Basejumper.com - archive

A thread a few weeks ago said:


Here is another one to discuss:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/...7/11/adrenaline.html

My family found this one - I am sure I am going to have to discuss at Thanksgiving.

The blog comments are not very positive towards BASE, maybe because the tone of the story???? It seems that everyone the reporter talked to fed a "doom and gloom" quote needed to spin this story to the dark side of the activity... None of the rewards are mentioned???

Example:

It's really disappointing to see so much misinformation, so many misquotes, and such a thirst to sell newspapers that reporters lie to you. Even though I had minimal contact with this "reporter", my future newspaper and/or magazine interviews will be done via email (in writing) only. Through recent emails, we concluded that the reporter got his quotes backwards between another jumper and I. It's sad to see what the media has turned into and everyone should be weary of every bit of information they get from the media. Of course, you may enjoy the story, but as a jumper who is attempting to legitimize BASE jumping, I didn't really care for it at all.

Nothing new here . . .

The saddest aspect of BASE jumping is we never learn from the past. It's mostly due to the fact so few stay in the sport long enough to learn the lessons, and then pass them along. Secondary is each generation, like children, don't listen to the grown ups.

Jumpers in the 1980s knew already the pitfalls of publicity. No matter how well meaning you were nine times out of ten you'll get burned. Reporters and writers can't approach a BASE story without the baggage of their wuffoe-ness overpowering all else.

The TV reporter Connie Chung from CBS burned a local jumper, after she was turned down by me and several others; I mean you could smell the dishonesty coming out of her mouth. She said she wanted to spotlight the positive aspects of the sport, but failed to mention the piece would also include Park Rangers who, in the final edited piece, would counter everything thing said that was positive. So said jumper, in all his goofy glory, was used to illustrate the case made by the NPS that taxpayer money was being used to rescue BASE jumpers. The worst part was the BASE jumper in the piece wasn't articulate or knowledgeable enough to do anything but sink himself and the sport with his own words.

Right after that incident I wrote an article called "Media Rape" warning jumpers that any publicity gained just wasn't worth the price we paid for it. But there were three types of jumpers who failed to get the word. There were the ones who actually thought they were smart enough to turn the public around on BASE jumping, and they got burned. There were the ones who didn't give a rat's ass for the sport and just wanted to become famous, and they got burned. And then there were the new BASE jumpers, and like students on the DZ, they will always say the wrong thing at the wrong time, to the wrong person.

Over the next few years I came to the realization the media beast needed to be tamed and not just ignored. The beast was going to feed on us no matter what so we had to get smart about it. Some years ago I suggested that Bridge Day needed a professional face in the person of a media liaison. A PR type jumper to hand hold and schmooze the media. But as late as BD 2005 I still saw reporters wandering around aimlessly and talking to the wrong people. There should be a media tent, with food and beverage, and jumpers who are interviewed all hand picked ahead of time. All jumpers should be told not to talk to the media except to politely point them towards the media tent. Who doesn't realize, at this late date, that we either spin the media or they are going to spin us . . .

Outside of Bridge Day we could be somewhat the same thing. We should be feeding the beast. Professional press releases should be released from one central point after all BASE events and especially after incidents. Editors are lazy and cheap. But they still must cover the news. And if an incident occurs in their area the local editor has to assign a reporter. However if a professionally written press release landed on their desk right away fully explaining the incident and it was something they could run with they would. And after awhile this "BASE source" would become trusted and sought out.

As it is now reporters only get half the story – their half. Let's look at the very piece in question. Tom's opening spiel in his FBJC can't be allowed to be gulped down by the media without some perspective. Reporters walk away from that with "Death" ringing in their ears but without someone they trust telling them the reasons why. If they only understood that BASE jumping, because of so much increased popularity, is facing very tough issues of safety and that this "shock treatment" for first time jumpers is called for they would understand it. That would be "letting them in on the secret" and they would be grateful for that as that's what they are there for – to get the inside story. As it is now they see BASE the same why all outsiders do and that's how they write it.

