Thinking Out of the Box

tonight david blaine's 44 day "above the below" confinement ends. i have admired david blaine's "magic" for years: his ability to overcome the limitations of his body's needs for rest, comfort, nutrition, and locomotion are amazing, and it is inspiring that he triumphs over fears that are nearly universal, usually for very long periods of time.

david blaine has been roundly criticised for his voluntary starvation stunt, though. many people are angry that he would starve himself when there are people starving around the world. many people feel that if he is going to do a starvation challenge he should be linking it to a charity cause which would feed hungry people. one man attacked blaine verbally as he sat in his plastic box over the thames. blaine responded:

"He's so concerned with people that are starving – and I think it is a concern – then he should go work and send all his money to feed people, or go feed them himself. Instead of using his anger to come yell and scream negativity, he should go do something positive".

david blaine has encouraged others to donate to charity if they believe in it all along, but he has not buckled in to the pressure to do so himself, although it would be the politically correct thing for him to do. he performs for children and hospitals in his free time, and he feels that this is what he wants to give. isn't that what charity is? a gift, voluntarily given?

in any case, although i don't really understand this starvation event, as denying myself food for more than 6 hours is a choice i would rarely make, generally speaking i respect david blaine's judgement and he obviously wanted to see if he could do it. i suppose the real question is whether he is really in the box...

"I don't consider myself a magician or illusionist at all. I consider myself a showman, and I love magic, and I love art, and I love performance, and they're all separate." - David Blaine

Sunday 19-Oct-03