http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/article/1041660--woman-s-body-pulled-from-niagara-river?bn=1 not identified yet still
I belive she was the new waitress at the "Sake" bar across the street from Owl at Christie. A shock to know what happened
^ i wouldn't say that is very fitting cause that would seem to be based on academic intelligence rather than the oh so rare, common sense.
"Common sense? What's that? I know what I'm doing, I'm in control, Don't worry, I got it taken care of, Easy man, I can do this with my eyes closed, I can... WHA... OH SHIT!!!" In a word: Hubris (Wiki: Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence or capabilities)
please give someone the camera so they can capture you jumping in. And leave little clues for them to figure out to post it here on PA.
alright...visited the falls today with friends.. this incident just made me angry so we were walking and taking pics and we got to the point where the falls drop and it was a good view and my friend is short so i told her to stand on the ledge and not over the bars and my arms were there supporting her in case anything happens which wouldn't then these 2 ppl beside us was like worrying and saying "get down" "get down" then the guy goes "one of you guys just fells down last week" WTF!! how racist is that.
No offense Kdotc, but I think you're putting too much into it; he could have simply meant one of you tourists, or youngsters, whatever... And even if he did associate your ethnicity or race being similar to the victim that died in that tragic incident; so what? I don't think that's necessarily bad. Even in his supposed "racism" he was attempting to safeguard your friend from harm. That said, IMHO: "...to stand on the ledge and not over the bars and my arms were there supporting her in case anything happens..." (I'm so in control, rules don't apply to me, et cetera). Hubris -lol And like I had stated before, a barrier that invitingly allows people to climb up on top of it, thus making prospects of their falling over easy, is a very poorly designed one. This inherent human "need" for a "better" view is what's creating the danger. Thus, IMHO, the authorities should simply build an elevated tourist platform close to, but not next to, the edge of the falls. This way, people could then easily look over the edge, but not be risking falling over the falls. In fact, if people can clearly recognize that the platform would afford a much better view over climbing atop the wall, they would preferentially mount the platform instead of the wall. Then at most, they risk a concussion or broken limb, and not being swept off the falls.
^ no, I understand why people are worried and it is good to see people paranoid about it because of the incident and showing that they care. But the way this guy made that comment was clearly assuming all Asians are the same and can't differentiate between "us" or he saying saying it that Asian people are stupid/dangerous because of that incident. Not that I was dressed like my Avatar pic so clearly I cannot be a tourist. Don't want to state race, but he was someone I wouldn't messed with or get angry to(if that helps), otherwise I would have went off when it comes to racism. And over the rail was a flat service so I even jokingly said to the female I would have fell on to there if anything. Im not angry about what we did or how people worry, but that comment could have been reworded better.
To tell the truth, I've often encountered many situations in life that, if I had wanted to prove a point, could have made some sort of political correctness commentary; but with full knowledge that it would have been counterproductive. When confronted by people who marveled at the accent free English that I spoke, eg. "wow... you speak great English!" I used to respond, "why, so do you!" While it proved a point, it set up a negative feeling and the encounters usually soured after that. I began to ask myself, for what purpose would I say such responses, and finally came to the conclusion that retorts in mocking confrontations were as condescending and ill conceived as the original comment. But, while they spoke from ignorance, I responded with full knowledge of what I was saying and did so with malice. In other words, while they may have been stupid, I was being a smart ass. Granted, many people in the world know better, but I certainly recognize that there are also lots of others who don't, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're ill intentioned. Further, I agree with you that the man you encountered could have chosen his words with a bit more sensitivity. But the bottom line remains, that even though you were faced with a person who obviously lumped all Asians together under very broad and perhaps even negative racist assumptions, the point he was making was still one of concern for his fellow man, regardless of how he thinks of him. That IMHO, has to count as the most important aspect of the encounter. Would it have been worth pursuing the issue? For me, I would doubt it, but neither would it have bothered me as much as it did you. These things are all personally subjective to our own sense of self. On the flip side, whenever I deal with peoples of African origins (what we nominally refer to collectively as black), I personally found that I had the same relative blind side that they generally have towards Asians. I tended to lump all blacks together and don't see or feel any importance to the subtle differences between New York Blacks, Southern Blacks, Caribbean Blacks, or African Blacks. Moreover, there are distinct differences between people from Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Burkina Faso; and that's just a small portion of West Africa. Even people within the same African nation, like the Hutu and Tutsi (Rwanda), can be as violently antagonistic towards one another as Chinese and Japanese sometimes are. In essence, there is as much subtle variation to each of the other races as we see amongst ourselves (ie Asians). As for having a flat surface on the other side of the wall; I certainly understand your rationale, but I respectfully still disagree with your conclusions. The barrier was erected as a safety device, and mounting it simply for the gratification of getting a better picture is something that I wouldn't do, as it creates an atmosphere of disregard for safety, which for me personally is more important than the fleeting photo op. Clearly, you're certainly entitled to your own opinion so we can agree to disagree. As an aside, since your friend is height challenged, I would suggest that your next birthday gift for her would be a portable type of personal extension pole or a collapsible camera boom. These things not only allow you to get higher, but would let you hold your camera outside windows and take shots from literally "over the edge" so to speak. It sounds like something she may find photographically useful. http://www.amazon.com/Quikpod-Handeld-Extendable-Handheld-Portrait/dp/B004WD8C42
