Jade Goody -The ultimate realty TV show?

[Cunobelin]

I do not wish to upset anybody or hurt anybody's feelings with this although I know it may touch a few raw nerves, it is the concept I wish to raise. I am also not sure whether a subject this "heavy" should be in this section - if not could it be moved

I have never liked Big Brother or its likes, and as a product of this Genre Jade Goody is not a role model for me.

I have great sympathy for her as a cancer sufferer and also with her intention to get as much money for her family as possible in the remaining time. The stunts of having her wedding and the christening of her kids on TV are perhaps an acceptable way of raising this finance

I had real problems though  with the appropriateness of the announcement of the diagnosis live on TV. I also have a problem with the high profile saga. It (to me) belittles the courage and dignity of those who go through the process every day.

Now it is reported that she wants to die "live on TV"....

I have a real problem with this - is it the ultimate way for someone who became famous for reality TV to end her career in this genre, or is it taking the whole reality TV concept to far with her death as an entertainment?

Finally does it say more about her, the cringing cult of celebrity or the audience?

[Sergeant Pluck]

The only positive thing that could possibly arise from this sad mess is that it might help publicise the dangers of ignoring abnormal cervical smear test results.

[gordon taylor]

I never watch Big Brother or read tabloid papers. Yet I know who Jade Goodey is, her racism to Shilpa Sheti (sp?) and that she has cancer... it says a lot for the power of the media that this saga has even penetrated to disinterested people like me.

It sounds like a circus.

Some people enjoy a circus.

[hellymedic]

I really don't know.
The poor lass is young enough to be my daughter, if I had one.
If I were 27 had two small kids and was known to have disseminated cancer, I'd be desparate, angry and wanting the best or the poor kids left. IMO that would include letting the kids have some privacy, which Jade Goody's apprroach will not permit.
John Diamond, Ruth Picardie and Dinah Rabinowitz did not act this way, but they were writers.

[toontra]

She's in the great tradition of grotesques, as we once would have paid to see in the music-hall or circus freak show.  No surprise they are now actually choosing midgets for Big Brother (along with the large-breasted) - it's the logical progression.  People have a fascination with these freaks, whether physical or mental, and want to see them, for a while!

[Sergeant Pluck]

I think Jade is just dealing with things in the only way she knows how.

It's all very sad indeed.

[hellymedic]

The only positive thing that could possibly arise from this sad mess is that it might help publicise the dangers of ignoring abnormal cervical smear test results.

Did she do this?

There's a form of cervical cancer that is extremely aggressive and develops into full-blown cancer in the interval between smear tests.

It might help to popularise immunisation against HPV...

[Mrs Pingu]

The only positive thing that could possibly arise from this sad mess is that it might help publicise the dangers of ignoring abnormal cervical smear test results.

Did she do this?

There's a form of cervical cancer that is extremely aggressive and develops into full-blown cancer in the interval between smear tests.

It might help to popularise immunisation against HPV...

I think she'd had several sets of treatment for pre-cancerous cells and finally ignored another set of letters inviting her for more investigations after her last smear.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Did she do this?

In the other sad mess that is the media coverage of this, there seem to be two different versions. One is that follow-ups were delayed, the other is that regardless of this she did have a negative test result not long before she was diagnosed.

[slowfen]

Sad yes, worse than any other person with a terminal condition, no.

Cynically, it is the media using/manipulating her for their own ends. They, of course will scream public interest/service at any criticism (see latest "child reality" storm).

[Cunobelin]

Credit where credit is due - apparently smear uptake has risen by 20%, but whether this is entirely attributable....

[Clare]

She's in the great tradition of grotesques, as we once would have paid to see in the music-hall or circus freak show.  No surprise they are now actually choosing midgets for Big Brother (along with the large-breasted) - it's the logical progression.  People have a fascination with these freaks, whether physical or mental, and want to see them, for a while!

Are you really saying that dwarfism = freak? I thought we were long past that.

[toontra]

Are you really saying that dwarfism = freak? I thought we were long past that.

No, I was thinking more of the rabid self-publicists and people in general who seem to crave public attention.

[ChrisO]

There is an element of old-fashioned carnival though, isn't there. Matching intelligent people with thickheads, feminists and models, transvestites etc - I don't watch it enough to come up with other examples.

Stating that does not mean that one thinks dwarves, trannies etc are freaks. It is an observation that they are being used in that way.

[hellymedic]

I ought to (re)state that I neither have nor desire TV (and may therefore be speaking bilge)...

[cpjmathieson]

Maybe she just wants to raise some more extra cash, to see her family through after her death....

Not sure I'd would want to watch someone die for my entertainment though!!

[Basil]

Not sure, but didn't Timothy Leary die "Live on t'internet"?

[hellymedic]

Personally, I would value privacy above pounds.
We are all different.

[Clare]

It's her choice, in the same way that anybody can choose to press the stand-by button on their remote, or change the channel.

[andygates]

It seems entirely appropriate that someone who was created on telly should die on telly.

Distasteful?  The whole reality notion doesn't so much flirt with distasteful as hump its leg and spooge in its boots.  Distasteful = spectacle.  Spectacle = viewers.

Betcha there are viewers who won't get it and will expect a death-defying sequel. 

[Julian]

Her children and partner aren't going to get any privacy anyway; the press are all over her like a rash.  Given that she doesn't get much of a choice about her illness and likely death being transmitted to the ever-hungry mob, she may as well (a) control how it's done and (b) profit from it.  Hell, I would. 

[hellymedic]

Good thinking, Liz.

[nobby]

I think Jade is just dealing with things in the only way she knows how.

It's all very sad indeed.

The way she knows, or does she have a publicity agent doing her thinking for her?

[Wascally Weasel]

Is it just me wondering if she is actually terminally ill and that this is the most cynical TV manipulation ever? Ms Weasel who is following the story more than me tells me that Max Clifford is referring to some 'miracle drug' she is supposedly taking.

[Sergeant Pluck]

The impression I have is that it is for real.

Perhaps her disease has now progressed to the point where drugs still under trial are being considered.