Ever been to the Red Bull Air Races? They just had an event here in San Diego. They spend thousands of dollars on making the media feel welcomed. Girls in skimpy clothes serve free drinks and there are swag bags for all. In the general aviation "traditional" air race community the Red Bull Air Races are held in contempt as cheap and glitzy thrills, but you won't see any of that contention in the stories written by the press. Red Bull took control and they own the press.

But, and here comes the but, all this would call for a degree of organization that doesn't exist in BASE jumping right now. But at Bridge Day, and other major BASE events, we could surely throw up the media tent. But who do we get to be this media czar?

Well, it would have to be someone well versed in the history of BASE jumping. Someone not knocked out by the lights and cameras and someone with a background in media relations. Someone articulate and persuasive enough to get a positive point across and someone willing to do it for nothing but expenses. A decent starting budget could be set aside with a "media tax" applied to Bridge Day registrations, just another ten bucks or so could buy us a million dollars of good will.

But, I wonder, who could we get?

"Media Rape" The Fixed Object Journal" 1993 . . .
http://i179.photobucket.com/...283/Nick_DG/Rape.jpg

NickD
BASE 194

Good post, Nick.

After doing hundreds of interviews over the years, one would think that I'd be able to overpower the media with my witty charm and well-versed BASE vocabulary. Not always true. After Bridge Day protocol dictated a single point of contact for last year's fatality, an AP reporter named Tim Hubert got so upset at me for "not talking" that he wrote some bad stuff about me in his stories (twice, to be exact). I also had a local TV reporter use some sound bites he captured while the camera was "supposedly off". I could go on and on, but we can't let our guard down with the media. In addition, we really need to stop spewing "death" stories. No more stories about writing a "I just died BASE jumping" letter to your wife and kids and no more "it's suicide without the commitment" one-liners.

With Bridge Day, we HAVE to speak with the media. Actually, I spent $1000 of my own money in cooperation with the State of WV and other parties in renting a $5000 satellite truck at Bridge Day 2007. We gave CNN, The Weather Channel, ESPN, Headline News, and Fox exactly what WE wanted them to see. It worked great and we're already planning for it next year. At the same time, we can only ask that jumpers refuse interviews and point the way to the BASE media tent (which I think IS a good idea). I'm not sure if all jumpers will do as we say, but most would work with us.

So, we have already begun to spin things our way with the satellite truck and nationwide TV coverage. But newspapers and magazines are another story. While my main goal is to get everyone off the bridge, I'm definitely too busy to deal with the media at certain times. We could use someone to be our media rep....actually, we could use several people. I'll give it some thought and see what we can work out for you next year, Nick.

Nick makes a valid point. The PR aspect is crucial to putting a positive light on the sport. My wife is a publicist representing two huge, critically acclaimed authors, Immaculee Ilibagiza (the woman who survived the Rowndan genocide) and Dr. Wayne Dyer (The largest motivational speaker beside Tony Robbins). She has also worked on campaigns with Bush's former Adviser Karen Hughes, Emeril, Tom Clancy, Kritstine Todd Whitman, and other big names.

Some time ago I was in a band. She handled the publicity. Every 9 out of 10 reviews regurgitated what was said in her press release. She controlled the media. The same is true for my company for which she handles publicity.

While Red Bull has substantially more money for PR than the BASE Community, it is not too far fetched to set aside some of the money from these events and do as Nick has suggested.

I tried convincing my wife to do it for free, but that went over like a fart in church considering she hates the fact that I Jump.

I replied to the blog with:

As an long term extremely experienced BASE jumper, I view BASE jumping as a celebration of life and the human spirit. I'm surprised that so many people have no drive toward adventure and pushing the limits of what is humanly possible.

If the mundance attitudes of the general comments made to this blog had represented the historical state of mankind's culture, man would have never walked on the moon, scientists would not have challenged the status quo of church doctrines, entrepreneurs would not have created startup companies, heros in military combat would not exist, CIA agents would not exist, wildcats would not have drilled their oil wells, and the major oil companies would never have been developed.

