RIP threads.

ShooterSF

stovelid wrote: »

So to sum up: some people are aggrieved because they want to express how utterly unworthy of attention and comment fame-seeking celebrities are by paying lots of attention to - and commenting at length about - their death on boards.

Of course not. Society is immersed in celebrity. To think someone who is in the papers and on our tv won't get attention is ludicrous, it's more what type of attention they get that's the problem. I would never have went out to start a Jade Goody thread but accepted it was inevitable. It was only when people were painting her as a saint that I felt the need to post.

Anywho I guess this starting to go in circles.

stovelid

ShooterSF wrote: »

Society is immersed in celebrity. To think someone who is in the papers and on our tv won't get attention is ludicrous.

.

ShooterSF wrote: »

I felt the need to post.

ShooterSF

stovelid wrote: »

.

What's your point?

stovelid

ShooterSF wrote: »

What's your point?

There is only a nominal difference between endless discourse about hating attention-seeking celebrities and loving those celebrities.

Obviously nobody escapes celebrity in our culture, but those Jade threads have remarkable staying power, with the people who deplore the attention she garners often outnumbering the people who want to offer condolences.

Even if the deploring camp just want to make death jokes, the staying power of the threads would seem to prove that the majority of us are in thrall to Z-list celebrity, even if some of us just fancy an easy target to define our 'intelligence' against. So much that you get people actually complaining that they can't make endless jokes about somebody they purport to find meaningless and unworthy of exposure.

On an aside, it must be hard to try and make hard-and-fast judgements about taste in AH. I don't expect unpaid volunteers to have to make constant, exacting relative judgements every time they log in to AH. If there is some amount of inconsistency about death jokes, I get over it and move on to the million other thread topics I can start or contribute to.

ShooterSF

I know what you're saying. I'm not too fussed though about them getting attention as long as it's the type they deserve.

At this point I'm not even arguing any specific point. I have said from the start I understand why it was done. In theory I'd love if anyone could say anything if that's how they felt but I realize boards can't (even if they did want to) allow that.

I also have utter respect for the job the mods do in AH. Then again I have at times made points only to be asked "Did you say anything at the time?", which of course I never did so I'm glad I voiced my opinion on this subject.

Also I get the irony of people talking bout celebs they don't think deserve attention but I guess it's a bit like using the threat of war to impose peace, life is full of lil ironies.

LuckyLloyd

When I was 15, I attended the funeral of a local man who had died suddenly (heart attack, brain tumor - can't remember which). I was there because the man was an acquaintance of my parents. My parents would have said 'friend', but tbh - their only contact with him was within the confines of the local pub. The man was well known to be an abusive alcoholic. His wife had died of cancer a couple of years before he passed (though his alcoholism had been ingrained long before that point), and following her death he would bring his son (about 11 when this man died) along to the pub with him (aside from the rare occasions he could find a babysitter) and keep him there while he drank. The son always appeared unhappy (but of course), badly dressed and poorly fed. It was also well known that - his wife's funeral aside - the man had not attended Mass in years.

At the funeral, a great crowd turned up, and the Priest spoke in glowing terms about the man - about how how good a father he was, and of how his strong faith had seen him through the death of his wife and allowed him to look after his son. Those in attendance, seemed to accept this description of the man and narrative of his final years - and agreed that it was awful for the son to have to now live with his aunt and uncle.

The following few weekends I turned up at Sunday evening Mass as usual (I would be playing sport Sunday mornings) but sat the communion part of the ceremony out. After a few weeks of this, I eventually declared to my parents that I wasn't going to go to Mass anymore, that I was finding the whole thing a bit pointless and confusing. There was murder (as one would expect) over this announcement, but I haven't received communion since (obviously attending Mass for various funerals and weddings when necessary).

---

I personally find the type of reaction we get after the death of a Princess Di, Jade Goody, Katy French to be amusing, illogical, insincere and hypocritical. However, it no longer fails to surprise me. In this country at least (and probably in many more), the majority of people are indoctrinated into a culture of mourning that demands ignorance of our critical faculties, and the unquestioned embrace of tired traditions, cliches and banalities. As such, it shouldn't amaze anyone that people have a desire to type "+1, poor Jade" into an AH thread on the subject.

