MarkW Posted August 4, 2015 Posted August 4, 2015 Just over 10 years ago, Boris Johnson was sent to Liverpool on Operation Scouse Grovel to apologise to a load of histrionic and overemotional Liverpudlians who had been outraged by his suggestion that they had a tendency to be histrionic and overemotional.I wonder if Boris was listening to the radio yesterday evening as a constant stream of synthetic emotion was poured out by those who had just signed Cilla's book of condolence, all dutifully wailing and keening and fighting back the phoney tears over the death of a talentless and narcissistic 72 year-old with a singing voice that sounded like a cat being strangled.I think Michael Howard owes him an apology. Quote
Fozzie Posted August 5, 2015 Posted August 5, 2015 ... Steady on.He suggested the reaction to the death of a soldier out in Iraq from Liverpool was disproportionate. As if there's an actual limit on how people should feel. One mans community banding together is anothers people jumping on the band wagon to be loved I agree but end of it all, someones mother has died. Quote
RantMachine Posted August 5, 2015 Posted August 5, 2015 On that note, what does Cilla Black have in common with Stevie Wonder...? Quote
MarkW Posted August 5, 2015 Author Posted August 5, 2015 I thought Ken Bigley was a construction engineer rather than a soldier (not that it makes a jot of difference - his murder, as all murders, was a moral outrage). I'm also sensitive to the fact that whatever I may think of Cilla and the behaviour of her public, she was somebody's mother. But both these things are beside the point. What I heard on the radio the other night was a perfect illustration of the comments Boris Johnson made all those years ago, which is that there seems to be a certain section of the Liverpool demographic that is given to histrionic and undignified public wallowing in synthetic grief: the throbbing voice, the exaggeratedly choked-back tears, the explanatory "I'm sorry - I'm just so emotional" guff. It makes me want to puke. I have no greater or lesser connection with the people of my home town than I do with any of my other fellow humans, and I would be no more or less upset by the death of someone I'd never met from Stoke-on-Trent than I would someone I'd never met from anywhere else. But all this wailing and keening is tantamount to saying that it wouldn't be quite so bad if they had been from somewhere other than Liverpool - as though the mere fact of shared citizenship makes you feel the death of someone you didn't know any more acutely. It's nauseating guff. Quote
RantMachine Posted August 5, 2015 Posted August 5, 2015 It's a bit like when a plane crashes and the news report focuses on how many British people died. I don't care any more about them than anyone else on the plane just because we're of the same nationality, it's a tragedy for everyone involved! Quote
Fozzie Posted August 5, 2015 Posted August 5, 2015 I thought Ken Bigley was a construction engineer rather than a soldier (not that it makes a jot of difference - his murder, as all murders, was a moral outrage). I'm also sensitive to the fact that whatever I may think of Cilla and the behaviour of her public, she was somebody's mother. But both these things are beside the point. What I heard on the radio the other night was a perfect illustration of the comments Boris Johnson made all those years ago, which is that there seems to be a certain section of the Liverpool demographic that is given to histrionic and undignified public wallowing in synthetic grief: the throbbing voice, the exaggeratedly choked-back tears, the explanatory "I'm sorry - I'm just so emotional" guff. It makes me want to puke. I have no greater or lesser connection with the people of my home town than I do with any of my other fellow humans, and I would be no more or less upset by the death of someone I'd never met from Stoke-on-Trent than I would someone I'd never met from anywhere else. But all this wailing and keening is tantamount to saying that it wouldn't be quite so bad if they had been from somewhere other than Liverpool - as though the mere fact of shared citizenship makes you feel the death of someone you didn't know any more acutely. It's nauseating guff. Yep I mistyped after deleting a segment, it was meant to be that he was killed by a loony afgan solider. But anyway.Simple point is, why do you care? And why point it out only when a famed Liverpudlian dies? It would seem to me you were looking for a platform to speak as much as they were looking for a platform to let their emotional guff be heard. This is what media wants you to do When a kid from my school died from cancer, it hit me quite hard. I didn't know the guy but it felt so shocking, it was a bit more personal. And that's what the news does, it makes it closer to home, it does it to make you watch, and to sell papers. Most of society doesn't care 1500 immigrants died at sea, but 4 Brits on a plane that went down gets more of a shock. By annoying you, they got you interested, and they don't care how, so while it's intelligent we notice this stuff, we then shit all over it by ranting about it Quote
MarkW Posted August 5, 2015 Author Posted August 5, 2015 My point was that Boris Johnson was forced to make a snivelling and (probably) completely insincere apology to the people of Liverpool who were offended by his accusation that they had a tendency towards the very behaviour they demonstrated so distastefully on the radio earlier this week whenever one of their own dies. Consequently, and with the greatest respect, I don't think my point would have had quite the same relevance had I been talking about anyone other than a deceased Liverpudlian. Quote
RantMachine Posted August 5, 2015 Posted August 5, 2015 HOW HAVE I NEVER NOTICED THIS ONE BEFORE Quote
