Reports are coming in that Michael Jackson has died

[Regulator]

I'm not going to comment on Jackson (except to say I never really liked his music) but do they have to devote so much time on the Today programme to his death?  I'm sure slightly more important things have happened in the world than the death of a slightly odd, has been warbler.

[GruB]

Can I be the first to pay my condolences without taking the piss?

Thank you LEE. I thought this thread was pretty fucking far from what I signed up to YACF for.

You're all a bunch of Sun Readers (except lee).

I feel more sad that David Carradine died and look at the piss taking in that thread.  So this would seem to be more of a precedent than a moral judgement.

[urban_biker]

Jackson was talented; I can see that. He wrote some great pop songs ( not always to my taste I might add) that will be remembered long after his death.

Unfortunately there is only one reason why people poked fun at him during his life ( and already after )  and that was his own highly eccentric behaviour.

Whether that behaviour was a result of a difficult childhood, mental illness or was simply attention seeking can be debated but its hard not to think that the ridicule he got was brought on by himself.

[LEE]

Can I be the first to pay my condolences without taking the piss?

Thank you LEE. I thought this thread was pretty fucking far from what I signed up to YACF for.

You're all a bunch of Sun Readers (except lee).

I feel more sad that David Carradine died and look at the piss taking in that thread.  So this would seem to be more of a precedent than a moral judgement.

There's a slight difference though.  Carradine hanged himself in a wardrobe during a wank-fest that went awry.  He lost my sympathy vote once he stepped into the wardrobe and got his knob out.

[LinzWakeley]

Do you lot make fun of every death?

I thought the guy was seriously mixed up, but extremely talented. I'm sorry for his family, his friends and the people who admired his music.

Ps some of you need to take a serious look at your online behaviour, its not very inviting.

[LinzWakeley]

.... for new people

(Sorry BB sent the mssg before I was ready to.)

[Attitudeless Badger]

Can I be the first to pay my condolences without taking the piss?

Thank you LEE. I thought this thread was pretty fucking far from what I signed up to YACF for.

You're all a bunch of Sun Readers (except lee).

I feel more sad that David Carradine died and look at the piss taking in that thread.  So this would seem to be more of a precedent than a moral judgement.

There's a slight difference though.  Carradine hanged himself in a wardrobe during a wank-fest that went awry.  He lost my sympathy vote once he stepped into the wardrobe and got his knob out.

I would suggest the MJ lost a lot of peoples sympathy vote with his alledged kiddy fiddling.

[citoyen]

Do you lot make fun of every death?

No, only the ones with a high media profile. And even then not all of them. You won't see anyone making fun of, say, British soldiers dying in Afghanistan or Baby P.

I think most people here know where to draw the line. Best not be over-sensitive about it.

d.

[LinzWakeley]

Thanks S. Since I've been here I've seen lots of people making fun of and cruel comments abouts lots of people in the public eye. I know this is life, but some comments made me feel uncomfortable to read. In the case of this thread, I had to get through several pages of this thread until someone actually said something nice. Ok most of the thread contained the jokes you would expect, but I did find it hard to read some of the comments. I think, as a nation, we believe we have a right to judge those in the public eye, in ways we wouldn't judge others, or like to be judged ourselves. I find this sad

[Jon P]

Do you lot make fun of every death?

We will be of yours, if you don't watch your step ... 

[citoyen]

I know this is life, but some comments made me feel uncomfortable to read.

I'm reluctant to apologise for anything I've said because I really don't think it's all that bad, but I'm sorry if it makes the forum feel unwelcoming. I sincerely don't believe that anyone in the forum sets out to cause offence with this kind of banter, and banter among a group of friends is all it is - that's the nature of the forum.

Probably why yacf comes across as a bit cliquey sometimes. 

Tbh, I think it's more offensive to label someone a Sun reader!

d.

[Chris S]

Tbh, I think it's more offensive to label someone a Sun reader!

 

Goodness me - who'd do a thing like that?

