Creepy Wikipedia

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Chris McCandless - a cautionary tale about trail planning and preparation (en.wikipedia.org)

submitted 2 weeks ago by Plum@lemmy.world to c/creepywikipedia@lemmy.world

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[–] fartsparkles@sh.itjust.works 43 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

He didn’t bother to learn about outdoor survival before he left. He arrived in Alaska with little food and equipment. He was offered free food and equipment to take with him by the driver who took him to the trail but he refused.

He didn’t take a map. He was 800m from being able to get back across the river and towards civilisation but instead returned to the bus to die.

His death was avoidable and selfish and the romanticising of his death glorifies being an idiot and taking entirely unnecessary risks.

[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

800 miles or meters?

[–] dustyData@lemmy.world 24 points 2 weeks ago

Literal meters. He was across a river and a short walk from safety but it was through heavy snow and hypothermia inducing water. But still he didn't even knew that was there because he was completely off about where he thought he was. I mean, he died in a bus because a road was close enough for a bus to get stranded there. That place was a proposed trail or something.

[+] Eheran@lemmy.world -7 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

How can someone choose to do something, with only himself affected, and that be selfish? Otherwise yes, your are right. People thinking that was somehow cool are idiots.

[–] dustyData@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

He did do this kinds of things as rebellion towards his upbringing. He had a family who loved him who were devastated by his unnecessary loss. Part of the reason he is romanticized is because he could've lived a comfortable life, his family was wealthy, stable, and loving. This has encouraged others to try and live up to his misled ideals and caused them to also put their lives in unnecessary danger.

Also, this people put themselves in danger and then others have to put themselves in danger to rescue them or fix what they broke hurting themselves. People used to have to be rescued from the bus regularly afterwards.

I genuinely think he was suicidal, and his story encourages other's suicidal behavior. That alone is dangerous. This behavior is never rational. It stems from a warped view of reality.