Phooey Posted August 5, 2015 Posted August 5, 2015 It's a bit like when a plane crashes and the news report focuses on how many British people died. I don't care any more about them than anyone else on the plane just because we're of the same nationality, it's a tragedy for everyone involved! I agree, Ollie. I feel, don't know what to call it, something everytime I hear that another human has died in anyway other than natural causes, regardless of their nationality. Even more uncomfortable when it is at the hands of a 'fellow' human being. Both 'fellow' and 'human being' used loosely. When someone we know dies, even if only through the entertainment world, they have in some minor or major way influenced our lives.I grew up with songs from Elvis Presley and when I heard about his death while walking to work I has most definitely affected. It was difficult to focus for the rest of the day. People deal with death in so many different ways and I don't think that it is right to criticise anyone for the way they deal with the situation. Doesn't matter if they are sincere or attention seeking, people aren't stupid and the truth always comes out somehow. Quote
RantMachine Posted August 5, 2015 Posted August 5, 2015 It's kids that always get to me, not so much famous people. Cilla lived a dream, got her name in lights, had a family, and lived to a decent age. Kids dying is just awful, they never even got to live properly. When that primary school shooting happened in the states a few years ago, I first heard about it while reading the paper over a morning coffee before work one day, and it brought tears to my eyes. Admittedly I was part way through a major breakdown at the time and pretty much everything could bring tears to my eyes, but that got me a lot better than most. Quote
Phooey Posted August 5, 2015 Posted August 5, 2015 Oh kids are the worse. Nothing shameful about having a tear, Ollie. I openly admit to shedding a drop or two on occassions. I don't subscribe to the men don't cry bullshit. Quote
MarkW Posted August 5, 2015 Author Posted August 5, 2015 I'm just pleased nobody has disagreed that her singing sounded like a cat being strangled. Quote
Fozzie Posted August 5, 2015 Posted August 5, 2015 I'm just pleased nobody has disagreed that her singing sounded like a cat being strangled. No one has a gripe there Listening to her music was proof there are less fun things than drowning. Quote
MarkW Posted August 5, 2015 Author Posted August 5, 2015 I'm also on a bass-players forum, where I am currently being pilloried for suggesting that her god-awful caterwauling wasn't in fact the legendary northern soul they all seem to think it was. Just because she has died (which is a shame, don't get me wrong) I fail to see why we must collectively pretend that she didn't sound like a cat being fed through a mangle. Quote
Joeman Posted August 5, 2015 Posted August 5, 2015 did you fancy her and she blew you out or something?? or were you on Blind Date and she stitched you up with a minger??why all the anti-cilla talk?? Quote
Fozzie Posted August 5, 2015 Posted August 5, 2015 did you fancy her and she blew you out or something?? or were you on Blind Date and she stitched you up with a minger??why all the anti-cilla talk?? Can't speak for others but I thought her tv shows were quality Blind date was hilarious when they stitched someone up with a minger and they had to pretend like they weren't appalled on camera Quote
RantMachine Posted August 5, 2015 Posted August 5, 2015 I think Blind Date would've been much better if Jim Bowen hosted it. "Come and look at what you could've won" - need I say more? Quote
MarkW Posted August 5, 2015 Author Posted August 5, 2015 did you fancy her and she blew you out or something?? or were you on Blind Date and she stitched you up with a minger??why all the anti-cilla talk??Why not? "Let us say what we think, and be frank about it: death does not confer privileges." Quote
MarkW Posted August 5, 2015 Author Posted August 5, 2015 I think Blind Date would've been much better if Jim Bowen hosted it. "Come and look at what you could've won" - need I say more?"You don't get anything for two in a bed." Quote
MarkW Posted August 5, 2015 Author Posted August 5, 2015 Given the hatred that has been unleashed on me on the other forum this might not be the wisest move, but what the hell: as my wife keeps telling me "You just have to stick your finger in the fan, don't you Mark?"I had always been under the impression that Cilla was a pretty decent sort, and although neither her singing nor her TV shows were my cup of tea she seemed perfectly inoffensive. But one of my friends was a senior cabin crew member with BA for years, and once told me that of all the celebrities she had flown with only two really stuck out. One was Kylie Minogue, who she said was very much smaller and even prettier in person than she looked on the telly, and who was a genuinely nice, down-to-earth person. The other was Cilla, who she said was utterly vile. She flew with her several times, and said she was nothing less than a demanding, condescending, haughty prima donna who treated everyone around her like dirt. I haven't been in touch with my friend for a few years, but if memory serves I think she said that BA banned her (or at least considered banning her) from their flights. Not sure about that one though, so could be wrong.Anyway, we've strayed off the original topic, which was wondering if Boris felt vindicated for his comments on Liverpudlians all those years ago Quote
Grumpy Old Git Posted August 6, 2015 Posted August 6, 2015 I'm just pleased nobody has disagreed that her singing sounded like a cat being strangled. Wait.... PH has not posted a reply yet! Quote
Fozzie Posted August 6, 2015 Posted August 6, 2015 I'm just pleased nobody has disagreed that her singing sounded like a cat being strangled. Wait.... PH has not posted a reply yet! Possibly because he's busy gunning them down now, strangling is so last week Quote
MarkW Posted August 22, 2015 Author Posted August 22, 2015 Oh for God's sake - this is beyond a joke now. All I did on that other forum was mention 'Mersey trout' in my reply to a particularly nauseating bit of fawning sycophancy, and now there's practically a price on my head. Honestly, some people... Quote
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