That would count as an underlying cause, perhaps not just of his death but his homelessness as well.
Man dies watching Twilight: Eclipse
- Thread starter Candlelight
- Start date
That would count as an underlying cause, perhaps not just of his death but his homelessness as well.
I get the snide remarks. They can be funny. But the danger is is in alienating oneself from the reality behind what register only as set-ups for punchlines on these innernets. Especially in cases like these where we're dealing with real tragedy around a loaded pop-culture phenomenon. "Render unto Caesar...", but Christ dude, don't forget God.
I hope his death was natural...an undiagnosed medical condition, aneurysm or something, and not a suicide. To quote Magneto, "Young people..."
I hope his death was natural...an undiagnosed medical condition, aneurysm or something, and not a suicide. To quote Magneto, "Young people..."
Well, it was a fairly well reported incident in the news a couple of years ago. I think it was one dead and the driver was drunk but I could have the details wrong.
There's a difference between using this as an opportunity to insult the Twilight franchise and showing disrespect to this man's death.
The man's death was not natural as homelessness is not natural. I strongly suspect that it contributed to his death. The fact that there was nobody to notice he was missing either is a tragedy as well.
A
Amaris
Guest
Mine point more to Tulin's reaction as if doubleohfive's comments spoiled the fun. I get that people use humor to let off steam and discomfort, I had no problem with that, it's just that doubleoh was making a relevant comment about remembering the whole purpose of the thread, a comment in which Tulin made his opinion known, and that's what I was commenting upon.
Well, they were both right and they were both wrong.
doubleohfive was right that we should remember that a homeless man died here and he was wrong by reminding us in his usual condescending manner.
Tulin was right that doubleohfive's intervention was not necessary and wrong to demonstrate that by using a threadbomb to do so.
A
Amaris
Guest
His manner wasn't condescending.
doubleohfive's reaction was appropriate and well within reason.
A
Amaris
Guest
His reaction was appropriate to the topic at hand.
In your view. As I said, we could turn this thread in to a discussion of homelessness but I don't think a Twilight thread is the place to do that.
A
Amaris
Guest
Well, of course in my view, what other view would it be in? doubleohfive's response was reasonable. As for this thread being the place to discuss homelessness, we're already discussing the unpleasant and sad death of a 23 year old man. Well, at least, we are now.
Where it's not really going to achieve much or receive the attention it deserves.
A
Amaris
Guest
Yet the thread was started here and not in either Miscellaneous or TNZ, so whatever attention it receives, it receives. This is as good a place as any.
Rii
Rear Admiral
Or maybe he's just being a dick.
I hate to break it to you, but people die all the time. More than you could keep up with if you did nothing else but post 'xxx has died' threads continuously like some kind of robot. The reason the thread exists - the reason the news story exists - is because it happened in a movie theatre; something which naturally invites sly comments regarding the film in question, particularly when that film is part of a polarising contemporary pop culture phenomenon.
That the man's death is tragic goes without saying. And if one is personally disinclined to humour, that's fine. Implying that those who can 'see the lighter side' are being monstrously insensitive (towards whom? Is there a family member present we haven't been informed about?) and are thereby terrible human beings? Yeah, now you're a dick.
God help him if doubleohfive ever discovers the Darwin Awards. His head will probably explode in self-righteous indignation.
And this is why you weren't "#2". Insufficient dickness.
i.e. good post. Just thought I'd clarify that, in light of certain recent misunderstandings.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
I've held back from responding to some of the comments aimed at me in this thread mainly because I've been trying to make a concerted effort to behave myself here.
That said, if it seems as though I'm being overly sensitive, then fuck all, I'm being overly sensitive. I lost someone I cared about very much recently and she wasn't much older than this kid. It's a sore subject for me. I don't like it when young people die.
Make all the jokes about Twilight and ooh, he died seeing Eclipse. It's hilarious. But the fact of the matter is that kid was someone's son, maybe someone's brother. And today those family members are grieving.
