After reading the article, It’s More Like a Suicide Than a Sport written by Ed Caesar.I wanted to know 
why anyone would put their life in danger, and then the thought came into my mind; how would Mill react to the riskiness of this sport. I Google searched for the information and found many articles. Ed Grabianowski in his article explains that the name “BASE jumping” is an acronym for the four types of objects that people jump from. “BASE” stands for Buildings, Antennas, Spans or bridges, and Earth. BASE jumpers jump from various cliffs and high man-made buildings, towers, bridges, and airplanes, at low altitudes with only a few seconds to deploy the parachute. There is no time available for jumpers to deal with problems or malfunctions.
This sport is so risky that it’s actually illegal in many places.
I read this article A Sport to Die For written for ESPN by Michael Abrams who is a freelance writer.
In this article Abrams writes about the experiences and views of Tom Aiello who is a Chief Instructor at Snake River Base Academy SRBA in Twin Falls Idaho.
In the article, Tom explains the different reasons why people decide to join the sport. He basically divides BASE jumpers into three different categories: BASE tourists, who seek out exotic locations and intense experiences; young daredevils, who love to be wild, bad, and hard-core; and the “black death” jumpers, who, from their own personal inner turmoil, try to chase death and not necessarily beat it. He also explains how risky the sport is that he calls it, “the next best thing to suicide.” This is where mill’s theory of duties and responsibilities towards family and society comes in. Mill focuses on the effects of the outcome on others related to the individual involved in the action. He believes an individual can never be isolated from the society because he or she is always connected to a family in one way or another. Therefore, every individual has duties to others which he or she cannot neglect. If an individual is not taking care of their health and body, he or she not only brings evil upon all who depended on them for their happiness but also becomes a burden on on others. Thus that individual is not being responsible towards their family and societal duties.
Another point that we discussed in class was “The harm principle”. Mill believes that by implementing harm principle we can prevent someone from acting a certain way and causing harm. When an individual’s conduct affects others interest and causes harm to them, then society has the jurisdiction to stop the individual to perform that conduct.
There are so many fatal accidents but still people attracted to do BASE jumping. They know the risks involved and their limits. This video on you tube shows an accident happening while jumping, luckily the jumper survived.
After reading the articles and watching videos about risks involved in this sport; while keeping “The Harm Principle” in mind, we need to distinguish the thresholds between harm to self or others and answer this open question: how would Mill react to this sport? In my opinion Mill is unlikely to agree with individuals like “Black Death” jumpers to participate in such a risky sport.
Touchdown Theory 
Mill argued that one should be able to practice autonomy in any circumstances except one in which it inflicts harm on others. There could be lots of reasons why someone may go against BASE jumping, but I think Mills would have just left the BASE jumpers alone. Yet, it is true that governments or any organizations and we as society should draw a line to which extent we would support life-threatening sports. After all, it’s a good reminder for potential BASE jumper to consider what they’ve committed to and consequences from a decision to participate in dangerous sports.
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I have to disagree sicho2014. If Mill would be for a law requiring helmets, than the same principle effects base jumpers as well. In both situations, the personal risk assumed by the jumper or no helmet rider is too high to disregard. Harming each users community has a higher chance of being harmfully effected by the choice than not affected. Therefore, Mill would regard Base Jumping an unnecessary risk that does not regard the necessary obligations one has to their community members.
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Actually, I haven’t thought carefully about the helmet situation. So, I’ve thought over whether Mill would argue against BASE jumping or not.
This could be a gray area since we all are not Mill after all, but I still think that Mill would’ve leave these guys alone. In the case of BASE jumping, these jumpers are challenging themselves beyond human nature, but these guys also realize the danger of it, and make sure that they are secure when they fly. Of course, some people would be unfortunate and die, but these accidents happen when one of safety devices malfunction. On the other hand, in the case of helmet, I’m not sure whether not wearing them allows them to challenge themselves, but its more of disregarding their responsibilities for themselves. So these two cases are different.
I also wanted to point out that Mills didn’t trust governing bodies. Do you remember when he said that governments do bad whenever they intervene in any issue. So I still think that Mills would just say let these jumpers alone. But, I really enjoyed your argument, and this has made me contemplate over and over before I post this comment. If you still disagree, let this argument continue!
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I think that I am going to have to disagree with byrnesj310 and agree with sicho2014 in regard to this topic. Mill argues that an individual may do anything that he or she pleases as long as they do not hurt anyone else in the process. Granted, it can be argued that BASE jumpers are harming themselves and others due to the risky actions that they are taking. But, like sicho2014, I believe that Mill would simply leave BASE jumpers alone. If they want to risk their own lives and be idiots, they should have the right to do so. There will always be thrill and adrenaline junkies in the world, and being that I am not one, I will never understand their ideologies. That being said, if one enjoys near death experiences they should go for it. However, I assume that both Mill and I would agree in wishing BASE jumpers the best of luck
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