Roger Ebert, the Chicago movie guy, was criticized by Perez Hilton for posting a tweet about Ryan Dunn's death. http://twitter.com/#!/ebertchicago
Perez Hilton deemed it as "insensitive."
But, Dunn chose to endanger the lives of the Pennsylvania community he drove through when choosing to drive home drunk and at an unrealistic speed. It was his choice to make. Those roads could have been the roads that I travel with my children in tow.
Through his public stance, Perez promotes a lifestyle of poor decisions and the reckless denial of responsibility in any form. This destructive, carefree rock 'n roll image needs to end. It's cute when you're twenty-three, kinda depressing when you're in your mid-thirties.
For anyone out of the loop, Ryan Dunn was of Jackass fame. This was a dude that made millions performing pranks, such inserting Matchbox cars into his ass for a laugh (the x-ray was pretty funny). He was found dead after driving home drunk and slamming his Porsche into a lot of trees at a lethal speed. The car burst into flames, killing Dunn and his passenger.
The trouble with the rock and roll lifestyle is the perpetuation of immature decisions far past the participant's age (for reference see Aerosmith aka arthritic lizards in leather). In the end, it just seems to excuse alcoholism and drug abuse and the situations that occur in between that we, as a society, have to pick up after. In addition, it's also sad that both Dunn and his passenger's families have to suffer.
Dunn was 34 at death, far beyond the age group of dangerous drivers. Usually, it's teenage boys that are most at risk for dangerous driving. According to the CDC, of the teenage boys (ages 15-20) who were involved in fatal crashes in 2005, 37% were speeding at the time of the crash and 26% had been drinking. The CDC also claims that, "teenage male passengers increase the possibility of risky driving behavior."
But, after age 30, most people assume you would have figured it out.
What people and movie stars do on their own time is their own business.
However, when you involve the safety of my family it becomes my business. Here are some stats, according to MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving):
-An average drunk driver has driven drunk 87 times before first arrest. 87 times.
-One in three will be involved in an alcohol-related crash in their lifetime.
-Every minute, one person is injured from an alcohol-related crash. It just happened
again...now.
-Of those injuries, in this year, 10,839 people will die in drunk-driving crashes - one every 50
minutes.
and one stat for your wallet...
-Drunk driving costs each adult in this country almost $500 per year.
Fucking say what you want about this post. Maybe it makes me lame or whatever adjective the kids are using for "lame" these days. But, it's a malattia in our society.
Ebert, there's no need to apologize. It's true. Friends don't let friends drive drunk. It's tragedy that both of these deceased people left their families behind to pick up the pieces. I wish their families a swift healing.
http://www.cdc.gov/MotorVehicleSafety/Teen_Drivers/teendrivers_factsheet.html
http://www.madd.org/statistics/
