Jade Goody: Dying in Public
If you've been living under some sort of rock for the past few weeks, you may just have been able to miss this story. Otherwise, you'll know that reality TV star Jade Goody is dying.
Make no mistake about it - she has my deep sympathy. Cancer is a horrific disease, and for a young mother to be struck down by this disease is a real tragedy for all concerned. The grim truth of the situation is that Jade isn't going to make it, meaning that we are bearing witness to her final days.
Which is the problem I have with what is going on at the moment. We - the nation as a whole - is acting as witnesses to the death of this person. The media coverage means that we are effectively watching her die.
Jade Goody lived in the media's spotlight - she took what little talent she had, seized on a medium that would allow her to project herself on the national stage, and then turned herself into an instantly recognisable celebrity. She was always a fiercely polemical public figure - a real love her or hate her personality. But she seemed determined to live her whole life with the nation watching. And now she seems determined to die in exactly the same way - with the nation looking in on her.
Now if I was in her position, I'd be determined to die with as much dignity as the cancer allowed. And that would mean avoiding the media glare at all costs. I certainly wouldn't be doing what Jade is doing, and projecting my final moments onto the national stage. I can't imagine anything much worse than dying with the whole country looking in on me.
Which is really the point. I find what Jade has chosen to do with her final months cringe-making. But she has chosen to do it. It is her choice to die as she has lived - with a reality TV camera poking in on her. So be it. The fact that I'd go for another way to die is irrelevant. How you die should be just as much a question of personal choice as how you live. I hope Jade is able to take whatever comfort she can in her final few months.
Labels: death, Jade, Reality TV
posted by The Nameless Libertarian @ 10:07 am
8 Comments
8 Comments:
I reckon that dying in public is just her way of maximising income to leave to her kids. It's a normal human response, given that being a celebrity is all she knows.
I think it's more of an indictment of the UK that her life and death are of interest.
Agreed - I wouldn't want to die in the media spotlight, and equally wouldn't want to watch someone else die through that media spotlight. Sadly others in this country feel different. Although it is their choice to watch.
Concur completely. It's a private matter: odly enough, her decision to die in public is a private one.
Good points. But frankly, this is all she knows. Prostituting herself for Z list celebrity and money. The whole thing is tragic. But I have now witnessed many deaths at first hand. I'm not sure there is a good way to go.
I only came across her last week (I don't watch TV or read the red tops) and my first thought was,"I bet that slimeball Clifford is involved".
The next day I found out that he was. Hoon.
What's the big deal?
Firstly she wan't the media attention, which is why she is getting it. If she had asked for privacy and didn't get it THEN there would be an issue worth raising.
Secondly, why is the topic of death so taboo? It's another part of life the discussion of which should be embraced rather that ignored. She's got guts to stick up for what she wants in her death, rather than being bullied by popular opinion.
We are told that she is being paid by " Hello ! " magazine ( or whatever ) to record ' my moment of death ' so her privacy ends with that. I do wander about the long term effects of this on her sons though fair play to her for wanting to raize the max in cash for them.
Anarcho punk poet Attila The Stockbroker came up with an interesting word on radio 4 today ( though not specifically refering to Jade )
Celebricide
A concept worth pursuing by many of them ?
Jade goody has been a sad medium to what cancer can do.
not only has this put public emphasise in prevention for women.
But personally for me , made me appreciate my own surrounds a bit more,
i admire Jade goody for being so brave.
what people tend to forget is that there is a real women under her persona , who is on borrowed time with her children and for that i draw symptathy.
If anything this coverage has made me recognise how little respect some people have for others misfortunes. Some responses too this situation make me sick .
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