Jade Goody's dead

Phil, I may have got you wrong here, I dunno. Presumably you need have no connection to a child being mercilessly taunted in the playground for the colour of his/her skin to feel something for him/her? So why can you not feel something for someone who dies an unpleasant and early death, leaving her children behind - just because you had to "suffer her persistence"? Or, another question, can you feel anything for her sons?

btw - I did leave the records safely at the Coach last night, didn't I?

From my perspective, there's a difference between feeling bad for the girl and her family, and actually feeling a personal connection to her.

It's a shame when a person - any person - dies. As humans, we're conditioned to feel an abstract kind of 'sadness' when someone passes, whether we knew them or not. I couldn't care less about Jade Goody - I had no time for her in life, just as I have no time for her in death, but it doesn't stop me from feeling that abstract sadness that she died, or that her children will grow up without a mother.

What bothers me about some of the comments on this thread is that people are implying that by criticising or expressing a dislike of Jade Goody, that they're somehow suggesting they don't care about her, her family, or the fact she suffered at the hands of Cancer. I do feel 'bad', but it doesn't stop me from thoroughly disapproving of the way she lived her life, and feeling dismayed at how our society has bought into the celebrity culture. I resent the suggestion that we must feel bad for her and mourn her passing, when neither I nor 99.9% of the British population ever met the girl, and all we know of her is what was played over LivingTV and OK these past 5 or so years.

EDIT: Sorry - not sure I have a point to all that really. Can't really take anything too seriously having just watched the 'Cornholio' video on another thread...