quote:Originally posted by Daniel J*:
There are also dedicated MJ sites or even PMs if people want private 'grief' chats with just like-minded people. Common decency is really just another name for social censoring. For instance, it's common decency in my world to respect the principle of innocent until proven guilty before the law but a surprisingly large swathe of the forum don't seem to have that common decency. So be it, it's a forum afterall. I'm happy to argue the toss each time.
I don't buy the piggy-backing in the argument of personal, unrelated grief onto celebrity deaths and censoring others on that basis either. That piggy-backing smacks of emotional manipulation to me, unconsciously or otherwise. I doubt if I'm the only one but when I've encountered family deaths, I've found that everyone seems to be joking about death or making insensitive comments. I just deal with it internally rather than make a public issue out of it as I know I'm sensitised at that point. For sure, a celebrity death might be a conduit for repressed emotions from other deaths but that's a personal thing.
Celebrity grief isn't the same as grief one feels when someone close dies. Personal grief can take years to quell. I bet most people renting their clothes now over MJ will have got happily drunk this weekend or will be getting on with their normal lives in a day or two. It's just a hightened emotional moment, possibly leaving a residual sadness for a few days, and a bit of nostalgia when his songs are played.
I agree with everything you said despite being one of those opposing your opinion regarding 'innocent until proven guilty' and in retrospect I shouldn't have made the comment I did (but here's not the place to discuss that).
I lost my parents within a very short space of time a few years ago and the profound pain I still feel doesn't compare to sadness I feel about MJ, who I admired because of his contribution to the world of music.