Four months ago when I posted the picture of my friend Katie after she had died, people came out of the woodwork to express their condolences. Had this also been about the death of some smoking hot 20-something I'm sure the reaction in this thread would be very different. If it had been someone you knew, if it had been someone you loved, I guaranfuckingtee the reaction in this thread would be different.
So all of you cynical nerds out there -- keep laughing. Obviously that's not directed to everyone in this thread, nor should it be. But for those who it is aimed at, you probably know who you are.
Hermiod, putting aside for the moment that you seem to relish in any chance to bad-mouth me, I made my response in this thread because I was disgusted at the total lack of empathy on display. Not really shocked to see you back at it with your usual reverse-mysogyny inferiority complex again, but whether you liked it or not I was perfectly within my right to make the comment I did. Like it or love it. Take a step outside of your obviously horrible and tortured world and maybe think for a second about how other people might be feeling.
Lastly, but certainly not least: Thank you J. Allen, for calmly and coolly responding to all the hullabaloo in my absence.
It's a sad, sad thing but empathy is more and more becoming the first casualty in this age of ever-increasing narcissism, (which I am also admittedly guilty of succumbing to). But that doesn't mean I'm just going to sit idly by or start liking it.
That said, if it seems as though I'm being overly sensitive, then fuck all, I'm being overly sensitive. I lost someone I cared about very much recently and she wasn't much older than this kid. It's a sore subject for me. I don't like it when young people die.
Make all the jokes about Twilight and ooh, he died seeing Eclipse. It's hilarious. But the fact of the matter is that kid was someone's son, maybe someone's brother. And today those family members are grieving.
Four months ago when I posted the picture of my friend Katie after she had died, people came out of the woodwork to express their condolences. Had this also been about the death of some smoking hot 20-something I'm sure the reaction in this thread would be very different. If it had been someone you knew, if it had been someone you loved, I guaranfuckingtee the reaction in this thread would be different.
So all of you cynical nerds out there -- keep laughing. Obviously that's not directed to everyone in this thread, nor should it be. But for those who it is aimed at, you probably know who you are.
Hermiod, putting aside for the moment that you seem to relish in any chance to bad-mouth me, I made my response in this thread because I was disgusted at the total lack of empathy on display. Not really shocked to see you back at it with your usual reverse-mysogyny inferiority complex again, but whether you liked it or not I was perfectly within my right to make the comment I did. Like it or love it. Take a step outside of your obviously horrible and tortured world and maybe think for a second about how other people might be feeling.
Lastly, but certainly not least: Thank you J. Allen, for calmly and coolly responding to all the hullabaloo in my absence.
It's a sad, sad thing but empathy is more and more becoming the first casualty in this age of ever-increasing narcissism, (which I am also admittedly guilty of succumbing to). But that doesn't mean I'm just going to sit idly by or start liking it.
Last edited:
^I'd rather we all not insult each other and that we could all discuss serious subjects like homelessness sensibly. However, neither doubleohfive nor myself are completely innocent in that regard.
When you consider that 90% of the people sleeping rough in London are male, do you really think that I don't have strong feelings about this subject ?
Rii is right, this is a tragedy but people do die every day. We don't need to all stand around and chant "His Name Is Robert Paulson".
I'm sorry you lost your friend but I can't trawl through the personal histories of every single person on the board every time I post on the off chance that something I say might upset one of them.
I found your attitude condescending. With you, personal criticism is a one-way street isn't it ? It's okay for you to make barbs about my "reverse-mysogyny inferiority complex" and your perception of how I behave but if I say anything to criticise your behaviour, I've crossed some deep personal line.
I think we should take into account that for the first part of this thread we didn't know this guy was homeless.
Sometimes death can be laughed at. When Alex Mitchell died looking at the Goodies his wife seemed to be able to take it with some humour.
but at least Alex was looking at a reasonably good show.
