Sbradley

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3512447.stm

How nice to find someone who isn't afraid to stand up and say what is true but may be rather unpopular. Particularly interesting to note that despite how caring today's society professes to be, donations to the charities we so ardently support haven't increased one iota

SB

davyboy

Ever since Diana, it's appeared trendy to show your crocodile tears of grief.

Every 'C' list celeb who dies, Scoobynet does a 3 page tribute too.

ajm

Good article, and he is absolutely right. In a way it reminds me of Fight Club, where he goes to all the group counselling sessions for problems he hasn't got in order to make himself feel better!

davyboy

Thinking about this further, for a joke I once did a "RIP dame Thora" tribute for a joke and people replied...................she had been dead for a few days!

I wonder if I can find it.

andrewdelvard

It's called empathy. Feeling something for your fellow man when he's been crapped on from a great height. Visualizing what it would be like to be there.
What a crass and cynical piece of writing. 1 or 2 interesting points. Thats all.

King RA

I've had a go at the idiots on here who say 'I'm sooo sorry' when they don't even know the person. Well there u go, that proves your idiots.

davyboy

lol at King RA - not sure it proves it!

ajm

I don't think it is the same thing when you are offering condolences directly to a person who DID know them, because you are doing so to try and make THEM feel better.

My understanding of the article was that it was about mass hysteria, noseyness, people's shallow and easily appeased consciences and macabre interests in death. I would be willing to bet the sort of people that queued up to see Diana's coffin are the same sort of people who rubber neck at RTA's.

Leslie

I agree with ajm. Whether you know the people concerned or not there is no reason why you can't feel sorry for them in their moment of grief and there is nothing wrong in letting them know that in order to try to make them feel better because you understand their loss and how they feel.

Very cynical and selfish to just ignore it because it does not affect you personally.

Les

Hanley

I'm really sorry you all feel that way

ProperCharlie

and it seems to me that you lived your life like a candle in the wind

sob sob

Chris L

Couldn't disagree with a single word in the article if I'm honest. I think the guy has hit the nail firmly on the head. He'll probably be roundly criticised for it, but as the saying goes 'The truth hurts'.

"My understanding of the article was that it was about mass hysteria, noseyness, people's shallow and easily appeased consciences and macabre interests in death. I would be willing to bet the sort of people that queued up to see Diana's coffin are the same sort of people who rubber neck at RTA's."

Exactly - he's not having a go at people feeling sorry or being upset because of something like the Soham murders - it's the way these feelings are expressed, especially in public. Diana's funeral was another perfect example.

Chris

drumsterphil

iTrader: (1)

Finally some sense be spoken - agree with every word of the article.

Remember the Diana death week very well. Couldn't believe how this country appeared to go into mass hysteria over her demise. Big deal! Yes it was sad but how many actually knew her? Respect for the death of a person is one thing, going completely loopy with fantastical grief is another!

I think the media had an awful lot to do with whipping up people's emotions (in particular the constant barrage by GMTV tugging at the heart strings!).

ProperCharlie

i remember hearing the news of diana's death so clearly. we were all so shocked. i was round at a friend's house - we had been out on the beer the previous night and were all waking up with bleary eyes. the telly was showing pictures of hundreds of boquets. "what's going on?" i asked. "di's carked it" al told me. i looked at him, non-plussed. he looked so sad at the news. he spoke again:






"i bet the fookin football's gonna be cancelled"

mattstant

Its just another sodding import from America there is nothing wrong with showing condolences but there are people who go too far and have to either connect themselves to a tragedy by what ever tenuous link they can dream up or try to muscle in with a personal tragedy of there own which is always FAR greater than yours.
Its quite simply all about attention seeking

GaryK

yep agree with the article fully, there needs to be a sense of proportion and as the article points out grieving for a celebrity you have never even met is just plain crazy, sure its sad but people were inconsolable for days!

King RA

I remember when I first heard of Dianna's death. My sister work me up to tell me !!!! she soon got the message to not do that again....

I couldn't have cared less at that point in time and when I finally awoke I still didn't care..

Do you care if Mr Evans from number 42 who you never spoke to in your life died??? probably not, so how is this different apart from being famous. Is a famous persons death any more tragic than that of somebody who wasn't??

I think alot of you need to sit down and take a serious look at your morals and values, remember the pearly gates are not so forgiving as I am.

unclebuck

This was being dicussed on the Radio this morning. Quite right too. People got really competitive with their 'grieving' after the pissed up Sloane Ranger was wiped out in that reckless driving incident. "I've got the most expensive flowers" "We stood in line for 10 hours to sign the condolence book" and so on. I found the insincerity of it all quite sickening to watch.

UB

Leslie

When it comes to looking at morals and values King RA, you are the man!

jaf01uk

On a similar vane, why do people insist on putting flowers/teddies/football shirts/scarves etc at the scenes of RTA's for months or years after the event? There are a few sites round about here that have football shirts and flowers pinned to trees/fences for things that have happened ages ago despite the fact that the victims are interred locally, why not just go to the cemetary like everyone else? Are they leaving stuff there while the victims grave is bare? Seems like a strange practice to me, even saw a car stopped on the central reserve/lane 2 of a particularly busy dual carriageway putting flowers on the armco barrier in the middle!! a few years ago, are they wanting to be next?
PS. Just like to point out that I have no objections to the initial placing of flowers and stuff because I appreciate that some of the friends etc need a focus immediately after the event,
Gary

SomeDude

Good post King RA.

Sometimes it's a fine line though. A person on here I've known only through Scoobynet sadly lost his partner a while back. Whilst I often disagreed with him and never met him, I did feel a "****!" moment when I read about it. A very short chill...

But I didn't feel qualified to type in condolences. Not because I didn't care, but because I didn't know them enough to take part in their obvious grief, which is something very very personal.

As an aside, there should be a fine on the use of the word "gutted"

The article is a very good one, ta for the link.