I would love for one (or more) of our videos to “go viral” but I’m not willing to put anyone at risk of physical harm to do that.

And when someone needs help, my first thought is to help—not to video.

We’ve all seen plenty of stupid stunt videos. That’s not what prompted this rant. Here’s what did:

Someone shared a video on Facebook of a man rescuing a dog that had fallen through the ice into a frigid pond. I’m not going to share the actual video, but here’s what happened:

The man was carefully approaching the hole in the ice, keeping a safe distance, trying to get the frightened, shivering dog to bite onto the end of a rope so the man could pull the dog out of the water. The man was clearly concerned about falling through the ice himself—and he was quite a bit larger and heavier than the dog so his concern was justified.

As he was tossing the rope, he said to someone off-camera, “Go get a life jacket.”

Good idea, I thought.

A woman’s voice said, “You told me to video.”

Really?

No one got a life jacket. The dog finally bit the end of the rope and was pulled to safety.

Would they have posted the video if the man had fallen through the ice, too? Probably. Gotta get those views and shares.

What do you think about people who do this kind of thing? Share your thoughts below.

To see some of our non-viral videos, check out our Vimeo page.

Jacquelyn Lynn
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