Goddamn it Florida Man, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?
I find it amazing that the insurance company brought in a guy who had 38 insurance policies, had a convenient tourniquet in his pocket, drove his wife’s automatic car, and everything else to court and failed to convince the jury that his injury was pre-meditated. Were all of the jurors from that town? Did they all personally know someone who had shot off their own limb for the insurance payout?
I think you’re right: Cutting off an arm, then cauterizing the stump? He’d just die of shock, or blood loss, or fast acting sepsis, or a little of all three.
Even in surgical theaters, serious complications can occur during amputation, and that’s with arteries closed off individually, anaesthetic and antibiotics administered ahead of time, and fat/fluid drained from the surrounding tissues.
This is more than likely bullshit.
…worth something… like: at least a movie based on his story. Maybe starring him in the lead role…
Unlike so many places where people say it, this really is a mental health problem.
Maybe, but not impossible. There are plenty of historical accounts of people who survived losing a limb in the days before modern surgery and antibiotics.
Yeah, like…a few hundred. Out of how many millions of people who lost limbs in war, farming/industrial accidents etc…
Maybe he did it, maybe. Who really knows? But the odds are very, very long. A person can be stabbed to a depth of only a handful of inches, miss all major arteries and still stand a chance of dying from shock or sepsis.
Edit: sigh I agree with you, sorry. I’m just argumentative today.
So, what you’re proposing is he is stealing stealing valor?
This is getting more complex than Inception.
Absolutely agree, and while your example does eliminate one controversial aspect of the “stolen valor” blather (i.e. a firefighter saving preschoolers is objectively good, a soldier serving in an illegal war is decidedly less so), my point is that the term “stolen valor” is unecessarily biased/politicized/whatever. Saying he scammed/grifted/conned his way into a job would be much better.
The guy cut off his own arm because of mental illness. At what point do we dial back the judgement and show a bit of compassion?
???
ETA: Huh. The system insists that I type nine characters and then truncates them on screen to only three. I feel cheated in someway but I’m not quite certain how.
The word “Stollen” also is an entrance to a mine, so maybe we are talking about the valor of miners?
But yes, the “stolen valor” thing has a lot to do with it, because it’s in the word itself. The problems behind you refer you may well be legitimate, but referring to the problem in this way is a problem in itself.
So how does that situation compare with the situation of people who spent a few years battling and overcoming a mental illness that left them injured, like the guy this article is about?
Why are they less deserving?
Right? This is the website that says (rightly) that copying is not theft, but somehow faking military service means there’s less esteem to go around? It’s a stupid phrase.
I’m fairly insulted by that. They aren’t. Nothing I’ve said implies that they are.
What I would is ask you is why you seem so ready to dismiss the humanity of the people I’m discussing? The policy is not the person.
I’ll tell you a story.
Family member of mine returned from deployment with brain damage and an obvious case of PTSD. Rather than getting treatement for brain damage and PTSD he was sent to anger management. And AA. Required to attend one session of each to maintain his pay check. But also told that if his PTSD and brain damage wound up on paper that pay check would go away.
For 15 years.
Despite being active duty military. Despite having access to the VA and pretty comprehensive insurance. Though he won’t discuss it, it’s likely that he developed a full blown case of bipolar during this time. Something that also when formally undiagnosed and untreated.
He only got formally diagnosed 15 years later. After getting a college degree and a civilian job. Through his civilian insurance. And is finally on meds, has a counsellor, and is getting treatment.
Another family member came into her bipolar (my family is a genetic shit show) in her mid 20s. She did not have insurance. And struggled to get a proper diagnosis. Once she did her public provided coverage was repeatedly cancelled, changed dropped coverage for various things. She spent the first couple years without a therapist or counsellor and without the ability to keep a consistent amount of meds on hand. Could not keep her coverage consistent enough to figure out proper dosages, which drugs worked etc. And ended up borderline psychotic when family members finally learned enough about the situation to jump on a plane and physically show up to help. Took her about 3 years to get stable.
Noone told her she was going to lose her job, insurance, pension, get dropped out of college, etc if she sought treatment. Noone told her “hey you’re bipolar, but we’re going to put down “alcoholism” because the higher ups don’t want to see psychological problems at the rate we’re seeing. And it could effect your medical coverage”. Noone at a hospital that is legally obligated to help her for free. Told her not to come back, because her problems were “too complicated”. And it didn’t take her 15 years of knowing what was wrong before the people who told her what was wrong were willing to do anything about it.
Both of these things are bad. But one of these things is more bad. Not because anyone has a hard on for the military. But because it’s more bad. Going 3 to 5 years without proper diagnosis and treatment of severe psychological illness. Is not as bad as going over a decade with the same. Except physical injuries are also on the table and you know exactly what’s wrong. Even these two family members. When they’re in a room together acknowledge that and frequently discuss it.
The wash out I mentioned earlier has a drawer full of recreational psych meds and boner pills from the exact same VA hospital that stone walled the military family member’s diagnosis. He likes to hand out zanax at bars.
But yes the real problem here is that the terminology used brushes you the wrong way.
How paradoxical! I wonder, if he kept at it would he ultimately become unavoidable?
Reminds me of that story (joke? urban legend?) about the actor who was so desperate for a job that, when he read an ad in a newspaper that a production was looking for “genuinely earless performers”, he cut off both his ears.
Only to find out at the audition that there had been a typo and the producers were looking for “genuinely fearless performers”.
Some veteran perspective on the “stolen valor” thing:
Relevant bit starts at 3:30.
TLDL: a lot of the “stolen valor” cases are actually about serving military falsely claiming medals. And, in general, Nate and Francis don’t really give a shit if someone falsely claims the veteran discount at Arby’s.
Sorry to hear that. I hope they are doing well.
That was not the intention.
I never made any claims about “the real problem here”. Unfortunately, the world is big enough to have more than one problem.
I am reminded of Zopyrus, the Persian nobleman whose self-mutilation in the service of Darius was recorded by Herodotus:
When Babylon revolted against the rule of Darius I, Zopyrus devised a plan to regain control of the vital city. By cutting off his own nose and ears, and then having himself whipped, he arrived at the court of Darius. Upon presenting himself to Darius; the king stood up from his throne, shocked at the state of Zopyrus, and asked who had done this to him. Zopyrus then said that he had mutilated himself. Darius asked “Are you fool enough to think that the mutilation of your body can hasten our victory? When you did that to yourself you must have taken leave of your senses.” At this Zopyrus explained his plan, he would go before the people of Babylon and proclaim himself an exile and deserter of the Persian army punished by Darius himself. Seeing that the mutilation had already been done, Darius agreed and so Zopyrus put his plan into action. The Babylonian soldiers allowed him passage into the city and brought him before the chief princes of Babylon. The Babylonians, seeing a man of his high rank mutilated took his contrived story as absolute fact. Gaining the Babylonians’ trust, Zopyrus soon became commander-in-chief of their army, allowing him to weaken the city’s defenses. He then led soldiers under his charge into an ambush where Darius slaughtered them. The gates undefended; Darius’ armies victoriously reconquered the city. Zopyrus was made satrap and Darius “rewarded him with the highest honours, giving him every year the sort of gifts which are most prized amongst the Persians.”
