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Has Billy lost it?
What was Billy Connolly thinking when making sick jokes about Ken Bigley (and his wife)? How has a once great comedian managed to turn into Bernard Manning?
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I have to say that I too am horrified by the lack of compassion shown to Ken Bigley and his family on this post. I am 100% in agreement with you on this one Cruthinboy. I couldn't care less about how affluent Ken Bigley may or not be , his reasons , questionable or not for marying a young Thai bride or indeed whether he knew the risks in taking up his post there. The point is , this is a human being you are talking about and NO-ONE - regardless of colour , creed , social status - deserves to die in such an appalling manner. Spare a thought for his poor mother for goodness sakes who must be in gut-wrenching agony over the trauma she is having to endure. My mother told me that her friend's son and his mates decided out of curiosity to watch one of the beheadings online. (God only knows why you would want to ) Apparently they were physically sick by what they witnessed - instead of one clean blow to the head , they saw a man screaming in agony at having his head literally hacked off very slowly , in front of the other hostages. Does Ken Bigley deserve this ? Does his mother ? Speaking as a parent of two young children , when I brought my kids into the world I vowed to protect them to the best of my ability until my dying day. No parent should outlive their kids and I wonder if you would feel the same if it was your father or other relative Oneeyedvic. Yes , thousands of people DO die every day and a lot of the time in an horrendous way but that does not make it acceptable and how you can dismiss his ordeal as some petty insignificant matter , more or less saying that he has brought it upon himself , is completely beyond me. I'm at a total loss for words.
You're bang on in all you say Enigma.
What Mr Bigley and his poor old mother are going through must be the worst thing imaginable, except perhaps for the families of the Americans who were beheaded.
Just for the record I totally opposed the invasion of Iraq, as I opposed the 1991 Gulf War, and believe that the Iraqi people are right to resist, by armed force if appropriate, military aggression.
As Mr Bigley and his colleagues were said to be building a military installation, I understand the argument that they were legitimate targets - the IRA certainly mounted a concerted campaign against such contractors in the 80s - but, in that case, couldn't they just have entered their house and shot the 3 of them? What's happening now isn't, to my mind, armed struggle but a war crime.
Firstly let me say that I have alwasys stated I feel sorry for him.
Secondly, I think it is a sad state of the affairs when people think that Ken Bigley is the most unfortunate man in the world. Cruithinboy - I really do suggest you look at third world countries where there is much war, famine, disease etc. Ken Bigley may be in agony for a few eeks - most people in the third world are in agony for a matter of years.
No, I would not be in that scenario - I do ride my motorbike at over 100mph - if I were to crash would anyone be sympathetic? - no it would be my own fault.
Yes he may be there for humanitarian reasons, but somehow I doubt it (but that may be because I am far too cynical) - lets face it we will never know.
I do think he went there to earn a lot of money - and so he should have protected himself - to go to any war torn country without any protection is not only arrogant (strikes me of British Empire "they wouldn't touch me I'm British" but irresponsible.
WHy your mother's friend's son would want to watch something like this I really couldn't understand - people also like young children and I can't understand them either - I am sure that watching either act would make me sick.
Yes, I do feel sympathy for Bigley's mother - but I also feel sorry for any mother who has to bury their child.
People calculate the risks in everything they do every day, from crossing the street when the red man is lit to when to overtake that annoyingly slow car in front. His was a calculated risk. Yes, it is a human life, but as I said, I don't know him, and millions of people die each week in appaling manners - I don't know them either - No it doesn't make it right, but it is the way of this world.
As to all the previous posts regarding people coming to this country to work to earn an extra income - really don't understand this comparisson - last time I checked England wasn't a third world, war torn disease ridden land.
For the record - I supported the 91 war (Iraq had invaded another country, was a threat and the UN backed military force) but did not support this war (no invasion, no threat, and no UN support).
I really do think that people are closeted in their homes and when something like this comes up because of the tv coverage they think "this is the most horrendous thing".... go out into the aforementioned countries and have a look at them...things are far worse.
Also for the record - Billy Connolly said something along the lines of "I wish they would just get on with it" and some other remark along the lines of "and he's married to a young Thai woman...what's that all about"
I really can't think of anything worse than what Mr Bigley is going through. Who else (apart from the 2 Americans of course) has been held captive, threatened with an unimaginably painful death - to be beamed live no doubt by his frankly Satanic captors - forced to watch his 2 colleagues suffer that fate, no doubt informed of his elderly mother's declining health and morale.
