Farrah Fawcett died today, and Michael Jackson in the hosptial :(

What I seriously wonder, is why people mourn over someone they do not know...

Really, this is not meant to cause a new riot, but I really do not understand. MJ meant a lot for pop music, and actually I like many of his songs. But those songs won't change now he is dead, will they? And if he was a nice person or not, I do not know. Never met him in person, so what is to mourn?

Greetings, Marcel

I never heard of anal cancer either but after researching (and you likely discovered this as well, but for anyone who is interested), it is a cancer that predominantly affects women and is theorized to perhaps stem from the Human Pappaloma Virus. A nurse friend of mine said that should have been easy to deal with as it is more of a surface type of cancer that can be surgically removed, which is what transpired when Farrah originally was diagnosed in 2006.

What made this one deadly was it recurred a year or so later and had metastasized into several tumors in her liver. Thus began the real battle.

While watching the documentary I noticed Ryan O`Neal wearing an orange support-type looking bracelet but the camera never got a close enough shot for me to tell what it said. I researched support bracelets and the various colors designating various cancers. (I was intrigued to discover there are support bracelets for many other types of illnesses as well...diabetes, mental illness, etc.)

I could not find one for anal cancer anywhere. And I didn't see orange listed. Forest green (on the site I used...there were different colors depending on the site) designated liver cancer, so I made two bracelets - one green and one orange and switch them out.

Sorry for such a long post that may be boring to some, but I'm a student/researcher at heart and am also grieving Farrah's loss.

People mourn for a number of different reasons, Marcel. The key is not to analyze why they mourn...but to just allow them to.....respectfully. It's just one of those things that does not have to be analyzed or judged.

No worries, this is a great post and very informative. Cant hush hush this it is so important...

Johnny Carson said it best (and I paraphrase).....Why do people feel they can only speak well of the dead? Can we only speak of Hitler in nice terms . Idiots die, and it does not change the fact they were an idiot in RL.

I'll drop them on you when I go in world later

Still there is nothing wrong with asking, so I might understand, I guess

More important (and I have this issue with more topics then just this), we are on a SL forum. One of the best postings in this thread was from Marianne (if I remember correctly): What were their avatar names. Using a forum like this to express that you mourn, is bound to cause other off-topic postings. And with controversial people, those reactions might just not be what you want. Because this is a public forum, not moderated I might add (well... hardly). And for people like myself, who really do not understand the fuzz, or even dislike the deceased person, it is very easy to post their own opinions. Simply because they think different.

That is another reason I ask this. We, the people not mourning over people we do not personally know (or maybe even dislike), can be educated in how others feel/think. Not meant in a sarcastic way.

Finally: if someone wants/needs to mourn, the worst place to do so is a public forum dedicated to an entirely different topic. If you want to show hundreds (or thousands) of people your feelings about something not even remotely related to the topic, you can bet your life on it that it will backfire.

Marcel

It's the use of the word 'mourn', I think, Mickey. I was thinking along the same lines as Marcel.

The word is being devalued in this context, I guess. Unless someone's been a whole lot more than just a normal fan of the bloke and his music, or Farrah and her acting roles, it seems a bit over the top to say one is mourning, IMO.

--
Aes

Oh this is nothing. Reading the comments on the yahoo news story,you would think MJ birthed some of these people himself with the way they are acting over this. I have never been one to be "star struck" by anyone,so maybe I just see things differently. Is it sad these people died? Ofcourse it is.(well...I wont go there..) But to act like your own mother passed away is just odd. JMO and all that happy crap.

For me regarding Farrah, as I have repeatedly stated, her documentary and the courage she opened herself up to in an effort to help people understand more about cancer treatment options as well as document a journey of hope really touched me.

Her longtime friend who was with her during the filming advised her not to include the parts where she was so deathly ill (vomiting, etc.) but Farrah said she wanted to show everything and not just when she looked good.

Another interesting thing I thought: she was specifically given a chemo mixture that would *not* cause her hair to fall out initially as that was her "signature" so to speak. As her cancer worsened she asked for the other chemo and before her hair fell out on its own, she shaved it.

I also mentioned having lived through a hellish childhood of domestic violence. Her work in "The Burning Bed" resulted in new legislation for victims of domestic violence.

I do not mourn Farrah's passing in the same way I would for a close relative or friend, but there are those we may not ever "know" who leave impressions on us.

For me, Farrah is one of those courageous women.

What kind is that?

LOL

Now people are saying what is deserving of mourning and what is not...

jeeze where does it stop and simple mutual respect begin?

