Whitney houstons funeral

[Blasphemous]

But that is different from someone I didn't know. I 'knew' Alistair and I talked via the keyboard 2 hours before it happened. I didn't know Lady Di - and thus had no 'grief' for her.

I didn't know the drug crazed Houston either.

And that is my point. It's down to how we define 'knowing' someone. We 'know' people on so many levels. We speak to and 'know' the postman but we don't really 'know' him. We speak to and 'know' the local shopkeeper but we don't really 'know' him/her, I 'know' you, we have a 'relationship' on here and I would be saddened if something were to happen to you but we don't really 'know' each other.

We're all human, we know what it's like to lose someone. We know that death is final, final as in, we can't see, speak, communicate with that person again (not in this life anyway... for those that believe). I didn't know anything or indeed even know of the existence of the 6 year old boy and his grandmother who both drowned in the pond ( news story here ), but that doesn't mean I don't feel sadness for the poor little soul, his grandmother and their family. They must be heartbroken. Thinking 'if only'. It's a basic human trait to feel compassion, emotion for others and expressing those thoughts and feelings isn't something that should be attacked. It can be a means of releasing ones fears, negative emotions, thoughts, feelings etc. If you or anyone else doesn't see/feel the need to express an emotion that's fine but some people do and want to. It may be that people who criticise the outpouring of emotion are themselves actually outpouring an emotion. Psychology is a very complex thing.

 

[Susiejb]

Thank you Blas for such sensitive answer....I know its tradition on here to mainly uphold the 'macho' stance....but it's good to see the other side of the coin and see words that are written with genuine feeling.

 

[joe-90]

But there we have it Blas - the difference between the false outpouring of public grief over the drug overdosing celeb - or the compassion we all feel for the kid and gran that drowned. The first is a false pseudo grief that MUST be carried out in public. The second is reflective compassion for two good people that met tragedy. We don't feel the need to tell everyone about how we feel about the kid and his gran - we just feel it.
When the local drug addict dies of an overdose we say 'good riddance'. When the famous celeb does the same we come out in public in a show of phoney grief.

We are on the same hymn sheet Blas. I do (rightly or wrongly) consider you to be a friend. I too would be saddened at your passing. However, I don't feel the need for public grief over those that I consider undeserving. I guess we are all different eh?

 

[ABCwarrior]

I agree with Susie on this. I can see by the amount of posts I'm still a relative newcomer here. I "get" both sides of what Blas and Joe are saying. I turned on the telly and put a bit of the WH funeral on and it was doubly sad in just the "drawn out" factor. First time I've seen Mr Costner in a long time...has he retired from acting?

I don't do "celeb" anything, and funerals are the pits. I've lost a fair few friends though way before their time and if you want to grieve for someone, whether it's someone you've known/hugged/loved or someone you admire from afar such as a celebrity then don't let me stop you. I couldn't be that pig headed or arrogant to deny you the choice.

Never knew Alistair or Simon. Hope they're both RIP wherever they may be now.

 

[ABCwarrior]

Joe- the constant reference to her "drug taking" is a bit tedious. Whatever the cause of her death was is, in reality, irrelevant. She was clearly a troubled soul. IF it was drugs they were just the mechanism to end her pain. If she couldn't access them, it would have been drink/blades/a noose/a jump etc...

Drugs are demonised by people who don't take drugs but probably should...

My OH works in social work, they had a policeman in recently to lecture them on the danger of drugs. He stated that magic mushrooms were "HIGHLY" dangerous and worse than heroin! He related this to a case whereby a man who'd ingested them proceeded to maim himself, including self castration and jamming a screwdriver up his jacksy whilst "tripping".

Copper didn't know that they had a kid in care who knew the bloke(from the same part of the country) who in all innocence when they asked if he knew the bloke said he was "f*cking mental" anyway. So, drugs blamed for this event when in reality it was his sorry mental state that was really to blame.

 

[joe-90]

So if a heroin addict/crim ODs - you feel great sadness? Is that what you are telling me?

 

[ABCwarrior]

Not great sadness, but it's still sad. I don't know the person but can still empathise with the loss.

My brother is a "recovering" junkie. A nicer more caring, sensitive, creative and intelligent man you will never meet, believe me. With a degree in Theology from St Andrews Uni no less.

A wrong choice took him down this path. Heroin is the one drug you can't F**k with, it always wins.
Mushrooms? Speed?Ecstasy? Coke?DMT?LSD?Ketamine?Weed/Dope? They're all ok...Just keep off the smack.....

 

[joe-90]

It's crystal meth that's the bad guy. I've know people on heroin for decades. As long as it's clean it does no real harm.

 

[Norcon]

Is it true if you take some types of drugs you'll be addicted?
I think its an ole wives tale tbh and would be confident of taking a one off hit and never be addicted.
It would be like Mr Bean on the roller coaster basically.

 

[joe-90]

Crystal meth is pretty addictive - but tobacco is the worst of the lot.It's the fastest addiction and kills 50% of those that use it. In the past 10 years in the UK it's killed ONE MILLION people.

 

[Norcon]

Can never understand why people smoke. Disgusting habit.
All foreigners smoke.
Sound like a good population controller though.

 

[ABCwarrior]

I've a mate who's recently tried crystal meth. He's always been fond of speed and says this is so much better. Like any drug(yep, alcohol and tobacco too) his philosophy is that anything is ok given the correct amount of respect(but he's wisely never taken smack!!).

(I would say at this point, one of the best shows on TV in recent years I've seen is "Breaking Bad"
FX showed season 1 and dropped it quicksmart. It's ended on season 4. About a down on his luck chemistry teacher(Bryan Cranston from Malcolm in the middle) who has a kid on the way and gets diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, goes out on a meth bust with his DEA brother in law, sees one of his ex students fleeing the bust who has the "connections"...and realises the way to provide for his family when he's gone is to hook up with him and become the "cook"....an amazingly acted series and such real and believable performances with a really dark humour mixed in)

Lots of myths are put out by the mainstream media in relation to drugs and to their addictiveness (stay away kids! Keep drinking booze you morons..)
One of the funniest was when Ecstasy first hit the headlines and there was a story of these two guys who'd admittedly been really good friends and took E and ended up shagging each other. All the E's fault of course, nothing to do with their clearly repressed homosexual feelings to each other!!

 

[Alarm]

So your a drugged up hippy eco warrior.
Had you pegged as such, but now your a homosexual too?