Re. your motorbike - if you were to be abducted by some fiends campaigning against militant speed limit transgressors and treated as Mt Bigley is, then, yes, I think you would elict some sympathy.
Yes I agree it is in bad taste - but as I mentioned before I do find it interesting that a revie on his show over a week ago mentioned the tasteless jokes about Bigley, but no one actually knew about it until a couple of days ago. Does this mean the previous 5 audiences did not think it in bad taste and no one complained?
But for the record and in answer to slimjim's question - Yes it is in bad taste. I never though he was great - though he was not bad either. Yes it is a shame comedians think they have to shock us to get a laugh.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3719656.stm
Was it taken out of context - all the people who say they were there said there were no boos.
allegedly something was said along the lines of "why don't they just get on with it" and "what is it with him and that young asian wife". allegedly he was booed and someone shouted "you're talking about a mans life." i've never really liked BC, he seems to have a reputation based on a parkinson interview. Based on his comic relief work i would offer an argument that he is against the war and that based on the 10000 or so people who have been killed since the war started he was trying to make a point about ballance in news coverage. I.E. if 10000 people have been killed and most of those, perhaps 90 per cent, are iraqis, then why do we keep hearing about one person. The answers to this are of course very complex.
Not the Nine O'clock News ( with pamala anderson) did a sketch about this, a brithish news broadcast, something like: "today an earthquake caused havok in japan, the casualties in order of importance were: three britons slightly bruised, a german cut his knee, oh and 47 other people died." comedy that makes a point, you see.
Of course, National news broadcasters are going to cover stories which have maximum resonance back home. otherwise the humanitarian crisis in the Sudan would top the news here. Ken Bigley's story has gone down the news agenda as time has gone. We all must remember that these are real people with indescribable suffering which does not stop when they fall off the front page.
BC's joke was tastless and he is paying the price for that. He didn't make a clear point and he picked on a target that most people have a lot of sympathy for.
jim
I note that some of the "Have Your say" respondents said BC took the mickey out of everyone - but did he take the mickey out of groups or individuals?
I'd liketo hear his jokes about Muslims -bet they stopped well short of anything that could earn him a Fatwah!
The fact that there were no boos says something about the audience - he does attract a certain luvvy audience who I can quite believe don't give a monkey's about Mr Bigley ... or anybody else except themselves.
cruthinboy seems to be on a personal campaign against BC here....For whatever reason I don't know but as a native glaswegian I can assure you that the areas he grew up in (firstly Anderston then Partick) were both very working class at the time...
To the original question....BC was probably thinking of trying to be funny....I defy anyone on here to get up on a stage and entertain people for 2 hours...and then keep doing it for over 30 years remaining relatively fresh and at the top of the tree and aclaimed as an influence by most of the young comedians of the day.
BC started by being controvertial (anyone remember Pastor Jack Glass?) and has continued in the same vein on and off for his career....He misjudged this one badly but one bad joke doesn't ruin his whole body of work.
If I'd been on a personal campaign, I'd have posted the original bleedin' question wouldn't I??? (-;
Honestly, I give an answer (or two!) and I'm on a "personal crusade".
And you may be a native Glaswegian mate but I'm a native Partick boy!!!
As it happens I'm not a big fan of stand-up comedy in general but the Big Yin is better than most; this gag was in extreme bad taste though and in some ways reminds me of Jacko dangling his baby over the window ledge: someone who's so far "up themselves" (to use a horrible expression) that they feel they're beyond all criticism or opprobrium.
I agree 100% with cruthinboy. Ken bigley went to iraq to help rebuild the place. and yes him being held hostage is discusting and cruel. we have gone to iraq over false intelegence, but we also went there to free the iraqi people from the evil saddem regime. We have succeded only to have a select few iraqis make it more difficult - bringing in religion to the eqation. As oneeyedvic said his life is like anyone elses who suffers a horrible death anywhere else in the world like by famine in africa. But like iraq, countries are slowly but surely helping affrica through its plight. bigley being hostage is not helping anything. that is why his public pain is unbearable to watch. other people die, but not through these reasons, evil reasons, just reasons that are natural.
billy was wrong to attempt a joke at ken bigleys cost, and the sooner he admits that the better. hes always been liked by the public, and hes always been nice back but once something is looked upon to be wrong he turns into a horrible horible man....as displayed in the quotes from todays papers. Is this the real billy connoly showing his true colours?
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