Sheer bravery or false bravado

Dangerous stunt: One of the daredevils stretching out on the hammock strung across the Ipoh landmark sign.

It takes a lot of guts to climb up a tall structure on a sheer hill, with no safety harnesses to fall back on. But there is also a thin line between bravery and bravado – defined as a false, or an over-the-top show of courage.

THERE’S this guy called 8Booth. He likes to jump into swimming pools and into the seawaters off marinas. The only thing is, he jumps into the pools from heights of over 200ft. And off tall buildings, some eight-storeys high.

He photographs himself doing so – on a GoPro came­ra – and is quite a sensation on YouTube. In one jump, he misses the concrete marina by inches and lands feet first safely in the sea. It’s a heart-stopping mo­ment.

The style of jumping feet first into the sea is called tombstoning. I tend to call it a death wish.

Then came his eighth jump, just before last week’s New Year celebrations. He leaped some 130ft off a US hotel building into a swimming pool.

He missed the pool by inches, landed vertically on his feet on the concrete, broke both his legs, badly damaged his feet and is now lying all bandaged up in hospital.

He needs financial help for his treatment and, guess what, all those YouTube fans of his are laughing at him in his face.

One follower called him pompous. “You ask for money when you did something so stupid at your own risk?” the man asked.

8Booth (real name Anthony Booth Armer) needs US$112,000 (RM501,412) for his treatment. Last I checked, he has managed to raise just over US$1,000 (RM4,476). So much for YouTube stardom and putting your life on the line for it.

Apparently, tombstoning is a thing these days. Kids as young as 11 are lining up to jump off cliffs into rough seas, with jagged rocks and killer currents waiting for them way down there.

Scores have died in Britain and many more injured and paralysed but they continue doing it, jumping into the sea, feet first and as straight as a tombstone (thus the name).

Many succeed too. For them, the rewards are the awestruck girls who await and egg them on. For those who succeed, it’s a lot of fun. For those who don’t, it could be a life wasted.

Psychologists say we all need the high, the adrenalin rush of doing what others fear doing, going where others can’t. They even say it’s a lot like reckless sex.

We have all felt it. When we were young, we would climb trees, steal the neighbour’s fruits (nothing tastier than stolen fruit, right?), fall off rotting tree branches, end up with scratches and swollen, or even broken, limbs.

It was all written off as good clean fun but parents back then didn’t agree.

The parents of today won’t agree, either, with the exploits of those kids (were they really kids?) who went gallivanting on the Ipoh sign just outside the city.

Watching the video, they all looked well prepared for the caper, they stepped gingerly in all the right places, even the hammock was well-placed and all ended well. So, there really was no problem.

Likewise, the young man who climbed the parked crane in the city. He was confident about his abilities and looked cool about it as he took his selfie. I am quite sure he knew what he was doing.

The authorities, of course, are not taking too kindly to it.

That bunch on the Ipoh landmark are in trouble with the cops and have expressed regret. Well, not really. They just felt it would be much better to do it outside the country where their bravado would be better appre­ciated.

But that’s exactly it. It’s not bravery. It’s bravado. Did they test the strength of that structure? Did they know its condition? One loose nut, one rusted piece of metal and there could have been disaster.

I have nothing against people getting adven­­turous. Climbing mountains is dangerous, driving in the F1 is dangerous, bike ra­­cing is dangerous (I am talking MotoGP, not the psychotic mat rempits) but people do all of that.

There is a sense of exhilaration, a high, a release of all worldly tension, a moment when all our senses reach their peak. One writer described it as akin to a monk achie­ving realisation.

So, it can’t be all that bad. But much as I wouldn’t criticise anyone wanting to try out a dangerous stunt, I would always say the danger has to be assessed first.

Mountain climbers, F1 drivers and GP ri­ders train. They try simulation exercises, they test out tracks. Then, they race. They don’t just go out and race on any road.

As for the selfies while attempting these dangerous acts, now that’s really getting out of hand. We even have a word for it now – killfies.

It’s word used to describe photos taken by people who put their lives on the line – standing in front of an oncoming train, at the edge of a cliff, beside a beast of prey – to get “just that shot”.

There are also two words to describe the people who take such killfies – suicidally stupid.

The writer, who can be reached at [e-mail] is appalled by the figures. Scores have died tombstoning in Plymouth, England, alone while close to 80 have died doing killfies in India.