Actually being prolific within the sport is much more challenging than one would initially expect. Many of the long time jumpers generally have a genius-level intellegence. It requires it to do it with any level of safety for any long period of time.

It is standard for BASE jumpers to rescue their own as I have had done for me and as I have done for others. The BASE community is extremely tight and when I explained this to a Medal of Honor winner from the Korean War, he was impressed.

Einstein once said "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly."

I am disappointed in the attitudes expressed by many of the commenters here.

Thanks man, right back at ya

Haha,

That is kind of Ironic, I am aspiring to make my first base jump within the next year...after my fourth tour in Iraq! Overall I think the miseducation of the public is very common amongst Americans. Most that I talk to about these various topics never really tend to find fact but conclude to their own theories which they feel; explains and justifies every action and reaction. And I hate to say it, but America has been and continues to be very self centered, almost as an attempt to be heard-weather it is heinous or credible.
Bad press will always come, but it is almost impossible to give insight to ignorance or just plain close minded folks. In this case, that is pretty sad-and makes it easier to understand why non-Americans generally regard America as an arrogant/ignorant...dare I say, uneducated country??? Sorry about the rant, but this is what I see, hear, read and live. At the most, I would hope the public would disregard such comments; especially the remark about sick combat thirll seekers...been in the military for 5 years and 8 months-cant say I have met someone that enjoys combat.

The American in me says "kiss my ass"! But the educated person in me says "You are right," see the story below.

http://abcnews.go.com/...sel/story?id=1500338

Also, has anyone seen the movie "Idiocracy"? It is a must see. It basically japes America in a direct relation to the story above.

Let me know when your're ready to BASE jump. I'd like to shake your hand before your jump, and buy you a/many LARGE cold one/s after.

BASE359

Hello all,

This article has finally caused me to make a post, though I've only registered recently I've been lurking for a long time.

For background I am not yet a BASE jumper but I am a skydiver working on all the BASE related skills to eventually start BASE jumping. I am also a former motorcycle club racer and can say BASE jumpers aren't the only ones that 'normal' people give this kind of bad rap to. But most of you already know this.

If it's any consolation to the jumpers offended by the negative comments posted in response to the article, I can say from time to time I read news stories (say on the Florida Sun-Sentinel) about a motorcyclist that got killed, or a parasailing accident, or a scuba diver that drowned, etc, and these activities all seem to have a cloud of dissenters whose comments look like those posted on the Washington Post BASE article - just replace BASE with any of the activities mentioned above or any others perceived as dangerous/risky/selfish/etc. Same goes for Skydiving; it is only in the news when there's an accident or a fatality, not a 100 way CReW world record....

There seem to be just those people who seek adventure, and those who shy away from it. Those of us who seek it KNOW that to live otherwise would be to spend years not truly BEING alive...

However as an aspiring BASE jumper*, what really stood out to me as negative for the sport and was not spun, is that this first time jumper who is being followed is (a) renting gear, and (b) admittedly not sure of her ability to land an unfamiliar rented canopy.

Edited: Added, the point here is not saying don't rent BASE gear, but that people should practice flying a large canopy at a drop zone before going to BD, and maybe having to have a log book signed off or something, to show they are prepared. I'd be down for that.

If I came on here and posted, like some have if I read the archives correctly, "hey I am going to be a BASE jumper, check out my rig from www.RentBaseRigAtYourOwnRisk.com, I read the instructions and am ready to go, and have 20 skydives, bla bla, will someone teach me? actually what is there to learn I just jump!" ... I'd get flamed so hard it would transfer over to real life!

From that perspective BD, in this article, almost makes seems like a thrill ride, crazy adventure kind of thing. People truly devoted to a sport would take more time to learn their equipment. This is like saying "I am going to race motorcycles now, I just rented this R1, and I think the brake lever is on the right side, but I'll figure it out after the race starts".

