Dan's Outside

SFGate Writer Slams Irwin

In an astounding example of poor taste (or lack of editorial oversight?), SFGate writer Debra Saunders slices and dices recently-deceased Australian “crocodile hunter” Steve Irwin (see “Crocodile Tears“):

… “I don’t want to seem arrogant or big-headed,” Irwin once told the Washington Post’s Paul Farhi, “but I have a real instinct with animals. I’ve grown up with them … It’s like I have an uncanny supernatural force rattling around my body. I tell you what, mate; it’s magnetism.”

No, mate, it’s delusion. The real surprise is that a crocodile hadn’t finished off Irwin sooner…

Some of Saunder’s opinions about how to interact with wildlife have validity. An article about this would have been fine and there are ways that such an article could have linked to the story of Irwin’s death. However, using a man’s recent death as an opportunity to write a smarmy and condescending article about him shows exceptionally bad taste and poor judgment – on her part and on the part of SFGate.
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September 7, 2006 - Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary