > > "He had a cigarette lighter and was messing around with it. > > “But Bianca didn’t even know he was there until she smelt the smoke.” Hmm, somewhat contradictory. Was she attacked, or did she not even know he was there? As something similar happened to me once, the wording makes me believe he was messing around with the lighter and caught her hair on fire (possibly by accident). Still a really jerkish thing to do, and deserving of expulsion, but I really can’t agree with the suggestion of retribution by fire that was suggested. Peace - DESk ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/9 "2004-12-03T18:14:20Z")
It is a stupid, dangerous, asshole prank to set **anybody** ’s hair on fire, but I saw nothing in the OP’s linked article that indicated that it had anything to do with the victim’s having had cancer, or having grown back her hair after it fell out due to chemotherapy, or any other factor in her (unquestionably very lamentable) personal misfortunes. > [@](#): > > "She’s told us she was waiting to go into her history lesson when this boy attacked her. > > "He had a cigarette lighter and was messing around with it. > > “But Bianca didn’t even know he was there until she smelt the smoke.” It is especially mean to pull a stupid dangerous asshole prank like this on somebody who’s already had so much to endure. But it is also nasty and exploitative for a newspaper to use her unfortunate history to sensationalize its story (especially with a phrase like “cancer girl” in its title) when there is no evidence that her history had anything to do with the attack. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/10 "2004-12-03T18:39:21Z")
I wonder what it says about me that my first reaction was relief that (for once, it seems) it wasn’t an American kid doing something stupid. Maybe I should stop watching the local news in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/11 "2004-12-03T18:52:17Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > It is a stupid, dangerous, asshole prank to set **anybody** ’s hair on fire, but I saw nothing in the OP’s linked article that indicated that it had anything to do with the victim’s having had cancer, or having grown back her hair after it fell out due to chemotherapy, or any other factor in her (unquestionably very lamentable) personal misfortunes. > > It is especially mean to pull a stupid dangerous asshole prank like this on somebody who’s already had so much to endure. But it is also nasty and exploitative for a newspaper to use her unfortunate history to sensationalize its story (especially with a phrase like “cancer girl” in its title) when there is no evidence that her history had anything to do with the attack. As **D.E.S.K.Top668** has pointed out, there is not enough detail to know if it _was_ an “attack”. Deliberately setting a girl’s hair on fire = attack. Screwing around with a lighter, girl’s hair catches on fire = stupid kid accident. Not an attack. I can’t tell whether it was one or the other. Mostly, I think this is a silly and sensationalist article, designed deliberately to inflame emotions (pardon the pun! 😉 ). “Cancer girl” indeed. The innuendo is that the “attacker” deliberately set this girl’s hair on fire _because_ she had been treated for cancer. Sounds unlikely to me. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/12 "2004-12-03T19:38:34Z")
**Malthus:** \*As **D.E.S.K.Top668** has pointed out, there is not enough detail to know if it was an “attack”. \* True. If it was a deliberate attack, then this article is a nasty, exploitative story about a stupid, dangerous, asshole prank. If it wasn’t, then the article is a nasty, exploitative, **dishonest** story about a stupid, dangerous, asshole accident. (I mean really, playing with lighters close to somebody’s hair is just dumb.) If it was a deliberate attack **related to the victim’s having had cancer** , then the article’s presentation of the story is justified, but so far there’s no reason to believe that. Them’s my sentiments. ---
**Author:** ![D.E.S.K.Top668](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@D.E.S.K.Top668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D.E.S.K.Top668)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/13 "2004-12-03T20:29:28Z")
As you can tell by the simul-post, **Kimstu** , we’re pretty much in agreement ;). While I agree that the headline was exploitative, I think that her cancer is an important part of the story, attack or accident. As bad as getting your hair burned is, the fact that she had just grown it back after chemo just raises the bar of of the incident. I’m assuming that that’s what you’re saying, but, of course, YMMV. Peace - DESK ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Means\_Go](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cc9497/32.png) [@Green\_Means\_Go](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Means_Go)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/14 "2004-12-03T22:29:57Z")
It’s probably a little sensationalized, but the cancer definitely does tie right in with her growing back her hair, and it being basically gone again. A women here at work went through chemo a few years ago, and the loss of her hair was extremely painful for her. Growing it back was something the was very happy about and proud of. To lose it again after going through that… ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/15 "2004-12-03T22:42:23Z")
It could also have been somethig as stupid as playing with a lighter, pretending he’s going to light someone’s hair on fire, like holding it close thinking “wouldn’t if be funny if…” and then “Oh, shit! Shit-shit-shit!” You think: “Preposterous, Crayons!” However… A very good friend of mine was lying on his back on his living room floor, having just done a set of ab excerises. His roomate walked by and jumped in the air – “RAAAHHR!” – to do a FAKE stomping à la WWF wrestling schtick, where you miss by a few good centimetres. He connected. Busted my friend’s nose. So basically, he attacked my friend and stomped on his face. But it wasn’t _supposed_ to happen that way! ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/16 "2004-12-03T22:56:02Z")
Once when I was 14, some guy was “messing around with a lighter” in a very aggressive way. I asked him to please stop, and his response was, “Well, what are you gonna do about it?” And held the flame so that it engulfed my nose. I stepped back and he stepped forward. Then his girlfriend asked him to cut it out. And there really was nothing I could have done about it. Might has right. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/17 "2004-12-03T23:08:33Z")
I was in the choir when I was about eight and we all lined up in the vestibule of the church for midnight mass. We were given candles and were going to enter the church singing. Until my friend Jane set our friend Nancy’s hair on fire. Fear not! No one was hurt, though the vestibule stank for quite some time. The next year? They gave us flashlights to shine up at our faces, axe-murderer style. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/18 "2004-12-03T23:08:55Z")
You should have kicked him in the balls. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/19 "2004-12-04T00:03:35Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > You should have kicked him in the balls. Man, they were just flashlights. You don’t have to hit the choir director in the 'nads. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922/20 "2004-12-04T01:06:47Z")
Not that I disagree in the slightest that this was a sad and ugly incident, but there is an uncontrollable urge to quote the appropriate stanza from Tom Lehrer’s “The Irish Ballad”: _She set her sister’s hair on fire Rickety-tickety-tin She set her sister’s hair on fire And as the smoke and flame rose high’r Danced around the funeral pyre Playin’ a violin, -olin Playin’ a violin_ Oh all right, just a couple more:\* One morning in a fit of pique Sing rickety-tickety-tin One morning in a fit of pique She drowned her father in the creek The water tasted bad for a week And we had to make do with gin, with gin We had to make do with gin She weighted her brother down with stones Rickety-tickety-tin She weighted her brother down with stones And sent him off to Davy Jones All they ever found were some bones And occasional pieces of skin, of skin Occasional pieces of skin And when at last the police came by Rickety-tickety-tin And when at last the police came by Her little pranks she did not deny To do so she would have had to lie And lying, she knew, was a sin, a sin Lying, she knew, was a sin\* [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nice-hair-cancer-girl-need-a-light/277922.md?page=2)