Peaches Geldof is dead, age 25

[phildwyer]

I am just being human.

No you're not.

 

[ffsear]

Let me just advance a few serious (seriously) points here, then I'll leave you to mourn in peace.

1. Expressing grief over the death of a celebrity unknown to you is insincere.

2. Feeling grief over the death of a celebrity unknown to you is crazy.

3. Those who claim to feel, or who actually feel, grief over the death of a celebrity unknown to them are frequently the most lacking in affect towards the flesh-and-blood human beings they actually do know.

4. The emotions some people now experience, or claim to experience, or believe that they experience, with regard to celebrities is somehow crowding out, distorting and even destroying the emotions they feel about real-life people.

5. This all started with the death of Diana, when for weeks it was practically illegal to express anything othr than profound grief and sorrow.

6. I call this "emotional totalitarianism."

7. Emotional totalitarianism bespeaks the death of the human soul.

SO i'm nuts for getting upset when Ayrton Senna died?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

It depends what you mean by "upset."

Naturally such deaths are a matter of regret. But I think that anyone whose emotions on hearing of the death of a celebrity are in any way comparable to those they would feel on hearing of the death of a loved one is a psychopath (and that's not a term I use correctly).

 

[Sprocket.]

No you're not.

Okay, I respect your psychotic opinion.

 

[Sprocket.]

SO i'm nuts for getting upset when Ayrton Senna died?

Many people are still upset about the death of Jesus of Nazareth.

 

[phildwyer]

Many people are still upset about the death of Jesus of Nazareth.

No they're not. And could you leave this thread now please? You don't really seem to have much to contribute here, and there are plenty of other interesting threads that might be more your level.

 

[Sprocket.]

No they're not. And could you leave this thread now please? You don't really seem to have much to contribute here, and there are plenty of other interesting threads that might be more your level.

Oh alright then.

 

[phildwyer]

Oh alright then.

Ta. You can come back tomorrow.

 

[Orang Utan]

Don't argue with him.
There's an interesting debate to be had about this, but not with him.
In fact, it's already been had on this very thread. Why go over it again for the benefit of a troll?

 

[ffsear]

Many people are still upset about the death of Jesus of Nazareth.

True, but under his "criteria" it all started with Diana, so i'm guessing those are void under his psychotic rules!

 

[Sprocket.]

True, but under your "criteria" it all started with Diana, so i'm guessing those a void under you psychotic rules!

What? Have you replied to the wrong post perhaps?

 

[ffsear]

yep! edited!

 

[Sprocket.]

What? Have you replied to the wrong post perhaps?

Soory read that without glasses and a spaniel trying to nick my jam buttie!

 

[likesfish]

When I heard the news my response was fuck she was only young and got on with my life.
Much like most news of deaths on the tv

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Don't argue with him.
There's an interesting debate to be had about this, but not with him.
In fact, it's already been had on this very thread. Why go over it again for the benefit of a troll?

Yes, you are right.

 

[scifisam]

So it's wrong to be interested enough in a celebrity to be sad when they die, but it's not wrong to be interested enough to start a thread about whether they take drugs, then later gloat when said celebrity dies from a drug overdose. IOW, compassion is wrong but rumour-mongering and gloating is fine.

 

[Nylock]

Engaging Dwyer is only going to enable him to do what he does best: being a tedious bore.

 

[ffsear]

His lack of empathy worries me!

Take the test!

http://vistriai.com/psychopathtest/

 

[Nylock]

His lack of empathy worries me!

Take the test!

http://vistriai.com/psychopathtest/

His lack of empathy is, in all likelihood, due him playing internets with you all. He's like that other tedious twat gunneradt -except gunner believed the shit he was spouting.

 

[Dr_Herbz]

Well I was, wasn't I? Nothing wrong with pointing that out. Just noting gloating the fact.

Fixed that for ya

 

[phildwyer]

So it's wrong to be interested enough in a celebrity to be sad when they die, but it's not wrong to be interested enough to start a thread about whether they take drugs, then later gloat when said celebrity dies from a drug overdose. IOW, compassion is wrong but rumour-mongering and gloating is fine.

If you find yourself becoming emtionally involved with the celebrities you see in the media, you are in serious trouble. You are being exploited by enormous, powerful and intelligent forces that will quite happily suck all of your genuine, personal emotion away, returning it to you in a dehumanized, commodified form that will render you incapable of forming any emotional attachment to a real human being.

 

[Sprocket.]

His lack of empathy worries me!

Take the test!

http://vistriai.com/psychopathtest/

I got 9, they obviously fell for it!

 

[Citizen66]

Why go over it again for the benefit of a troll?

Because they love arguing with trolls. See the 'ladies' thread.

 

[scifisam]

I'm stopping this arguing with a troll now. Might as well ignore the entirety of Urban for a few days now Dwyer's back - I could ignore him, but it's pointless, because others won't, and he'll just pollute every thread.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

If you find yourself becoming emtionally involved with the celebrities you see in the media, you are in serious trouble.

I do agree with most of what you assert regarding people mourning celebs they've never met. However I was quite upset at the news of Sue Townsend's demise, not for her, but it meant the death of Adrian Mole, we grew up together, yet he's not even real. Fucked up world.

 

[goldenecitrone]

I do agree with most of what you assert regarding people mourning celebs they've never met. However I was quite upset at the news of Sue Townsend's demise, not for her, but it meant the death of Adrian Mole, we grew up together, yet he's not even real. Fucked up world.

Hazel at the end of Watership Down. Jesus.

 

[sim667]

If you find yourself becoming emtionally involved with the celebrities you see in the media, you are in serious trouble. You are being exploited by enormous, powerful and intelligent forces that will quite happily suck all of your genuine, personal emotion away, returning it to you in a dehumanized, commodified form that will render you incapable of forming any emotional attachment to a real human being.

Says someone who starts arguments on the internet for a hobby.

 

[phildwyer]

I do agree with most of what you assert regarding people mourning celebs they've never met. However I was quite upset at the news of Sue Townsend's demise, not for her, but it meant the death of Adrian Mole, we grew up together, yet he's not even real. Fucked up world.

Actually I think it's quite normal to mourn the death of a fictional character. At least it shows you know what fiction is.

The trouble with those who get emotionally involved with celebrities is that they don't know what fiction is. They have lost sight of the difference between fact and fantasy. They identify with celebrities as if they were their real-life friends.

The emotional devastation this must wreak on their real lives can only be guessed at.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I do agree with most of what you assert regarding people mourning celebs they've never met. However I was quite upset at the news of Sue Townsend's demise, not for her, but it meant the death of Adrian Mole, we grew up together, yet he's not even real. Fucked up world.

If someone who did stuff you liked dies, you're allowed to be upset, ffs.

 

[brogdale]

So it's wrong to be interested enough in a celebrity to be sad when they die, but it's not wrong to be interested enough to start a thread about whether they take drugs, then later gloat when said celebrity dies from a drug overdose. IOW, compassion is wrong but rumour-mongering and gloating is fine.

Whilst I share some of Phil's analysis of sleb commodification, you make a very good point. If Phil were genuinely immune to the "powerful and intelligent forces" of sleb media, why would he start a thread on Peaches' supposed drug habit by articulating fear for her well-being. Appears to be some contradiction in his position.