Jade Goody

[Quillan]

Jade Goody is in the news again tonight or more to the point her boyfriend is as Jack Straw has lifted his curfew to enable him to spend their wedding night together.

It is a tragic thing that somebody should be struck down with such a terrible, terminal disease at such a relatively young age, I doubt that anyone can feel nothing of than great sadness and compassion for her and her family.

She recognises her own background and lack of education (or so she has said on TV and in certain papers) and wants better for her children, I can understand how she wants to have financial security for them but then don't we all.

But there is another side to this story I think. Morally is it right to employ a person like Max Clifford to ensure you get as much TV and newspaper coverage? Is Max Clifford forgoing any fee, am I to assume he is doing this out of the kindness of his heart to help out a mate? I have seen reports (Googled Jade Goody) that suggest her death will be filmed and the film and photo's sold. This seems very macabre to me. I don't believe it will have any possitive effect for all those other suffering from cancer.

There is something about all this that does not feel right, I don't know what it is but it definitely send a shiver up the spine. I just don't see why such a big publicity thing is being made when there are hundreds of people, both young and old, poor and rich dying every day of this terrible disease. Cancer at some point either directly or indirectly touches the majority of people, what makes Jade and them different?

The reason I decided to post this is because I am not sure what to make of it. Death to me is a personal/family thing and would not relish it happening under the full public gaze. Perhaps I am the one that is odd, which is why I thought I would post how I felt on the subject and wondered if I am alone in my feelings and thoughts?

[woolybanana]

Yes, Q, your concern is understandable. She is however doing this of her own volition, to raise money for her kids education and I guess that people don't have to watch the programme or film, but they will. It is, after all, all that she has, poor kid.

And, there is reported to have been a big increase in cancer testing since she announced her illness, so she may be saving lives yet.

 

[Clair]

When John Diamond and Justine Picardie wrote about their terminal illness, everyone admired their fortitude.

When Jane Goody lives the last days of her life in public to ensure her children's future, people have mixed feelings.

According to Max Clifford, her filming commitment ends with her marriage. There are no plans to film her death. (source)

[Quillan]

Yes I did read THIS in the Telegraph. It would seem there is some debate (or row as the Telegraph calls it) about lowering the age for cervical screening. Likewise I saw something on the news last night about mis-diagnosis of cancer in older patients but I'll be ruggered if I can find it on the net. Some women have had mastectomies and drug treatment for cysts that turned out not to be cancerous as one example.

If some good does come from to help others it then that can be nothing but a good thing. As to her doing it for the money to ensure her kids have a good education well it just does not feel right to me, its like selling your soul, literally.

I understand where you are coming from but it does not help me, I still feel odd/strange about it and don't know why. [8-)]

[woolybanana]

You are right Q, these are not normal terms of reference but then, it is not a normal situation. There is a line in the Scottish play uttered I think by Duncan about the death of Cawdor which sums it all up, but I am too superstitions to quote it (Act I, Sc4 7-8)

[Quillan]

[quote user="Clair"]When John Diamond and Justine Picardie wrote about their terminal illness, everyone admired their fortitude.
When Jane Goody lives the last days of her life in public to ensure her children's future, people have mixed feelings.

According to Max Clifford, her filming commitment ends with her marriage. There are no plans to film her death. (source)
[/quote]

I think there is a difference. John Diamond was filmed at home and yes both wrote books but never thought that they were sooooo public with it as this. I also don't remember the PM, the likes of Jack Straw getting involved. Likewise I have not heard of people like Elton John offering their homes for somebody wanting to get married before they die of cancer. Or for that matter Girls Aloud possibly changing their commitments to possibly come and sing. But then many of the others who have died or are dying have not been on Big Brother and become famous either.

Basically I think that I might feel that the two people you mentioned did things possibly in a more different way. Perhaps it might be better if she simply wrote (or had somebody do it for her) a book like them. I don't know really but I don't think its quite the same thing, perhaps I am wrong.

One person I did admire for what she did mainly for others was Jane Tomlinson.

I do feel terribly sad for Jade in having this terrible thing happen to her. She obviously feels she is controlling the media but I wonder is this and will this be true as time goes on. It certainly brings Max Clifford back in to the news again for example.

Just to add that although I have never had cancer myself I have had two direct family members and a couple of very close friends die of it so its not that I have no personal experience.

[Quillan]

After typing that I just thought.... Is it because it is so public that it makes one feel ill at ease with ones own mortality and that in reality death can come at any time?