If someone says "I am mourning for X" i am not going to ask "why?", i know what the word means and i know that it is a word that works on a spectrum - there are different levels of mourning depending on your personal emotions and attachment if any. But yet, people here are saying what is deserving of mourning or what should be mourned, and whether it is opinion or not, it is absolutely ignorant.

Mourn is a verb, it means:
–verb (used without object)
1. to feel or express sorrow or grief.
2. to grieve or lament for the dead.
3. to show the conventional or usual signs of sorrow over a person's death.
------

To put any sort of restriction or parameter or criteria for who can be mourned based on their proximity to the person is just ignorant.

I am sad he is gone, and I can damn well MOURN if i want, and thinking that anyone 'mourning' over the death of someone they don't personally know is over the top is rather close minded.

I just wish we could have had a thread that left out the hate.

SHENANIGANS!

I know Ephraim Kappler was roaring with laughter when he posted that...

Matter of fact, no, I wasn't. There is something very wrong about his physician leaving his car at the scene and disappearing while his patient is dying, if not already dead.

I merely tried to say that someone's death does not make them a Saint, but there is a time and a place for exercising the right to express your oppinion. Since MJ himself has passed, the only person someone might harm is those that already are in pain over his passing.

Would be as inappropiate to me, as crashing MJ's funeral and shouting the exact same words, while his family stands there in tears over their loss.

It is called respect. If not to the deceased, then to the people who mourn over his passing to let them at least mourn in peace.

Why is it so hard for some to show some respect?

who says we can't have more than one queen of obvious... we have plenty of "queen of denial" right? So.. we should be able to have more queens of obvious, queens of etc....

hehe

AMEN

I wish they would take it to im's

Good lord

Because we are not all robots who adopt an air of neutral detatchment when someones life is extiguished?

Because he is a childhood icon to some? Someone they grew up with, sang along with, danced along with, smiled with, cried with? Someone who was in their home, on TV, on the radio, someone who entertained them for decades?

Maybe the first record they ever bought, that they might have rushed home to play, and thought he was singing about them? That he had some understanding, or sung about feelings they had, but was able to express it in such a way that he might have known their inner most thoughts?

Because he was a bright, beautiful, amazing, gifted, flawed, tragic, contraversial human being? A father, a son, a brother, a friend?

Because he was more than a man, yet all too human?

Because some people place a high value on the joy that beautiful music brings them, and have deep, heartfelt respect for those who have that rare, precious, alien ability to craft works of art with the power to move the world?

I don't know why other people choose to mourn Michael Jackson. All I know is that someone very special to me died, and I'm genuinely heartbroken. Call me irrational if you like, but the feelings I have a very real, and you can't take them away.

The flame that burns twice as bright, burns half as long.

what is even more sad, is when people decide to have petty fights, disagreements, bickering, insult slinging, whatever you want to call it, in a thread like this... hell in a thread anywhere on the internet that is viewable by the public.

I dunno why they just did not take it to im's and have it out there... some people thrive on public strife me thinks.....

(but what do I know LOL)

you are welcome (surprised anyone read that long post) heh

for me it is not so much I am mourning him or her... it is just the thought that Farrah won't make any more movies or be in anymore tv shows.

Michael, it is knowing we will not be hearing anymore new songs from him, and will never know if his comeback tour would have made a difference


so it is not so much I mourn the person on a personal level, but more of a sadness to see them gone (much like it is when any public figure passes that I enjoyed... John Ritter was another example of deep sadness at his passing)

But it's still real people posting. I understand the nature of the internet, and how people will use forums to express what they think, without all the niceties and common courtesy they would apply in real life, and without concequence. However, it doesn't make what they say any less offensive, nor does it take away any from the fact that people know what they say will likey cause contraversy, or hurt peoples feelings, yet they will go ahead and do it anyway. You have to take responsibilty for the reaction you knowinly inspire in people, not loudly proclaim their reaction to be fundamentaly flawed or wrong.

People are surely within their rights to express what they think on a public forum, and are more than welcome to. But what I find bizzarre and complete nonsense is the idea that rational human beings get all surprised and up in arms when people also express their offence at what people post and knowingly cause offence.

You piss in the swimming pool, people get angry. Cause and effect.

I think it's only you prolonging it now. Let it rest if you like, or don't. Your call.

I wish we could have too, and not just the hate against Michael, but the hate against each other.


ON a side note...
I posted this thread because I thought it would be nice for those who were saddened by the lost of these two people to share their thoughts, memories, favorite songs/shoes, etc

sure it is a SL forum, but since when did anyone follow the "everything has to be about SL"

I have requested this thread be locked, because people just can not seem to respect others, apparently, they do not take the request of the thread started into consideration anymore (I requested it yesterday)

Am I sorry I started it? No.
Am I sorry it went the way it did... yes... is it my fault... no.