its just what the australian goverment done with all of us forgotten australian victims

they want us to rot and die without anyone knowing our truth of what we suffered , so i maybe just up their with them all soon , i just hope the forgotten australians continue the plight for justice if i am not here on this planet no longer

just because people are famous they forget about the unfortunate ones

as our australian goverment has done . see you all in heaven

huffnpuff

"Possibly the reason some people express such outpourings of grief for Michael Jackson or Princess Di who they really did not know as a person that they were so constricted that they could not express their grief when someone close to them died."

I think why people experience such grief at the death of someone they didn't know personally, is because in our experience it is as though we *did* know them personally. That's how I felt about Michael Jackson. I surprised myself by crying with sadness when I learnt he had died. I am 48 and haven't cried for years, but here I was with very strong feelings of genuine grief and loss.

When I was the age Michael Jackson fronted the Jackson 5, I was ill for a while and listened over and over again to a tape of them playing ABC, I Want you Back, and others. That was a high point of groovy. Not many would deny that. Very groovy it was. Now all that music entered my soul, and I am very sad, struck that the life that made those sounds is gone.

I felt personally sad when George Harrison died too, because I felt from my closeness to the Beatles music that he was a friend too.

So I think this is natural and does not reflect poorly on one's ability to feel for those who are close.

Excellent post. My feelings exactly on the matter, maybe with the exception of Elvis (but that's just me).

It is a tragedy whenever someone dies before fulfilling their God given destiny. The sad part about Michael Jackson's death is that so many people are sad for the wrong reasons. He now will face His Maker like everyone of us. The sad part is that leeches will continue to feed on this unfortunate creatures life and the public will be dumb enough to pay for it.

I think that generally, people are reluctant to speak ill of the dead for superstitious reasons or just matters of good taste.

Some cultures travel home from funerals in a round-about way (so the spirits can't follow home them easily), or cover all the mirrors in the house (so the dead can't see them from "the other side") or never mention their names again (in case it calls the departed spirit back) or several other customs.

In the case of the deceased being somebody you knew personally then it's probably a matter of preserving the dignity of their memory but in Michael Jackson's case it's more a matter of mob hysteria.

Maybe the prevalence of related jokes is a way of challenging the relentless media frenzy which really is going over-the-top.

It's like that Chaser song from last year said - about "everybody's a top bloke after they're dead".

I don't blame people for shedding a tear or two after hearing of a celebrity death. Just after my daughter was born, I read of a young Melbourne mother killed in a car accident, and although I didn’t know the woman at all, I bawled after reading the article. She wasn't a celebrity - but the point remains - you don’t have to know the person to feel empathy for them, or the family they have left behind.

It's just the sheer over the top nature of the grieving that gives me the irrits.

Although I notice the press are taking the gloves off now (didn't take long). I'm not a fan of nastiness, whether one is talking of a person when they are alive or dead. For example, Jackson was a flawed and damaged person in many respects, and I think that has to be acknowledged. But now all the dirt is coming out in a way that is almost gloating.

I suppose I'm for moderation in all things - don't paint the man better than he was, don't just focus on the bad stuff either.

Re Baxter Sin's point about "relationships" with celebrities being an easy option - I think there's definitely something in that. I wrote a post about a Japanese man who started a petition to allow marriages with manga characters: http://skepticlawyer.com.au/2008/10/only-in-japan/. An amazing number of people signed it.

Clearly, that man formed a "relationship" with a cartoon character because she is predictable, non-threatening and physically perfect, with none of the difficulties which arise in REAL relationships, because let's face it, she can't argue back, squeeze the toothpaste in the middle or have bad hair days.

As Baxter says, real relationships require interaction from both sides, and effort to make them work.