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Mourning Celebrity deaths - why do some people scoff??? |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 1,108
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Mourning Celebrity deaths - why do some people scoff???
Whats really annoyed me this year is when people scoff at others for getting upset at mourning a celebrities death
'They're strangers' 'people die every day' etc Well the likes of Alan Rickman, Victoria Wood, Carrie Fisher are people who where part of my cultural landscape. They moulded my sense of humour, my love of TV and Film. Ive spent more time in the company of these celebrities than many of my family. They have been there since i was a child. Joe Bloggs off the street who very sadly died today means nothing to my life but Carrie Fisher etc do. Because they are a part of who i am So please stop challenging people who get upset when a part of their landscape disappears, because a little part of that person dies with them. |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 6,771
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That annoys me too. People are allowed to be sad if an actor/singer/author died that they liked. It doesn't matter that you weren't their best mate - you liked their work and can be sad that there will be no more. I think some people just want to act superior to others in this situation by telling them to reserve their sadness for starving orphans or whatever. You can have empathy for the dead celebrity and the orphans at the same time. It doesn't have to be either/or.
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#3 |
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: :noitacoL
Posts: 2,651
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Agreed. It is much better that people let out emotions than suppress them. Let people mourn how they want. As a general rule, there is no need for scoffing as it achieves nothing good.
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#4 |
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Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: The House of Elle
Posts: 5,393
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I think it's just people being generally skeptical, it's kind of understandable in some ways, we live in a very cynical world. That said, without good reason, I wouldn't question peoples sincerity regarding how they feel. I mean, it's odd how deeply affected we can be by such events.
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#5 |
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Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Oxford
Posts: 18,367
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I think some people do go OTT with their declarations of sadness, but, if we are affected by the death of someone then we have the right to express that. George Michael's death has made me very sad. Did I know him? Of course I didn't. But his music was (IMVHO), absolutely beautiful, and it makes me sad that the media are focusing (in a lot of cases) on his very public struggles whilst ignoring his gorgeous legacy of work.
But I wouldn't go so far as to go to his house and lay flowers or phone in sick for a month in a state of distress. That's when it becomes silly. |
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#6 |
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Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 22,335
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Even worse, imo, are those that take the time to reply with 'who?' or 'never heard of them'.
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#7 |
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 132
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i think one of the problems is how the grief and sadness has to be so overtly public in many cases - by all means feel sad, play a record etc, but what does writing a Tweet acheive apart from say 'hey, look at me, I'm sad about this', it makes whatever tragic event that has happened more about the person 'mourning' and less about what has actually happened, it is in my eyes a type of attention seeking.
Even worse were the pictures of people writing stuff in the dirt of George Michael's car - come on, that surely must be a new low? And of course, how many people would have then taken a photo of their writings, and perhaps even a selfie and put it on social media to show how upset they are? By all means feel sad and miss the person who has gone, i think musicians particularly resonate with us because they are the soundtrack to the most emotional events of our lives, but no-one will ever be able to convince me that posting to social media etc is anything more than trying to 'one-up' everyone else about how much more upset you are than they are... |
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#8 |
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 6,106
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I think part of the reason was well put by Noel Gallagher regarding Princess Diana:
"Half the people wouldn't visit their grandmother's grave...then they go and throw flowers at the coffin of some bird they've never met." |
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#9 |
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Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 50
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I don't think it's that black and white.
Some people do go over the top or are just jumping on a band wagon and don't really know anything about the person. I don't think you should call anyone out on it directly, just unfollow them if they annoy you, but you should be able to acknowledge it and discuss it with others. |
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#10 |
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Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 231
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Deaths are always sad regardless of who it is.
However if you stand there crying dramatically over the death of a celebrity, I find that very odd. |
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#11 |
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 7,341
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I think it's the sheer amount of celebrity passings we've had in such a short amount of time.
Particularly, if they're someone who you grew up with. It just makes me think of my own mortality. |
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#12 |
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: The Green Hills of Earth
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And yet thousands die every day in famine or war and not a tear shed. Just a statistic.
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#13 |
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: London
Posts: 35,635
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Quote:
And yet thousands die every day in famine or war and not a tear shed. Just a statistic.
On the other hand for example growing up in the late 80's and 90's George Michael was always on the radio so of course i will naturally think it's sad when he died. I wasn't a fan but he was just in the background of my childhood. Carrie and Debbie are also very sad because I was fans of there's and Carrie and Gary stole my heart in the last few years. A women who had so many issues but faced them head on and was always honest. One hell of a sad loss. |
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#14 |
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Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 667
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Quote:
And yet thousands die every day in famine or war and not a tear shed. Just a statistic.
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#15 |
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 572
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People advertise their grief purely for their own self satisfaction.
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#16 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 433
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Don't have a problem with people being sad at the demise of a famous person whose work they enjoyed. What I do find unhealthy is when people grieve for the individual themselves when they didn't know them personally, when that grief involves placing flowers at the dead persons house etc. I also find it frustrating that people are writing 2016 off as a terrible year because a lot of famous people coincidentally died around the same time when hundreds of thousands die every year with little to no attention paid to them.
It's an issue of proportional reaction, keeping things in perspective etc. |
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#17 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 40,276
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Quote:
I think it's the sheer amount of celebrity passings we've had in such a short amount of time.