[woolybanana]

Q, I also think she understands the irony of succeeding in becoming famous by her death.

[Gluestick]

Interesting that Clifford, the celebrated media pimp, is also currently acting for the 13 year old boy claiming to have fathered a child by a 15 year old girl.

There is obviously no depth to which he will not stoop for cash.

What a morally bankrupt society Britain has become!

 

[Scooby]

I've never particularly liked Jane Goody - I found her a bit of a 'yob made good' but that is probably just a product of her upbringing.   Nevertheless for anyone to die so young is tragic.  The whole prospect of filming her death (albeit for money for her boys) doesn't sit comfortably with me.  It's nothing to do with making money from her death, but with the legacy it leaves her boys.  Does she really want to run the risk that  the overwhelming images of her that she leaves behind for them are of her last few minutes?  The images that flash through my mind are of the road safety ad where the mother replays over and over again the home video of her (now dead) child saying 'mummy'.

[DerekJ]

I've no interest in Jade Goody but from what little I've seen of her she seems a quite unpleasant character. Having said that, I wish her no harm and I'm sorry that she is suffering this unpleasant and untimely end. This is no different to how I feel about hearing of anyone in a similar situation. I don't understand the whole media circus that is going on over her imminent demise but then I've never understood how people were interested in seeing her before all of this came to light.

As far as her exploiting the situation to earn money for her child, well that's up to her and if that's the way she wants it then good luck to her. Do I wish to see/hear about it....NO, I tend to turn off at the mention of her. The fact that Max Clifford is involved is a turn off in itself.  Why Gordon Brown feels any need to comment is beyond me. I thought he might one or two other more pressing things to worry about.

[Dog]

It cannot be much fun for a dimwit to finally know something factual - You are going to die!

She has not been dealt a very good hand. Who knows how or what we would do if told we had a few months to live. People can do strange things.

It's her choice and she has limited opportunities. If someone were daft enough to want to film me dying they are welcome -  can I have the cheque now.

I feel sad for her and her family, though perhaps it's the faustian pact she signed......

 

[woolybanana]

Cancer is a taboo subject, now people are having tests and seeing the disease in reality.

Death is a taboo subject, now people may begin slowly to see it in reality and start changing our attitude to it.

[Kitty]

[quote user="woolybanana"]You are right Q, these are not normal terms of reference but then, it is not a normal situation. There is a line in the Scottish play uttered I think by Duncan about the death of Cawdor which sums it all up, but I am too superstitions to quote it (Act I, Sc4 7-8)[/quote]

I have been trying to find the quote online because my "Shakespeare Complete Works" is in the UK.  I can't find it.  Can anyone help?

[Clair]

http://clicknotes.com/macbeth/SceneTextIndex.html

[Kitty]

Thank you Clair.  You really know your way around the Internet.

[Clair]

[:D]

[Gluestick]

[quote user="Cathy"]Thank you Clair.  You really know your way around the Internet.[/quote]

And there was me about to pull out my massive tome, "The Complete Works of Shakespeare".

Out, out large book!

Life's but a brief player, full of sound and fury on the stage of...................Google!

[Www]

[Nell]

I agree with DerekJ.

Don't like the person, have no interest in her and I don't want a blow by blow account of her illness every time I turn on the news. Yes I feel very sorry for her, just as I feel for all those families coping with the same situation, but everyone else is probably going through it with dignity and courage, NOT trying to screw as much money as possible out of  the crazy media circus..... (or having a big splash of a wedding for free [8-)] ). It is said the money is for her children, what about all those other children losing a parent?  Who is going to boost their bank accounts?  I lost my younger brother to cancer 3 years ago and nobody stepped forward to help his wife an kids (No such thing as a Widows pension anymore - but that's another of my rants, that I won't start on now[:@]). Also, surely she should be financially secure selling all the other dross about her life, to leave her children a long way from the workhouse door

[Quillan]

You see what I am worried about I guess is that you have a young person who from the beginning (Big Brother) has basically been fabricated and manipulated by the media. This in turn begs the question, is it really her or is she still being manipulated and are some people trying to get the last bit of the preverbal blood out of her before she sadly dies.

Another question is also how far the media will actually go as again there is talk of her death being filmed. Although this has been denied by Max Clifford it keeps poping up and as they say theres no smoke without fire. I say this because David Aaronovitch tonight on Newsnight said that she would probably be sainted. Now if he is serious then he needs a reality check and if it was meant as some form of joke then its very sick to say the least and offencive to Jade and her family.