From some BD videos I've seen it looks like 2/3 of the jumpers never jumped those canopies before. BD just doesn't seem representative of what BASE is (to me, apparently) about.

Just $0.02 from a sub-newbie who also wants to see the sport in a positive light but knows it will probably never happen. People still think skydiving is "totally crazy" and most people that don't ride motorcycles think all motorcyclists are suicidal and nuts, especially riding in traffic, etc, etc.

Blue skies and happy flaming :)

* By aspiring I don't mean I want to do an FJC and see if it is for me; just like motorcycling was for me before ever I sat on one, as was skydiving, I know that this is as well. I am just working my way towards that point.

you said a lot right there...

many people read, but choose not to comment. that can apply here, at the link above, etc. people in the middle frequently remain silent, while the polar opposites argue.

those passionate on a subject have the energy to comment. you can watch these energized few dominate a debate.

ying/yang
good/bad
black/white
conservative/liberal
whuffo/jumper
emphasize safe jumping/emphasize fun jumping

I'd rather hear from the "silent majority." I bet they have a more balanced view. they understand both extremes have merit. it's just hard defending the middle ground.

thanks for joining in!

It is funny to see the responses. Before I was BASE jumping, I wrote a rebuttal to an article written by a whining c***. It's basically the same type of individual, just a different situation. People like that are basically useless-- the failures of others are the only way they can justify their own cowardice and prejudice.



Anti-risk article and my rebuttal


I'll go ahead and get this out of the way straight from the beginning. The guy that wrote that is a bitch. He is of the mindset that anyone who is willing to take risks is a fool. Now, it's understood that mixing drugs and alcohol with activities that require full concentration is idiotic but that isn't his primary target. He possesses the attitude and sentiment of a coward at heart. He, and others like him, mask their cowardice through a guise of superior reason and intellect.

For the sake of not turning this into a longer email, I will narrow it down to two types of cowards/fearful people. There are those that are either indifferent towards risk and risktakers. In this category, I will also lump those that live vicariously through risktakers.

The flip side of that coin, like our author here, are the cowards that are inwardly threatened by risk. Along with them are those people that are so fearful that they have no concept of willingly placing oneself at risk. But rather than accepting that, they lash out-- through word or action. In their eyes, I am a fool. Every man or woman willing to take a risk is a fool. They hide in their 5star rating SUV's, they watch the world from a box in their living room, their aforementioned outdoor activities (so hardcore in their minds, at least according to this author) probably amount to little more than a sedate hike and camping weekend in a carefully controlled park. They will always view the world far from that line in the sand, that threshold of fear, far from that terror invoking place where their feeble minds shut down and the world becomes an incomprehensible blur.

They live in a shelter-- like little mice who run and hide at the first sign of danger. They can never understand that they live in a prison; they will never know what it is like to be truly free.

They can never understand how some can survive at the edge, so terribly beyond their own threshold of fear, let alone thrive there. They can never understand the drive and the excitement and the push for something bigger and greater.

They are the same type of man who hid in his hut when war came to his home and the same type of man who mocked those who pushed out beyond the expansive ocean to find new worlds and new lands. He stayed at home, hidden away from history, with nothing to carry his name. Everyday he died the daily death of a coward. He ran and cowered from death, but death was, and still is, his bedmate.

There are still those that desire to push the boundaries and to find out what is really possible. Just how far can we push-- how far is too far? Risk and self-preservation are often considered two opposing concepts but when brought together, they allow us to go farther than we could have ever imagined. There are times when it is right to ease off and save testing the boundaries for another day and then there are times when pushing full speed is the only way to go.

I regularly engage in risky behavior but I have a fair idea of my limits. And I know these limits by testing them, slowly but surely, farther and farther each time. I've only reached the tip of the iceberg. There is so much out there. So much left to do, so many new boundaries yet to explore.

I am also aware of my own mortality. But in the face of death, and the intensity of the moment, I am most alive. Everything is clear; the world ticks in slow motion and sensory perception sped up immeasurably. It is freedom.

