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A debate about death on Facebook
Currently one of those chain-mail(?) statuses is doing the rounds on Facebook in regards to Gary Speed. I will re-post it as I've witnessed it:
"Gary Speed, a sports manager, takes his own life and receives a stupendous amount of respect and homage paid to him.
A soldier from 5 rifles was also killed the same day, half Gary's age and died whilst serving our country, yet all he receives is a 10 second mention on the radio then the world forgets him.
It is sad that Gary Speed died, but did so by his own choice let us remember - but i don't like the fact that we live in a world that the only deaths we concern ourselves with are celebrities, not heroes.
Share this if you too support our glorious heroes, r.i.p ♥"
This has caused some particularly furious debate amongst a number of people in regards to how people should be remembered, or whether or not one death is more important than another. A few of the main points of argument are as follows:
1. A soldier knows what he's letting himself in for.
2. Gary Speed was 'just' a footballer.
3. Depression is an illness and should be treated as such.
4. A soldier is doing a service for the country.
I'm not actually sure why I'm posting this, but I thought it might be worth talking about.
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Compassion and empathy
aren't part of a competition.
There is an arrogance and ignorance in the comments - as quoted - to state that the soldier will be forgotten by "the world". It's likely his friends and family were his "world" and they will not forget him. Perhaps their preference is for his passing to be remembered privately but according to the person on Facebook the dead soldier needs to be remembered at an equivalent level to a "celebrity".
As for how people "should be remembered" there is no "should" about it: it is an individual choice, not something that needs to legislated in the court of public opinion.
I don't need Valentine's day and a card to remind me to tell my wife that I love her. Similarly I don't need a gobshite on Facebook to tell me how to feel about a soldier who dies or a footballer who dies and to determine for me the quota of empathy I should feel for one or the other.
Some people are f*cking stupid. Really stupid.
That was my general feeling
You don't tend one grave and deface another whilst you're doing it.
spot on sir
debate closed.
Those Facebook 'update your status'things
are usually pretty moronic....but that one takes some beating.
I think such things should be treated with the contempt they deserve, as should people who post them.
What
the good doctor said.
Ahh_Bisto sums it up
Yep, Bisto's done a v. convincing threadkill there.
Dead on. Nothing more to say. Grief or sorrow or empathy is pretty much infinite. Experiencing it for one person doesn't reduce your ability to experience it for someone else. It's like with kids: the love you feel for your first child isn't reduced by half and shared out to the next one. You love them the same, and infinitely.
As a side note, when will the soldier-grief-hero fetish end? I've nothing but respect for soldiers, but every time they're mentioned these days someone has to turn it into a particularly mawkish edition of "Hearts Of Gold".
Shut up Bob
You either worship our ickle brave angels or you're a Muslim. Simple as. But seriously...I've mentioned before about my mate in the RAF. He takes a particularly dim view of this sort of patronising slush.
Very nearly a tea-laptop interface there.
Heroes
Another overused word.
I support soldiers and it's a risky and brave job, but it's what they signed up for. All this heroes stuff is out of control.
Not bein funnie or nuffink
But you is a gay member of the IRA may they rest in peace
(I haven't got that quite right have I?)
FG, have you ever seen the Twat-o-Tron?
It's on spEak You're bRanes and it automatically generates screeds of fluent Internet Moron:
Bob
You know, every now and then one has to take a small step back from one's life, and in a very real and valid sense acknowledge the presence of a greater power. Some of us call him 'Bob'.
This post has made my life better - thank you
are celebrities
are celebrities
are celebrities???
The spelling in these idotic diatribes annoy me as much as the sentiments.
Sport are troops!
As others have mentioned
Ahh Bisto managed to kill the thread straight away (I expect a facebook status asking why dead threads aren't remembered in the same way as celebrities?).
What sometimes bothers me is that, apart from the obvious, why is one (of our) dead soldier(s) a 'hero' and another (i.e. the enemy) not? Both men are probably young, have a family & friends and are only being told what to do by a higher authority.