There is no comparison in my mind - none at all.
Just curious.
The difference is that the Nebraska family wonât have irrelevant criminal history made public. The difference is thereâll be a lot less blaming the parents.
In short, the difference is that this family is white.
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Letâs not even bother mentioning other species like piranha, Burmese pythons, and many many more! Itâs like learning for the first time that most lawns you donât walk on barefoot because of thorns in the plants. One lesson is all it takes.
Fire ants too, in parts of Florida. Florida really should have been left to the Seminole. Anglos donât belong.
We have taken our grandchildren to Disney World a few times and stayed at the Grand Floridian. Yes there are signs that say no swimming. Doubt that anyone would think wading into the water as it appears this little boy did was âswimming.â Also during our stays there I have seen people of all ages walk in this water. You donât exactly get the feeling of danger when you are in the area which is part of an area with swimming pools and other water activities.
The parents of this child do not need to be condemed or chatized or questioned as to their parenting skills. It could have happened to anyone. Their pain and grief are overwhelming and they will spend the rest of their lives with the guilt that they âmade a mistakeâ or they could have prevented his death
This could happen to any family and in the blink of an eye your life has changed forever.
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yeah, agreed. Thereâs a built-in assumption about Disney that a kid will die every year or two from a freak accident or undiagnosed medical condition, and a teenager or adult (white male usually) will die every year or two from standing up on Space Mountain or scaling Spaceship Earth. This kind of thing could tank the lesser parks in the area, but it wonât ding Disney or Orlando for more than a week or two.
We do not need to be judgmental in either of these situations. I find it appaling that anyone here would try to blame either the mother whose son went into the bear pit or this family for the tragedy. And to cast it in racial terms is disgusting.
" And to cast it in racial terms is disgusting."
I donât think that is what I did.Nothing about race in my statement at all,maybe thatâs how you took it.
i think westcoast was responding to rockgolf and hit yours by mistake. maybe
You are correct. Thank you.
I lived in the Orlando area for a while. And there are alligators where you least expect them . Gators in residential swimming pools never make to the news unless they are very large. I once saw one in fairly small poodle on the side of the road.
I think you were referring to my comment.
I agree, it shouldnât be racial. And in this case, it probably wonât be.
But the parents of the kid in Cincinnati who got in the gorilla cage are no more to blame than these parents. And they got crucified in the media. The father was blamed even when he wasnât at the zoo! Their irrelevant brushes with the law made the news.
I donât think this family will get the same crucible. And I think a big part of that is because of race.
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The horror. To ignore a no swimming sign is one thing, but having your two-year-old eaten by an alligator is unimaginable tragedy.
Having grown up and lived most of my adult life near-ish to 'gators, I am not surprised that the child hasnât been found yet. Assuming normal-ish weight for age, the child would have been less than 30 lbs. That is â the size of my smaller dog. Easy meal. UhhhgâŚ
Watch out when you are in Australia! (Too soon?)
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Alligators in Florida are just ubiquitous. I canât think of anywhere else I have been where people are co-existing in such close proximity to a large predatory member of another species. We went to Juniper Springs, Florida and did an amazing river run in canoes and kayaks and they have signs everywhere, telling you NOT to get out of your boat under any circumstances. As we went down the river (which is a federal wildlife refuge so alligators are definitely expected) we saw huge alligators sunning themselves, and it always creeps me out a bit. But itâs Florida. My husband is familiar with this hotel, and it is shocking, especially since the reports say that they were very close to the edge, in shallow water. Itâs hard to believe that no one had seen the alligator lurking around at some point. Definitely, my heart goes out to these people. They will never get over this.
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Unfortunately, it is what it seems. Alligators get into the Seven Seas Lagoon all the time. Disney routinely moves them if they are more than 4 feet long, to another location.
My heart breaks for this family & the Disney workers who have to deal with the aftermath. Such a sad week thereâŚ
You must mean a poodle in the alligator?
I was just in the Everglades, no problem running into an alligator.
I once saw an alligator on a golf course in central Florida and it was as big as on of those banana things they drag behind boats for water sports, absolutely huge. It walked slowly to within about forty feet of where someone was putting. They finished their put and calmly walked in the other direction. Iâm not sure if the golfer even saw the animal or was just so used to these encounters they dinât care.
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When we lived in Florida we were very aware of dangerous animals. My folksâ house was on a large bay. No alligators but plenty of big rattlesnakes and probably coral snakes. In areas where alligators live people often lose pets. I expect that being at a Disney resort people feel safe even if they are aware of the dangerous wildlife. As others have pointed out, unlike our ancestors who dealt with dangerous wildlife, we have no experience with that and so even where we should be wary we arenât. A terrible tragedy for the family who lost a child. I know there were warning signs, etc. but when you think âDisneyâ you donât think that your child might be a possible meal for an alligator.
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