Moreover, the thread concerned will be a very poor place to try and get them to examine their behavior and consider why they have that urge and whether it's a good thing all told. I do agree that stories like Jade Goody are symptomatic of and hint at fundamental problems within our modern society. But meaningful debate or argument on such things would require a scope that far exceeds the death of Jade Goody, or any celebrity - and the conversation some people wish to have would be way OT for that individual thread. Unless your motive is to simply troll the idiots for some cheap entertainment, in which case you most definitely should feel the weight of moderation upon you.

Let them post their "+1" posts. If they don't post it, they'll be thinking it. And you won't change that anytime soon.

Akantha

Well said Lloyd.

RIP Poor Alcho Bloke.

I hope the little kid mentioned was ok in the end.

Dudess

Akantha wrote: »

RIP Poor Alcho Bloke.

I thought Lloyd's point was that everyone was saying "aw, poor man" when he died despite the fact he was someone they would have found loathsome when alive?

LuckyLloyd

Dudess wrote: »

I thought Lloyd's point was that everyone was saying "aw, poor man" when he died despite the fact he was someone they would have found loathsome when alive?

Indeed. I'm hoping Akantha was being ironical or some such!

Akantha

Dudess wrote: »

I thought Lloyd's point was that everyone was saying "aw, poor man" when he died despite the fact he was someone they would have found loathsome when alive?

I thought Lloyds story was lovely. It played on my heart strings, especially the bit about the kid looking under fed and dressed poorly The part about the man losing his wife and struggling to bring up the kid all by himself, what can you say really. It is tuff being a lone parent, more so being a man.

I hope God found a place for him in heaven and used his Angels to show the young kid happier times.

stovelid

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Indeed. I'm hoping Akantha was being ironical or some such!

Maybe Akantha is the kid in your story?

Dudess

These are the crucial parts:

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

The man was well known to be an abusive alcoholic.

he would bring his son (about 11 when this man died) along to the pub with him (aside from the rare occasions he could find a babysitter) and keep him there while he drank. The son always appeared unhappy

Lloyd's point is that it was rather hypocritical of the priest and fellow parishioners to heap praise on this man when he died when they would have slated him while alive.

stovelid

Dudess wrote: »

These are the crucial parts:
Lloyd's point is that it was rather hypocritical of the priest and fellow parishioners to heap praise on this man when he died when they would have slated him while alive.

I think Akantha is attempting to parody the story in a Jade RIP AH post style. The clever young fellow.

LuckyLloyd

Dudess, I think we're being

Dudess

I would have assumed so if it weren't for Akantha's previous posts to this thread - very defensive of Jade/Terry's stance. Maybe I read them wrongly.

Terry

Dudess wrote: »

I would have assumed so if it weren't for Akantha's previous posts to this thread - very defensive of Jade/Terry's stance. Maybe I read them wrongly.

It's merc trolling again.

more when i sober up.
Wow. Posting properly when drunk is hard

cHaTbOx

Terry wrote: »

It's merc trolling again.

more when i sober up.
Wow. Posting properly when drunk is hard

Aye but you start laughing at the words you type .:D

Dudess

Terry wrote: »

It's merc trolling again.

That's exactly what I suspected - especially when Akantha, a seemingly new member, was going on about DeVore.

Akantha

Terry wrote: »

It's merc trolling again.

more when i sober up.
Wow. Posting properly when drunk is hard

Trolling? How do you or lloyd know that the man in his story was not more than Lloyds version? Lloyd didn't know much about him nor did his parents. I would imagine he had more years behind him than Lloyds story. The irony of Lloyds post is probably lost on you. I could explain it but it is easier to sayRIP Poor Alcho bloke.Whats a merc by the way? Google tells me nothing but a lot about cars and soldiers.

Dudess wrote: »

That's exactly what I suspected - especially when Akantha, a seemingly new member, was going on about DeVore.

What drivel are you on about now? Been here since last year. I like Devores posts. Clever guy and good with his words. Terry is good too, same kind of linear reasoning but lacks the finesse of DeVores style. Why don't you take your inevitable school teacher brain and head off somewhere else to educate the Kids.

Dudess

Akantha wrote: »

Why don't you take your inevitable school teacher brain and head off somewhere else to educate the Kids.

I'd love to teach but there are no jobs.

Sorry about the mistaken identity - it was considered trolling because you appeared to be going against the grain simply for the sake of it.

Terry

Dudess wrote: »

I'd love to teach but there are no jobs.

Sorry about the mistaken identity - it was considered trolling because you appeared to be going against the grain simply for the sake of it.

What she said.

Dudess

You'd love to teach too? ****, I'd like to be a fly-on-the-wall in that classroom...