[LEE]

and "SUN READER" is a form of oxymoron anyway.

[Flying_Monkey]

The immediacy of the Internet allows all of us to say things without filtering for how it might sound. And I am afraid a lot of that supposed wit is actually rather nastier than we perhaps appreciate. If it takes a few rather more considered people to point out how it sounds or reads, and perhaps we should pay this some attention. This isn't just a great big void we are shouting in to, but a world of other people, some of whom may actually know or care about the people we make such casual fun of.

[Biff]

Undoubtedly an entertainment genius, but the inevitable deification makes me queasy. Its Diana all over again. Yeuck.

[nuttycyclist]

Can I be the first to pay my condolences without taking the piss?

Thank you LEE. I thought this thread was pretty fucking far from what I signed up to YACF for.

You're all a bunch of Sun Readers (except lee).

Do you lot make fun of every death?

I thought the guy was seriously mixed up, but extremely talented. I'm sorry for his family, his friends and the people who admired his music.

Ps some of you need to take a serious look at your online behaviour, its not very inviting for new people.

TBH I can see the points raised here, but this thread is nothing compared to the emails and texts flying around the office (which I am not going to repeat - but will admit to having had intense laughter at some of them).

Some people in the public eye have had fun poked at them all the time.  In death that can continue.  I think the line between right and wrong is a narrow one but this yacf thread is just on the correct side of that line.

[Rhys W]

Watching the BBC news this morning, they interviewed a parade of "friends" and I thought - reclusive, aloof, mysterious, but maybe these people did know him as a person. Most people who've met him probably can't say that. Then they interviewed an obsessive fan/lookalike who admitted that he'd been employed by Michael Jackson as a decoy on several occasions, fooling press and fans alike (albeit briefly, no doubt).

 Now, if anybody could make a stab at faking his own death...

[gonzo]

How sad that one of the musical greats of our time has passed away.

Didn't you all learn a lesson from Cameron's German joke? Don't make jokes that could be construed to be offensive unless you know all of your audience.

[andygates]

He followed the arc of genius: troubled childhood, stunning art, dissolution into utter bonkers, weird relationships, untimely death.  And some of his stuff was really, really good and game-changing.

Unless he faked it and is laughing his arse off under a burkha in Dubai...

[andygates]

Nah, more speculation and hilarity.  Watch for the humorous through to the grotesque. 

Of course we love a wacko.  What's more fun to gossip about, Mrs Miggin's laundry or some bloke whose nose fell off?  Grand guignol all the way, baby.  The fame and the gossip are a bundle deal.

[numbnuts]

I've just been over to Cycle Chat and they are disrespectful as over here, maybe it's my age that I will not speak ill of the dead

[LinzWakeley]

I've just been over to Cycle Chat and they are disrespectful as over here, maybe it's my age that I will not speak ill of the dead

Perhaps it's my age too.

[clarion]

He's dead.  The standard 'jokes' are unleashed in the informal media, while the organised media head into a hyperbole of deification as they always do for the recently dead.

I reckon it will be about a year before we see a perspective on the man's legacy.  

FWIW, I think he was talented but misguided.  He didn't change anything, though he managed to ride the Zeitgeist very effectively and for longer than most.

Riches beyond measure for a man who had no chance to properly mature and could afford to surround himself with grovelling yes-men is a very corrosive thing.

[Wowbagger]

How sad that one of the musical greats of our time has passed away.

Didn't you all learn a lesson from Cameron's German joke? Don't make jokes that could be construed to be offensive unless you know all of your audience.

I think your joke is in the worst possible taste, Gonzo.

[Really Ancien]

Same age as me, I'll always remember him on Top of the Pops in 1972, being joyful,
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/C4VCUbL7jsc&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/C4VCUbL7jsc&rel=1</a>
Some think that one of the best live performances on TOTP, I think Rose Royce just shaded it with this. More great Afros,
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/cElMz7qEwGA&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/cElMz7qEwGA&rel=1</a>

Damon.