Ground Zero: British Stag Party

[agchristie]

Is it generally wrong and unacceptable under any circumstances to take selfies,'laugh and smile' at the site?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3782563/I-lost-husband-sacred-ground-m-disgusted-British-stag-cause-outrage-taking-selfies-NAKED-BLOW-DOLL-Ground-Zero-eve-15th-anniversary-9-11-police-order-leave.html

[mikey4444]

Seems in pretty poor taste to me Agchristie.

[NoMercy]

Very disappointing behaviour. They should show some respect. 67 British were killed that day.

[Cloverjo]

Very poor taste. I was in New York not long after 9/11. Our driver asked if we wanted to visit the site. OH did, so we went there. I couldn't stay for more than about two seconds. I can't imagine taking selfies and everything else those men in the report did.

[EDDIE51]

Apart from the fact that they are carrying a blow up sex doll they are just like any other tourists. Bad taste possibly but that's what stag parties are about! If they were simulating sex with the doll I could understand outrage but they are just looking round like the other tourists.

[agchristie]

Anybody who has visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum for example,will know there are very strict prohibitions concerning code of conduct.

People are urging at the very least for fines for those disrespecting the Ground Zero site.

[EDDIE51]

'selfies' are a recent phenomena Cloverjo . I think it is daft but people do it to prove they have really been to the place. Is it worse than asking someone else to take your photo?

[-Talbot-]

Inappropriate yes, but it looks to me that if they weren't carrying the doll they would not have been noticed.

[EDDIE51]

^ Yes, I made the same point. It is only the fact that they are carrying a doll that makes them stand out from all the others. Would have been sensible to deflate it though!

[vulcan42]

I don't understand the digital narcissism that has spread through the world but this has taken it a stage further. Would anybody but a moron take a blow up doll to a memorial site? Certainly disrespectful but what do you expect from a country that can produce people who urinate on war memorials?

[Cloverjo]

No, Eddie. I don't think taking a selfie is worse than someone else taking your photo. I just don't know why anyone would do either at a place of tragedy.

I can't believe it's 15 years ago.

[EDDIE51]

^^ It is because digital photography is so easy and virtually free!
In the days of film ( not so long ago!) you had to have a camera, buy a film , take the photos and then get them developed and printed.At a total cost of at least 25 p a picture and several days of time. Instant 'Polaroids' were over £1 a photo. Now everyone has a camera on their phone that can take and store 1,000's of photos and send them instantly all over the world at virtually zero cost. My son is currently in Los Angles he sends photos from his phone several times a day, it cost nothing on 'whats-app'.
Just a few years back we would have had to wait until a week or so after he got back to see any photos.

[agchristie]

What makes it particularly nauseous?

A) Doll
B) Selfie Stick
C) People smiling & laughing
D) Overreaction?
E) None of the above

[EDDIE51]

^ that was to Vulcan.
Cloverjo, I can't see it as disrespectful to take photos at places of 'memorial' in fact I say it is the opposite, it shows you have taken the time to actually go there and pay your respects.

[NoMercy]

A, B & C.

[Zacs-Master]

Eddie, your avatar is particularly appropriate on this thread. Do you choose to be deliberately controversial or do you just not understand that a symbol of humour/ bad taste is inappropriate at a memorial site?

[mikey4444]

Eddie...they had a blow-up doll with for Gods sake !

It seems that it never occurred to them that to carry a blow-up doll around in public, let alone at a sensitive memorial, was in any way disrespectful.

Its the bloody doll that is at fault here, not the selfie !

[EDDIE51]

I don't see any evidence of laughing in the photos!

[Zacs-Master]

I said 'symbol' of humour / bad taste.

[mikey4444]

Eddie.....that's not the point !

[vulcan42]

EDDIE, I'm not against photography, I was seven when I bought my first camera and am still taking and selling pictures 60 years on. Taking photos of places visited is normal, I just don't understand why the photographer has to be in every shot.