Death can come from anywhere, but to give yourself to worry is defeat of the worst nature. History isn't made by the coward.

And yet there will always be those that criticize and hide behind the mask. I see through them but I don't argue. My response is always simple and always the same, I just smile and wave and go on to live another day.



>Murphy's Law
>
>Running of the fools
>
>By Austin Murphy
> Injuries inflicted by the bulls have something in common with many
>of those suffered by adventure athletes: They're the result of sheer
>stupidity . Jon Dimis/AP Photo
>This seems as good a time as any to extend my sympathies, and an
>apology, to the victims of the recent carnage in Pamplona, Spain,
>where nine people were gored and trampled in this year's annual
>running of the bulls.
>
>Dear Bulls:
>
>Obviously, it was beneath your dignity to be forced to mingle with
>such a drunken, clueless rabble. Sorry about that.
>
>Rain-slicked cobblestones and, I don't know, maybe the fact that
>they'd been drinking all night, caused some runners to fall down in
>the path of the snuffling, one-ton beasts, who, miraculously, didn't
>kill anyone. "I'm a fast runner," goring victim Jamie Massie told the
>Toronto Sun, "but they can catch up to [anyone], no problem." That
>knowledge might have served you better, Jamie, before you decided to
>engage them in a footrace.
>
>This is not to imply that running with enraged bovines while one's
>blood-alcohol level hovers in the neighborhood of Rey Ordoez's
>batting average, is a sport. However, the injuries the bulls inflicted
>do have something in common with many of those suffered by mainstream
>adventure athletes: They are unnecessary, preventable and the result
>of sheer stupidity.
>
>While the bulls played Hacky Sack with those fools in Pamplona, a
>search party of roughly 100 people combed California's Stanislaus
>National Forest. They were looking for Eric Tucker, an intermediate
>hiker who'd decided to trek solo some 50 miles through the Sierra
>Nevada mountains. On June 27, his first day on the trail, Tucker got
>lost and broke his left ankle. Things went downhill from there. The
>good news is that he's O.K.: He limped out of the woods on July 11.
>The bad news is that five searchers were injured when their helicopter
>crashed while they were looking for him.
>
>"One thing we stress," says David Kovar, a search and rescue volunteer
>from Cupertino, Calif., "is that there are consequences to your
>actions. When you get lost, you put other people at risk."
>
>That's what happened when hiker John Devine, who was 73 and blind in
>one eye, attempted to summit a peak in Washington's Buckhorn
>Wilderness Area in 1997. When he didn't return for several days,
>rescuers went looking for him in helicopters. A chopper went down,
>three rescuers died and Devine was never found. Two years ago Kovar
>was part of the First Response Group, an elite search and rescue squad
>that helped find Robert Bogucki, an Alaska firefighter who sauntered
>off on a solo, soul-searching trip into Australia's Great Sandy Desert
>and wound up lost for 42 days. From his hospital bed on the day of his
>rescue, Bogucki told an Aussie TV crew, "I do feel satisfied that I've
>scratched that itch." Oh, sure, he'd necessitated rescue efforts that
>cost a small fortune -- but, hey, at least he scratched his itch!
>
>Even if you are the only one injured, you have the power to give an
>entire sport a black eye. Take BASE-jumping, whose practitioners
>parachute from Buildings, Antennas, Spans and Earth, and have long
>sought to have their extreme sport legalized in national parks, where
>it is forbidden. Gosh, wonder why? In 1999 a BASE-jumper named Frank
>Gambalie executed a successful jump off the 3,500-foot face of
>Yosemite's El Capitan. When park rangers pursued him, Gambalie fled --
>into the Merced River, in which he drowned. That, Alanis Morissette,
>is ironic.
>
>Outraged at what they saw as his persecution, Gambalie's BASE-jumping
>peers organized a demonstration. They would prove to the world the
>safeness of their sport. Three jumpers leaped from El Cap, all three
>landing safely. Then it was Jan Davis's turn. Because she didn't want
>rangers to confiscate her rig, she borrowed someone else's chute -- a
>cardinal sin in BASE-jumping. As TV cameras rolled, the chute never
>opened and the 60-year-old grandmother hit the talus slope at the base
>of El Cap going 120 mph.
>
>One ingredient of Greek drama is the inevitability of tragedy. It need
>not be so in the great outdoors. We can manage our risk. We can elect
>to not ski out-of-bounds, especially on days when there is an
>avalanche risk. We can decide not to skydive at night, not to go free
>diving alone. We can get off the streets when we know that some very
>unhappy bulls are headed our way.
>
>The author, an incorrigible outdoor sports junkie and Sports
>Illustrated senior writer, muses on sundry subjects adventure-related.
>
>Issue date: July 23, 2001
>
>For more news, notes and features from the world of adventure sports,
>call toll free to order SI Adventure at 1-888-394-5427.
>
> >>He's targeting this @ the reckless individuals who BASE jump.

