Comments on: Triple Crown viewer boycott? Also … more on the Derby death of Eight Belles http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2008/05/03/jane-smiley-on-the-derby-death-of-eight-belles/ The Web blog of the Pet Connection, a pet-care feature syndicated internationally by Universal Press. Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:57:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Gina Spadafori http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2008/05/03/jane-smiley-on-the-derby-death-of-eight-belles/#comment-262356 Gina Spadafori Thu, 08 May 2008 13:25:54 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=2458#comment-262356 Done. Having worked in a newsroom for many years, I am very familiar with debates over what photos to show and how and where to show them. There's an argument that you have to see to understand, and that it's not right to hide the truth. It's just my opinion, but I came up on the losing side of many arguments, advocating for NOT using certain pictures, especially with regard to human tragedies, dead bodies after disasters, etc. (I still remember a couple of pictures from the Oklahoma City bombing that we at the Sacramento Bee did not use, and they would have made you ill.) Everything is available on the Internet now, but in the "old days" to see pictures like these you had to watch them come over the machines in the newsrooms. I'm not sure that's right, either, which is why I think a warning before clicking on a link is the right way to go. In the case of Eight Belles, I believe people who want to slap you in the face with that picture are trying to shock you into agreeing with their point of view. I saw that picture on day one, along with the overhead video of her breaking her legs and pitching her jockey forward into the hard dirt. I wanted to see, and I wanted to know and understand, not rely on what a third party with one agenda or another wants me to believe. I don't personally shy away from much of anything -- again, that's probably because of having been a reporter and an editor, and seeing <em>a lot</em> -- but I perhaps because words are what I do I believe that we should look at the issues and debate them, not use images to shock people into agreeing with us. The choice to see the worst should be <em>yours</em>. The debate continues. Done.

Having worked in a newsroom for many years, I am very familiar with debates over what photos to show and how and where to show them. There’s an argument that you have to see to understand, and that it’s not right to hide the truth. It’s just my opinion, but I came up on the losing side of many arguments, advocating for NOT using certain pictures, especially with regard to human tragedies, dead bodies after disasters, etc. (I still remember a couple of pictures from the Oklahoma City bombing that we at the Sacramento Bee did not use, and they would have made you ill.)

Everything is available on the Internet now, but in the “old days” to see pictures like these you had to watch them come over the machines in the newsrooms. I’m not sure that’s right, either, which is why I think a warning before clicking on a link is the right way to go.

In the case of Eight Belles, I believe people who want to slap you in the face with that picture are trying to shock you into agreeing with their point of view. I saw that picture on day one, along with the overhead video of her breaking her legs and pitching her jockey forward into the hard dirt. I wanted to see, and I wanted to know and understand, not rely on what a third party with one agenda or another wants me to believe.

I don’t personally shy away from much of anything — again, that’s probably because of having been a reporter and an editor, and seeing a lot — but I perhaps because words are what I do I believe that we should look at the issues and debate them, not use images to shock people into agreeing with us. The choice to see the worst should be yours.

The debate continues.

]]> By: The OTHER Pat http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2008/05/03/jane-smiley-on-the-derby-death-of-eight-belles/#comment-262344 The OTHER Pat Thu, 08 May 2008 13:11:01 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=2458#comment-262344 Can you insert a warning BEFORE P.L.'s post instead of after (as well as before the other post I tagged on another thread?) I clicked on - and saw - both before I knew. I've been trying to avoid images of Eight Belles (the images of Barbaro still haunt me) and I don't want anyone else getting "surprised" by clicking on links and finding these images there. Can you insert a warning BEFORE P.L.’s post instead of after (as well as before the other post I tagged on another thread?) I clicked on - and saw - both before I knew. I’ve been trying to avoid images of Eight Belles (the images of Barbaro still haunt me) and I don’t want anyone else getting “surprised” by clicking on links and finding these images there.

]]> By: Gina Spadafori http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2008/05/03/jane-smiley-on-the-derby-death-of-eight-belles/#comment-262333 Gina Spadafori Thu, 08 May 2008 12:58:45 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=2458#comment-262333 Yikes ... and that's the picture I previously hid with a warning, too. Thanks, Pat. Yikes … and that’s the picture I previously hid with a warning, too.

Thanks, Pat.

]]> By: slt http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2008/05/03/jane-smiley-on-the-derby-death-of-eight-belles/#comment-262329 slt Thu, 08 May 2008 12:55:29 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=2458#comment-262329 THANK YOU for that warning Pat. THANK YOU for that warning Pat.

]]> By: The OTHER Pat http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2008/05/03/jane-smiley-on-the-derby-death-of-eight-belles/#comment-262328 The OTHER Pat Thu, 08 May 2008 12:53:57 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=2458#comment-262328 WARNING: The link above shows an image of Eight Belles going down. WARNING: The link above shows an image of Eight Belles going down.

]]> By: P.L. http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2008/05/03/jane-smiley-on-the-derby-death-of-eight-belles/#comment-262148 P.L. Thu, 08 May 2008 07:42:28 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=2458#comment-262148 How about cutting the bull and facing reality? http://bleacherreport.com/articles/21227-Death-at-The-Kentucky-Derby-Eight-Belles-Tolls-for-Thoroughbred-Racing It cannot be reformed. There is nothing left but an dissipate illusion. [WARNING NOTE FROM GINA: THE LINK SHOWS A PICTURE OF EIGHT BELLES WITH HER INJURIES.] How about cutting the bull and facing reality?

http://bleacherreport.com/arti.....red-Racing

It cannot be reformed. There is nothing left but an dissipate illusion.