Sometimes death can be laughed at. When Alex Mitchell died looking at the Goodies his wife seemed to be able to take it with some humour.
but at least Alex was looking at a reasonably good show.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
Hermiod, I'm not going to engage you in this silly back-and-forth. You can offer up all the personal criticism you want at me. Just because I defended my position doesn't mean that "personal criticism is a one-way street" with me.
Perhaps if it were possible to have a rational conversation once in while, it might be easier. I don't know.
As for my "barbs" -- you've opened yourself up to it on numerous occasions. Nothing I've seen in the last year has led me to believe you've grown out of it. Maybe I shouldn't have made the comment above, but it's hardly unwarranted.
I'm very well aware that people die every day. In the last few years, I've lost several people. A friend from high school died from complications of diabetes, leaving behind a wife and two small children. Colon cancer killed another friend my age, who also left behind a loving husband and toddler. Andrew Koenig killed himself, leaving many of his friends here -- myself among them -- grieving. A friend from college was killed in Iraq. And then there's Katie, who died in March and to top it all off, her father died shortly thereafter.
In short, I don't need to be reminded that people die.
You don't need to trawl through personal histories. I'm didn't mention Katie earlier or any of these other friends to imply, suggest or demand that. I mention them precisely because people don't "trawl" through the threads. I mentioned them because it adds context to why I'm responding the way I am, and to (hopefully) help people like you who are just plain being dismissive because I've dared to call you out see that I'm not at all writing this from a position of condescension, but rather one of pain, one of sympathy.
But if people want to be assholes about it and just dismiss me because I'm taking an unpopular stand on the issue, go ahead. This place is full of assholes already. (Yes, I'm one of them).
But the kid is still dead. And fuck you all, that's sad to me. Not devastatingly sad the way it would be if it had been someone close to me, but still ... sad.
Perhaps if it were possible to have a rational conversation once in while, it might be easier. I don't know.
As for my "barbs" -- you've opened yourself up to it on numerous occasions. Nothing I've seen in the last year has led me to believe you've grown out of it. Maybe I shouldn't have made the comment above, but it's hardly unwarranted.
I'm very well aware that people die every day. In the last few years, I've lost several people. A friend from high school died from complications of diabetes, leaving behind a wife and two small children. Colon cancer killed another friend my age, who also left behind a loving husband and toddler. Andrew Koenig killed himself, leaving many of his friends here -- myself among them -- grieving. A friend from college was killed in Iraq. And then there's Katie, who died in March and to top it all off, her father died shortly thereafter.
In short, I don't need to be reminded that people die.
You don't need to trawl through personal histories. I'm didn't mention Katie earlier or any of these other friends to imply, suggest or demand that. I mention them precisely because people don't "trawl" through the threads. I mentioned them because it adds context to why I'm responding the way I am, and to (hopefully) help people like you who are just plain being dismissive because I've dared to call you out see that I'm not at all writing this from a position of condescension, but rather one of pain, one of sympathy.
But if people want to be assholes about it and just dismiss me because I'm taking an unpopular stand on the issue, go ahead. This place is full of assholes already. (Yes, I'm one of them).
But the kid is still dead. And fuck you all, that's sad to me. Not devastatingly sad the way it would be if it had been someone close to me, but still ... sad.
Your reaction suggests otherwise. You ignored the part where I said I partially agreed with you and went straight to "Hermiod's waffling on about women again" and giving me your entirely unqualified diagnosis of my supposed mental issues.
Guess what - where I'm from homelessness is a men's issue. As I said, 90% of rough sleepers in London are male. I care about men's issues, so I talk about them. I'm not going to stop offering an alternative viewpoint just because it's not a conventional one.
Or, we could all just agree to disagree on everything and shut the board down.
As I said, you weren't wrong to remind people that a person died. You went about it poorly. I disagreed with Tulin's reaction to you just as much. I'm not going to tip-toe around you or anyone else.