Particularly, if they're someone who you grew up with. It just makes me think of my own mortality. I think some people just find the need for other celebs who probably never knew them or worked with them to emote on Twitter every time someone dies is a bit odd. This should be a matter for their close family and friends and colleagues who knew and worked with them to comment. In relation to George Michael it's of interest what Andrew Ridgeley has to say - but Sarah Michelle Gellar? |
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#18 |
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Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 1,796
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The fact is people are affected by celebrity deaths and always will be, look at how people were affected by Princess Diana's death, I wasn't as much as I never had much time for the royal family but a lot of people did and I can understand why they felt the way they did because that's how I feel when one of my favourite musicians or actors dies irrelvent of the age, the affect can be different, in some cases it's shock- lke that of River Phoenix, other times I find myself in tears like John Candy, John Peel and far to many people who have passed away this year have affected me this way, the reason this year has been so bad is a lot of the iconic people who have passed were still young and secondly a lot of the people who have passed this year were part of people's childhoods such as Carrie Fisher and Gene Wilder.
The musicans who died this year so many of them, their music affected you, Leonard Cohen was 82 but his music affected me so much, his death had a real impact on me and I was sad for days, and I still am to be honest |
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#19 |
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 26,363
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Quote:
People advertise their grief purely for their own self satisfaction.
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#20 |
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Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 52
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I was never sure if it was just me being grumpy but reading Facebook comments like "my thoughts and prayers go out to so and so" always made me cringe a bit.
Why do people feel the need to publicly declare this? If it was a sincere action, fair dos - grieve in your own private way. But to make it public screams "please notice my compassion". |
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#21 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 26,363
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Quote:
The fact is people are affected by celebrity deaths and always will be, look at how people were affected by Princess Diana's death, I wasn't as much as I never had much time for the royal family but a lot of people did and I can understand why they felt the way they did because that's how I feel when one of my favourite musicians or actors dies irrelvent of the age, the affect can be different, in some cases it's shock- lke that of River Phoenix, other times I find myself in tears like John Candy, John Peel and far to many people who have passed away this year have affected me this way, the reason this year has been so bad is a lot of the iconic people who have passed were still young and secondly a lot of the people who have passed this year were part of people's childhoods such as Carrie Fisher and Gene Wilder.
The musicans who died this year so many of them, their music affected you, Leonard Cohen was 82 but his music affected me so much, his death had a real impact on me and I was sad for days, and I still am to be honest |
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#22 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 53,623
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Quote:
People advertise their grief purely for their own self satisfaction.
If one side left the other alone then maybe it wouldn't be such a divisive issue ? |
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#23 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 25,412
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Quote:
i think one of the problems is how the grief and sadness has to be so overtly public in many cases - by all means feel sad, play a record etc, but what does writing a Tweet acheive apart from say 'hey, look at me, I'm sad about this', it makes whatever tragic event that has happened more about the person 'mourning' and less about what has actually happened, it is in my eyes a type of attention seeking.
Even worse were the pictures of people writing stuff in the dirt of George Michael's car - come on, that surely must be a new low? And of course, how many people would have then taken a photo of their writings, and perhaps even a selfie and put it on social media to show how upset they are? By all means feel sad and miss the person who has gone, i think musicians particularly resonate with us because they are the soundtrack to the most emotional events of our lives, but no-one will ever be able to convince me that posting to social media etc is anything more than trying to 'one-up' everyone else about how much more upset you are than they are... |
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#24 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Somewhere in Germany
Posts: 257
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Although I do not subscribe to the hysterical reactions some people come up with, I nevertheless have been touched, very much so in some cases, by many of this year’s celebrity deaths. Not least because there do seem to have been an inordinate number of them, and many of those were people who have been, as it were, a part of my life for a very long time. In my teens I listened to the music of Status Quo, David Bowie and Leonard Cohen. I still listen to them today. Alan Rickman first came to my attention as the oily Obediah Slope in the Barchester Chronicles and I have admired his acting, and his seductive voice, ever since - whether in Truly, Madly, Deeply, as Snape (he was Snape) in the Harry Potter films or in anything else his presence graced. I listened to Terry Wogan’s radio voice on those occasions I drove to work, and loved the comedy of the Two Ronnies (Mr Corbett has now joined Mr Barker – so sad in both cases). Even Paul Daniels was a part of my television watching in earlier times. Then the comedy talents of Victoria Wood and Caroline Aherne – in how many years has one had the misfortune to list so many people who have had their lives taken away, some incredibly early? Forgive me for the names I have missed, there are just too many.
George Michael and Prince were among those younger than me. Not so much a part of my youth, but still big, recognisable names. Carrie Fisher was young and beautiful when she was in the Star Wars films. Again, a bit younger than me. And too young – which is part of the crux of the matter. None of us is getting any younger, and of course nobody lives for ever. What binds all of these people is that they died the sort of deaths that, sooner or later, will come to everyone who doesn’t die a violent, unnecessary death. Not a single plane crash, car crash or random lunatic shooter. Not like James Dean, Buddy Holly, John Denver, Rick Nelson, John Lennon and more. Despite living in first world countries, with access to sufficient money, a good diet, modern medicine – when it came down to it there was not one damn thing any of them could do when the Grim Reaper turned up. They didn’t live in war-torn areas, or countries where famine is rife. The horror of deaths in those places cannot be ignored, but neither can we spend our lives tearing ourselves apart about every single death, because there are just too many of them and we would cease to function at all if we did. But these people were all individuals we recognised, “knew”, to a greater or lesser extent and who did touch our lives. Added to which, they remind us of our own mortality. Each time someone famous – particularly one of around my own age or younger - dies the sort of death you or I might suffer one day, there is also a sort of “there but for the grace of the deity of my choice go I” feeling. May 2017 be a vast improvement on this year. |
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#25 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 715
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Appearing edgy on the internet is some peoples only contribution to the world, and they feel the need to remind everyone of that.
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