Lordandmaster -> RE: Punching your sub/slave? (7/4/2007 9:34:04 PM)
|
Let me try to unravel this a little bit, and explain my opinion about all this a little more fully. Wikipedia quotes the McGill University archive as follows: quote:
It appears that Whitehead's punch to Houdini's stomach, while not fatal, aggravated an existing but still undetected case of appendicitis. Although in serious pain, Houdini nonetheless continued to travel without seeking medical attention. That sounds reasonable to me, but I can't verify it. The Wikipedia article attributes the quote to a book called Where Are They Buried? How Did They Die? by Tod Benoit, but I checked and it's not in there. What IS in there, however, is the statement that Houdini's widow collected on a life-insurance policy for "an accident directly causing the premature death of Harry Houdini" (p. 467). Seems to me there was little doubt in 1926 that being punched in the stomach contributed to Houdini's death, even if he already had appendicitis before it started. How anyone could know more about Houdini's death TODAY is beyond me. (Incidentally, there's a rumor that he was poisoned, and some of his heirs have begun a campaign to re-examine Houdini's remains: http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2041311,00.html) Now for my two cents: I think it's both ignorant and dangerous for someone to deny that a punch in the stomach could be fatal. That doesn't mean it's always, or even often, going to be fatal, but it certainly COULD be fatal, especially if the person has a pre-existing condition. Or suppose you punch a pregnant woman in the stomach--are you really going to pretend that that couldn't cause a miscarriage? What if the woman (or the puncher, for that matter) didn't even know she was pregnant? If consenting adults want to punch each other, that's perfectly all right with me (it is illegal in many jurisdictions, but that's a different matter); all I'd say is please let's not pretend that punching someone in the stomach isn't dangerous--and insult people who point out that it is. I don't see any purpose in that. quote:
ORIGINAL: KnightofMists quote:
ORIGINAL: Lordandmaster It's not an urban legend at all. The only thing your site says is that he was probably suffering from appendicitis before it happened. Well, even if that's true, so what? It only shows that punching someone in the stomach can be fatal under the right circumstances. OR it could of been just bad timing.. Meaning the punch didn't change the pace of it happening. In our local community a person had a brain aneurism attack at the time of Flogging... Needless to say it was a tough thing at the time.. but regardless... it was going to occur.. regardless of the flogging or not... Which may or may not been the case for the disappearing wonder.
|
|
|
|