The Mail's Unplesant (And Undeserved!) Moral Superiority Strikes Again.

[andy-hughes]

This time Steven Glover tuts and admonishes over celebrity deaths -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-4072250/STEPHEN-GLOVER-loss-tragic-no-one-saying-George-Michael-died-young-years-drug-abuse.html.

His nasty snippy moralistic tutting puff piece almost falls off its see-saw, so keen is he to condemn stars for their lifestyle on one hand, and then confirm that he doesn't know that it contributed to their deaths.

For the record Mr Glover as a fan to various degrees of everyone famous who has passed recently, I am not blinded by their wonderful art and influence on my life, to their frailties and failures as human beings, and the absuses of their bodies during their lifetimes.

But guess what, I manage to feel sorry without the need to tut like some pompous old buffer in a saloon bar holding forth about 'young people' like being young and stupid is a crime that personally offends me.

Yes, part of my idols' lives involved abuses that may have taken them early, but I prefer to think of the good they have done and the pleasure they have brought, and shelve their weaknesses for another day.

What a shame Mr Glover could not find it in himself to do the same.

[hereIam]

I think Prudie's comments on here are excellent.

[woofgang]

I was about to post pretty much what Jno has said. Its a pretty pointless article on a slow news day.

[andy-hughes]

Prudie - //Andy I'm glad you took on board the issue of timing when commenting on celebrity deaths after the Jimmy Young thread

andy-hughes
I stand by what I said.

If anyone knew Sir Jimmy personally, and posts that they are upset by what I have said, then I am happy to offer an apology.

Otherwise, he was a public figure, and anyone and everyone is entitled to offer an observation about his passing.

This is not the 'Obituary' section, nor is it the 'Let's be nice because someone is dead ...' section, it's the News Section. //

Just one small difference - I am writing on a small (but wonderful) website, not one of the biggest selling daily papers in the country.

The other point is, I said nothing about Mr Young that was not already in the public domain - specifically regarding his treatment of Jeremy Vine, his replacement on Radio Two.

So I hardly think that compares with writing a national newspaper piece that basically says George Michael took drugs which may have contributed to his death, except maybe they didn't, I have no idea, I am just being a moral high-grounder because my readers like me that way.

[andy-hughes]

jno - //Glover co-founded the Independent, which in its early days ran a foolish piece saying Freddie Mercury died because he continued a promiscuous sexual lifestyle long after Aids became a danger. They eventually had to print a letter from Ian McKellen saying he'd done nothing of the sort, he'd stopped immediately the risk became known. //

Indeed - as Paul Gambacinni, a close friend of Mercury's confirmed, Mercury was already infected before anyone knew what HIV actually was, or how it was transmitted.

I wonder if Mr Glover has a penchant for smearing gay homosexual musicians after their deaths?

Just a thought ...

[Lynn_M]

I saw a Yahoo News report recently on the death of Status Quo frontman Rick Parfit, and at least twice, they said that his 'rock and roll lifestyle' contributed to his relatively early death

Now what do they mean by his 'rock and roll lifestyle?' Would that a be a euphemism for 'heavily involved in the use of hard drugs?'

[mikey4444]

Lynn...yes, that is exactly what they meant, but I am not sure that this assumption that all pop music singers are hard-line drug addicts is true.

[Mamyalynne]

Mr Glover singularly fails to realise that fans of these celebrities know well the failings of their heroes but choose not to openly acknowledge them.

In the same way many of us do with friends and family members, we see the good and hope for the best.

[mikey4444]

Mamy...you are correct....they try to pretend that the problems don't exist.

Drug addiction is a now chronic and it long gone beyond Billy Holiday. The fans mimic their idols habits and therein lies the danger.

[Mamyalynne]

Can't wholly agree with you there, I've had some drug and drink addled musicians I have followed and even from a young age never been tempted to emulate their lifestyle.

[Lynn_M]

I've just had a read and it seems like a pretty fair article to me. He told a few home truths and there was nothing pompous about it

[Mamyalynne]

I don't see it as pompous either, just ill timed and stating the obvious.

[andy-hughes]

mikey - //The fans mimic their idols habits and therein lies the danger. //

That was, is, and remains, arrant nonsense.

People don't take drugs because their pop idols do, they take them because their friends do!

The media has always pedalled this jealousy-based piffle that 'young people' are irresponsible feckless layabouts, and their pop idols are all that, but with enviable amounts of money.

They constantly bang on about pop stars being 'role models' but when a genuine role model like Amy Winehouse comes along, the simply gleefully revel in her descent into alcoholism and addiction with a pleasure that is only mirrored by crowds watching bear baiting.

Any Winehouse was one of the most wonderful role models for young people in a generation. The message is - 'If you drink to excess and take drugs, you will pee away any talent you have and end up a dying wreck like this ...' but none of the media took that line, they simply pointed and hooted as they always have and always will at the talented brought down by their weaknesses.

So if you seriously think that anyone smoked a spliff or drove a car drunk because they knew George Michael did it, I suggest you think again.

[andy-hughes]

Mamyalynne - //Can't wholly agree with you there, I've had some drug and drink addled musicians I have followed and even from a young age never been tempted to emulate their lifestyle. //

I too spend considerable amounts of time around musicians indulging in their various recreational habits, but I remain untouched by what they do, in the same was as I am not an alcoholic like my father was, or a smoker like my mother.

The notion that people take drugs because pop stars do is a stupid media myth originated and perpetuated by - the media!

[sp1814]

andy-hughes

You wrote:

I wonder if Mr Glover has a penchant for smearing gay homosexual musicians after their deaths?

I think that's unfair.

It's more likely to be a general Daily Mail policy, as expressed when Stephen Gatley died:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1220756/A-strange-lonely-troubling-death--.html

The original headline on that piece was actually "Why there was nothing 'natural' about Stephen Gately's death"

So...precedent.

[andy-hughes]

sp1814 - You're probably right.

When your editorial default position is scare-mongering, sneering, moralising, hooting, denying, and cultural snobbery, I guess this kind of writing fits right in.

[hereIam]

I agree with Lynn at 13:44 not pompous at all.

[Lynn_M]

@Mikey4444:

"...even the Guardian devoted 4 pages to George Michael this week".

Four pages? FOUR PAGES??? Four pages of broadsheet? Lordy, now there's something that's REALLY over the top

[whiskeryron]

At last someone who is not afraid to speak out . It is surely true that we all know the kind of lives our idols lead, they are entitled to live their lives as they wish but let us not be surprised sometimes at the outcome. I know that some of you A/Bers do not like to see the truth in print but please tell me truthfully do you think that if humans led lives without illegal drugs & immoral sex lives they might probably live a longer life span ?

[andy-hughes]

whiskeyron - //I know that some of you A/Bers do not like to see the truth in print but please tell me truthfully do you think that if humans led lives without illegal drugs & immoral sex lives they might probably live a longer life span ? //

More than likely.

Put it this way - it would certainly seem like longer!!

[Lynn_M]

God aye, you've nailed it there, Whiskeyron. I like people who 'dare to speak out'. Truthers