There was also something else said which I had not picked up on before. This is that Jack Straw has, by interfering and allowing her soon to be husband spend his wedding night with her, effectively changed the law. If he had simply passed down his wishes to the proper people and advised them to use their discretionary powers and kept his gob shut this would not have happened. But no, he like one or two others, saw it as an opportunity to stay in the public media spot light.

Personally Jade does nothing for me either way and I neither love her nor hate her, in fact it would be true to say I'm neutral about her. Her TV stuff is not something I would choose to watch and I really can't stand reality shows. What I am concerned about is the media side of this story and a couple of individuals in particular who are allegedly making personal money out of it. Perhaps it might not bother me so much if these people came out up front and said quite loudly (so everyone knows) that they were not charging fees or expenses and all monies go directly to the trust fund set up for her kids.

[Clair]

One of the better non-hysterical articles written about Jade Goody. The second half goes a long way towards explaining her attraction to and for the media:

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/celebrity/article5775935.ece

As to why Max Clifford, who better when you want to make a lot of money quickly from the media?

Can you, off the top of your head, name another PR company who does it as well?

To wit, the boy-father's own father, quick to exploit his son's sudden fame to the hilt.

Edit: The circus master

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

It's interesting to see how hypocritical the media are. Just a few months back she was the slobbish, racist, unfit mother that represented everything bad about the UK. Now she is "brave and courageous" and a media darling. It was the same with Princess Di. One minute a harlot, then when she got killed, she became the people's Princess again.

I do not wish harm on Goody, and I wish this evil disease would disappear forever, for all who have it.

Sir Bobby Robson, who has actually contributed something to the country is also dying of cancer, but is he on the front page every day professing how brave he is? No, because he probably, like any other normal person, doesnt want to actually die in the public spotlight.

R.

[Quillan]

[quote user="Clair"]One of the better non-hysterical articles written about Jade Goody. The second half goes a long way towards explaining her attraction to and for the media:
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/celebrity/article5775935.ece

As to why Max Clifford, who better when you want to make a lot of money quickly from the media?
Can you, off the top of your head, name another PR company who does it as well?
To wit, the boy-father's own father, quick to exploit his son's sudden fame to the hilt.

Edit: The circus master
[/quote]

Not a bad article and as you say non-hysterical like some others. Interestingly I noticed that in a general description of her by others the word gullible seems to reoccur many times. Is this not what many 'hangers on' look for? I mean will theses people also look after her boys in the same way as they did their mother on the basis of all the nice things they have said about her recently?

As you know Max Clifford is a one man band, he is also a person who feels the need to be in the spot light just like celebrities which is why so many of the general public know of him. Sure he also works for restaurants and other businesses but is he one of the biggest or is he the biggest, no he is not. His reputation is in representing and getting money for people that others would not touch. His main speciality is in negotiating deals for 'kiss and tell' stories. The big PR companies don't put themselves in the spot light, they work very much on the quiet so as not to detract people away from the person or company they are employed by. So yes there are many, much larger and much better PR companies than him.

[just john]

As a personality, Jade is not someone I am interested in, but when this story broke I had hoped that the media would see past the circus antics and hone in on the randomness of Cancer (perhaps like the furore over Aids) and how the medical profession understand little about how it is caused and how to effectively target a cure.
I was once told that there are over 200 kinds of cancer (which is the no. 1 killer) and that there is currently only a 'shotgun approach' of Chemo/radiotherapy/possible surgery, no cure, only remission.
It's disappointing the Media have not taken this angle and that any cure seems decades away with less emphasis on this disease than some other serious illnesses.
Even diagnosis seems to be part of the country lottery, one specialist told me that America was top, France 3rd and UK 17th!? although the UK was allegedly improving. I stand to be corrected on this info which is now over a year old [:(]

[Chancer]

[quote user="LyndaandRichard"]

I do not wish harm on Goody, and I wish this evil disease would disappear forever, for all who have it.

Are you talking about cancer or the celebrity culture

Sir Bobby Robson, who has actually contributed something to the country is also dying of cancer, but is he on the front page every day professing how brave he is? No, because he probably, like any other normal person, doesnt want to actually die in the public spotlight.

After all this time we cannot expect poor Jade to suddenly comport herself with dignity, I guess she has more important things on her mind

[/quote]

A couple of questions as I am (thankfully) out of touch with the UK media.

Was the boyfriend not an actor? (or was that another one, perhaps the father) What is he in prison for?

Who will be responsible for the children once all the dosh is raised, Jades mother?.........................