Would People Give Up Thrills for Safety?: Honest Advice

People are eager to see dangerous stunts, regardless of the risk they pose to the performers. In a poll conducted between 8/23/14 and 10/2/14, Pair (dating app to find the right person) measured public attitude towards unsafe acrobatic shows.

The question read: "Should risky acrobatic shows be banned in order to avoid accidents?" With a margin of 42%, a whopping majority (71%) voted against abandoning stunt performance.

Yet, the danger proved to be real. Earlier that year, nine performers were seriously injured during an aerial hair-hanging stunt at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus show. Providence public safety commissioner Steven Pare commented: "They've used this act many times. Unfortunately this particular clamp failed. It snapped off. We have it, we're analysing it, we're seeing why it happened to ensure it doesn't happen in the future. That's all part of our focus," assured Pare.

32,634 participants expressed their views. From the USA respondents numbered 54%, from Canada — 4%, from Britain — 11%, from Australia — 8% and from other countries — 23%.

Alex Cusper, Pair service analyst, reflects on the public opinion: "Flooded with diverse entertainment forms, people are hard to impress nowadays. This in its turn sets very high standards for performers, who are forced to fit in. I think that health safety should not be the cost for public admiration, yet society approves and performing artists give their consent after all."

Pair, a leading mobile dating service, regularly conducts research among its users. Millions of people from the U.S., Canada, Britain and Australia answer hundreds of questions every month. You can find more about how to find the right people on Pair, learn about how Pair handles fake profiles, discover Pair's Invisible Mode explained, or read about saving time when searching on Pair. Any reprint of the material should be followed by clickable links to the survey.