[WARNING NOTE FROM GINA: THE LINK SHOWS A PICTURE OF EIGHT BELLES WITH HER INJURIES.]

]]> By: Gina Spadafori http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2008/05/03/jane-smiley-on-the-derby-death-of-eight-belles/#comment-261123 Gina Spadafori Tue, 06 May 2008 22:36:13 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=2458#comment-261123 Nandi, I know you're upset. We all are. But she did NOT die alone. There were people with her, talking to her and patting her. Her jockey stayed with her until the end. It may even be that her groom -- the person she knew best -- might have been one of the people in the picture that showed her at the end. Waiting for her trainer under the circumstances would have been cruel. She barely knew her owners from a fence post, so no point waiting for them. There was <em>nothing </em>that could have been done for her at that point, <em>every veterinarian in the world</em> would have agreed. The track veterinarian does not enjoy what he had to do, and if he could have avoided doing it, he would have. But he did was was best for <em>her</em>. Nandi, I know you’re upset. We all are. But she did NOT die alone. There were people with her, talking to her and patting her. Her jockey stayed with her until the end. It may even be that her groom — the person she knew best — might have been one of the people in the picture that showed her at the end.

Waiting for her trainer under the circumstances would have been cruel. She barely knew her owners from a fence post, so no point waiting for them. There was nothing that could have been done for her at that point, every veterinarian in the world would have agreed.

The track veterinarian does not enjoy what he had to do, and if he could have avoided doing it, he would have. But he did was was best for her.

]]> By: C.L.H. http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2008/05/03/jane-smiley-on-the-derby-death-of-eight-belles/#comment-261108 C.L.H. Tue, 06 May 2008 22:20:14 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=2458#comment-261108 Actually, the best thing they could have done for Eight Belles was not to have raced her until she was four or five. Actually, the best thing they could have done for Eight Belles was not to have raced her until she was four or five.

]]> By: C.L.H. http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2008/05/03/jane-smiley-on-the-derby-death-of-eight-belles/#comment-261085 C.L.H. Tue, 06 May 2008 21:37:06 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=2458#comment-261085 Nandi, I broke my leg at the ankle four years ago. It wasn't just broken, it was pulverized. The ankle looked like jello. Before I got any pain medication (and that was a good 30 minutes after I broke it) I was in the worst pain of my life. It was truly excruciating. When I walked on it, it crunched. I wouldn't wish that on anyone human or animal. What they did for Eight Belles was the only thing they could have done and it was good that they did it as soon as they did. It took me about 5 minutes to start feeling the pain because of the shock. Small comfort that it is, Eight Belles may have still been in shock and was not feeling the full intensity of the pain by the time they gave her the injection. And just from personal experience, it took WAY TOO LONG for the morphine to kick in for me. I have no idea how long it takes for painkillers to kick in for an equine patient. They just didn't have that kind of time to wait. They spent millions on Barbaro trying to put him back together and his injuries were nowhere near as severe. There was just nothing else to do. I would be willing to bet that the men who were with her were talking to her all the way through. There's no way they could be human if they weren't. Nandi, I broke my leg at the ankle four years ago. It wasn’t just broken, it was pulverized. The ankle looked like jello. Before I got any pain medication (and that was a good 30 minutes after I broke it) I was in the worst pain of my life. It was truly excruciating. When I walked on it, it crunched. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone human or animal. What they did for Eight Belles was the only thing they could have done and it was good that they did it as soon as they did. It took me about 5 minutes to start feeling the pain because of the shock. Small comfort that it is, Eight Belles may have still been in shock and was not feeling the full intensity of the pain by the time they gave her the injection. And just from personal experience, it took WAY TOO LONG for the morphine to kick in for me. I have no idea how long it takes for painkillers to kick in for an equine patient. They just didn’t have that kind of time to wait. They spent millions on Barbaro trying to put him back together and his injuries were nowhere near as severe. There was just nothing else to do. I would be willing to bet that the men who were with her were talking to her all the way through. There’s no way they could be human if they weren’t.

]]> By: Nandi http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2008/05/03/jane-smiley-on-the-derby-death-of-eight-belles/#comment-261061 Nandi Tue, 06 May 2008 20:59:35 +0000 http://www.petconnection.com/blog/?p=2458#comment-261061 I think I understand why they had to kill her, I think, but I do not understand why Eight Belles was killed before her owner or trainer was notified. Who are these track vets? Vet gods? She died alone and she did not have to. We can put a man on the moon but we cannot give a horse something for pain until the owner could get there which would have been in a matter of minutes? It ain't right to kill an animal without the consent of the owner! Does anyone realize it was not more than 3 minutes before she went down and then was killed? Darn how scared she must have been could she had not seen one familiar face before her soul departed this world? Rest in peace Eight Belles. I think I understand why they had to kill her, I think, but I do not understand why Eight Belles was killed before her owner or trainer was notified. Who are these track vets? Vet gods? She died alone and she did not have to. We can put a man on the moon but we cannot give a horse something for pain until the owner could get there which would have been in a matter of minutes? It ain’t right to kill an animal without the consent of the owner! Does anyone realize it was not more than 3 minutes before she went down and then was killed? Darn how scared she must have been could she had not seen one familiar face before her soul departed this world? Rest in peace Eight Belles.

]]>