- Joined
- Aug 18, 2002
- Messages
- 19,407
I suppose this could turn into a bit of a rant but it has been niggling me for a bit (and I have mentioned it in passing). On Challenge TV in the UK they are showing the US show "Guinness World Records" which has genuine feats of people pushing the limit of their abilities (as the book and the British series did) they also have other records that are purely on for their freakshow value and tend to be:
1. Potentially dangerous - the Guinness Book of Records wouldn't have records that were potential dangerous or would encourage people to get themselves killed in the process.
2. Silly and made up purely to have someone come on and do something daft.
3. Almost definitely some kind of trick.
Some examples:
Now world's fastest wheelie seems like a legitimate endeavour.
The regurgitator doing 'the most coins regurgitated to order' is really pushing the limits of what is human endeavour and what is a trick (see another thread on him) as well as being silly and made up.
'holding molten lead in the mouth for the longest time' is clearly a trick dating back many years and was exposed by Houdini (see the same thread mentioned above).
The most shrimp (prawns) eaten by a duck from a human mouth (the point I gave up watching tonight) just seems utterly pointless.
'The most scorpions held in mouth' and 'the largest scorpion held in the mouth' seem very unwise.
This might seem nitpicking (and in some ways there has never been any hard and fast rules and some stunts have been dangerous or a bit silly but this has really pushed things beyond what I'd find acceptable) but the Guiness Book of Records has been the arbiter of the extremes of human endeavour - there were always very old people but if Guiness didn't find the documentary evidence convincing they were out of the running. This kind of made up stunts and fakery are clearly going to hose away their reputation and where exactly do we stand then? What is the authority on these matters that we can defer to?
Are there alternative organisations? Should their been a Fortean Commission for Extreme Human Endeavour? Should I not really worry about these things as there are more important things happening in the world?
Emps
1. Potentially dangerous - the Guinness Book of Records wouldn't have records that were potential dangerous or would encourage people to get themselves killed in the process.
2. Silly and made up purely to have someone come on and do something daft.
3. Almost definitely some kind of trick.
Some examples:
Now world's fastest wheelie seems like a legitimate endeavour.
The regurgitator doing 'the most coins regurgitated to order' is really pushing the limits of what is human endeavour and what is a trick (see another thread on him) as well as being silly and made up.
'holding molten lead in the mouth for the longest time' is clearly a trick dating back many years and was exposed by Houdini (see the same thread mentioned above).
The most shrimp (prawns) eaten by a duck from a human mouth (the point I gave up watching tonight) just seems utterly pointless.
'The most scorpions held in mouth' and 'the largest scorpion held in the mouth' seem very unwise.
This might seem nitpicking (and in some ways there has never been any hard and fast rules and some stunts have been dangerous or a bit silly but this has really pushed things beyond what I'd find acceptable) but the Guiness Book of Records has been the arbiter of the extremes of human endeavour - there were always very old people but if Guiness didn't find the documentary evidence convincing they were out of the running. This kind of made up stunts and fakery are clearly going to hose away their reputation and where exactly do we stand then? What is the authority on these matters that we can defer to?
Are there alternative organisations? Should their been a Fortean Commission for Extreme Human Endeavour? Should I not really worry about these things as there are more important things happening in the world?
Emps