I am most amused/peeved by all the concerned posts regarding the rescuers, and the risks they take. As a professional firefighter and paramedic with friends in just about every aspect of the rescue field, I can say that most rescuers are driven/inspired by the fact that they will be able to go out and "rescue" someone. While their actions may be heroic and noble, and it may be tragic when the die or are injured in the line of their duty, make no doubt that they don't enjoy every minute of it when the #@%t is on and they are out there doing whatever it is they do. Otherwise, they would be sitting on the couch with the critics. Maybe they are driven by similar chemicals (or a lack of them) as us (but thats another thread, and no I dont really buy into that. ) I love the video of a certain someone infamously rescued from a tall A in california. When interviewed about the rescue, you can see the gleam in the rescuer's eye, he loved getting to do what he did, and I bet he would show up every night of the week given the opportunity to do it again. Now I feel like a couch potato posting worthless stuff, time to go out into the night.....

Here's a "middle of the road" reply from a non-jumper who loves the beauty of the sport but is terrified of it at the same time: life is dangerous. Death is a guarantee.

As Simone De Beauvoire said, "Life is a dangerous enterprise with success never assured."

Sure, BASE is dangerous. It's devious, and extreme.

But the norm in society is that people eat until they give themselves heart disease. They don't wear sunscreen. They drive and talk on cell phones. They drive at all. I don't get where opposers of jumping think this safe world is that they dream of. Like sitting alone all day at home is a better life.

I'm terrified that my brother (Calvin) will die BASE jumping. Sometimes I resent that he's a BASE jumper because he might not live as long as I'd like him to. But then, if he weren't a BASE jumper, he wouldn't be the same person. He might die of cancer, or in a car wreck, or be murdered by an exgirlfriend, or any number of other things.

I mean, it sucks if you're in the group left behind if something bad happens. But it's not as though that's different in any other situation. So I appreciate that at least BASE jumpers do what they want to do, what makes you guys enjoy life more, because we all know that death at some point is innevitable. You've just gotta enjoy the hell out of the time you've got.

And, you know, not do anything REALLY stupid while you're at it.

Are you the artist that he posted art from a while back? If so, PM me with some of your art, I am willing to buy some. If not, oh well...


There is a saying that I was told by someone, I forgot who... "There are the things that scare us, and there are the things that kill us, and rarely they are the same thing."

Why is it that people are afraid of sharks, mice, bees, flying, spiders, or even skydiving - but eat Big Macs from McDonald's. Big Macs kill more people in a day than mice have since the beginning of time...

Statistically - we should run and scream every time a Big Mac gets close to us. Or maybe for BASE jumpers since they seem to like beer as much as jumping - with drunk driving being deadly - we should all cringe in fear and run away from the keg as if it was an AM antenna with strong winds down a wire....

My uncle, who sent me the link to this article, sent me the following reply that, from a complete non-jumper perspective, I think is an interesting perspective: