Russian leaflet on Selfie ban .... mad people at Pamplona bull capture !!!

Amour-propre (French, "self-love") is a concept in the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau that esteem depends upon the opinion of others.Narcissism (noun) means : inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity.

What do people do when they are in groups ?what do they do, when they are in an important place or scenic location or nearer celebrities ... simple – take ‘Selfie’ and immediately share them on social networking sites !  Selfie is ‘átarms length’ – meaning one can only extent the camera or cellphone to arm’s length and contrive an angle to take a photograph !  There are some places including art museums,  which have banned ‘selfies’!

While Selfies are ridiculed, there is no denial of the fact that people are enamoured to take selfies.  'Don't take selfies with a gun or while standing in front of a lion':-  Russia issued guidelines for people after dozens die taking self-portraits this year alone.   Though it has rapidly become the favourite pastime of people all over the world, following a spate of deaths Russia has issued a hilarious set of guidelines for taking safer selfies.

Among the advice is not taking a self portrait with a gun or posing alone in front of a lion.In its new leaflet, video and web campaign Russia's interior ministry uses road sign style-images to warn that taking 'a cool selfie could cost you your life.' The gun warning comes after 21-year-old shot herself posing with a pistol; this road sign style-image warns of the dangers of the railway.  Another, sign warns of the danger of posing in front of cars. 'A selfie on the railway tracks is a bad idea if you value your life,' the leaflet warns ~ the campaign push comes after a string of high hazard poses has caused around 100 people to end up in hospital and a succession of deaths already this year.

In January, two young men blew themselves up in the Urals while taking a selfie holding a hand grenade with the pin pulled out. The cell phone with the selfie survived as a record.' A high number of 'likes' could lead him on a journey to death,' warns aid to interior minister  !!!

The Russian leaftlet obviously had no impact miles away on a group of Pamplona bull runners all holding their phones to take a picture get squashed by raging animal - revellers laid down and encouraged the rampaging beast to run over their backs as it entered the ring….. each of them carried a camera phone as the desperately tried to take photographs of the massive bull.  The event is increasingly popular with tourists who are happy to risk their lives to get the ultimate holiday snap  -  an Australian man was gored twice by a fighting bull, with two others suffering minor injuries. 

Despite the city's bull running rituals being centuries old, there was a very modern twist to proceedings this year with camera phones replacing red rags as the item most likely to be waved in the face of a rampaging bull. With the event increasingly popular with tourists, many in attendance are more than willing to risk their lives to capture the ultimate holiday snap.  In one photo, a massive bull is seen trampling over the participants backs as it bursts into the bullring in Pamplona…. Another bull leapt out of the backstage area, landing on the backs of one particularity reckless group of festival goers

The last reported death at Pamplona was in 2009 when a  27-year-old was gored in the neck by a bull called Capuchino – now the nineday fiesta which features 24 hour partying saw racing bulls, their guiding steers, professional matadors and unprofessional revellers risking their lives to take that ultimate selfie.   It is not the bull that is mad !!!

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

16^th July 2015.