Nature Of The Man
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 9/5/2006

R.I.P: Steve Irwin's body isn't yet cold and already the Pecksniffs are out, tut-tutting the late crocodile hunter's risky encounters with wild beasts. They miss the point: Irwin's life was about enriching humans.

Irwin, who died over the weekend after a freak attack by a stingray, did not live a riskless life. In fact, for those who've watched his Animal Planet shows, some wonder why a fatal encounter hadn't happened earlier. But it's indisputable that he mastered nature with a rare talent ? a talent that took him to the edge of possibility. For the sake of the rest of us, he shared his gift.

Exclaiming "crikey!" Irwin wrassled gators, handled snakes and got close to creatures with sharp teeth, riveting us all with his sunny confidence reminiscent of the pith-helmet British empire era.

He seemed to defy the barrier of television. "When I talk to the camera, mate, it's not like I'm talking to the camera, I'm talking to you because I want to whip you around and plunk you right there with me," he once said.

Maybe that's why the scolds came crawling out of their cubicles, all but saying Irwin had it coming. Irwin's success seemed to have made them sick to the green gills. Now they stand on his grave and claim to have the last word.

Two classes of critics have shown up in Irwin's case, galled by his distinctly Australian enthusiasm and his brawny persona.

Some are safety-firsters who say no one should touch nature because it's just too risky. Others are cognoscente of sorts who say no one should go near nature because all human contact will spoil it.

On Internet sites like Daily Kos, for instance, the local consensus was to condemn Irwin for taking chances, something almost as "bad" as soldiers who put their lives in danger for Iraq's freedom. Along with Irwin, soldiers, police and firefighters all take needless risks because nothing out there is worth risking one's life for.

The other scolds detested the fact that Irwin was entertaining and his exuberance brought nature to millions of the hoi polloi (including children who might be sparked to learn more about nature beyond TV.) Irwin's ability to make nature popular and profitable obviously challenged the gravity of their own expertise. "Voyeuristic," snarled survival expert Ray Mears, condemning Irwin. "Some things in nature should be left alone."

With insufferable attitudes like that, it's no wonder conservation often is a lifeless and dismal cause, the province of angry isolationists, and corollary environmentalists who can be even worse.

They seem to think it's better to be unaware of these wonders than to let a rube like Irwin convey them, because they alone know best.

Steve Irwin wasn't like them. He saw nature as something whose risks could be controlled for, whose challenges could be mastered and whose wonders could be shared. His popular TV shows opened a wide window to animals, allowing ordinary people to make up their minds about how far humanity should go to preserve them.

The loss of Irwin is painful. In his short, irreplaceable life, he shared things no one else could have shared. His life wasn't about animals but about inspiring humanity to appreciate the wild.

An Australian state funeral is in the cards, and not just millions ? but billions ? will mourn him. Given how Irwin could spread interest in nature, if animals could mourn, the animal kingdom would mourn most of all.

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