That’s moronic. By that logic the death of Mother Teresa was more tragic than the Holocaust.
You are being told, by bona fide Brits, that you’re pretty much wrong. That we don’t fit your preconceived notion should make you alter your notion somewhat, rather than deny what we’re telling you.
BTW I visited my local newsagents this evening because of this thread, just to see who was on the front page of The Daily Express: Diana and Madeleine McCann.
Sigh.
Her death is not more important per se, but a greater loss, in that all the good she would have done is now going undone- who knows what funding or research she could have gotten across? And people mourning her at least knew who she was, knew what she looked like, if nothing else. I would say 99.9% of Americans don’t know anyone from 9-1-1, or even know anyone who did. Its obviously not the case, but for all anyone knows it could have been the 3000 biggest assholes in the country who died that day- then would mourning be appropriate? It’s like people who dog Bill Clinton for his tryst- for all anyone else knows, Hilary Clinton could be a raging dyke who married Bill for show, and privately has a big laugh with Bill over the whole thing. It’s a subtle point I’m making here to be sure, and maybe I’m not conveying it properly.
And anyone who knew anyone who died on 9-1-1, I am NOT saying anything in anyway against them, just trying to make apoint.
I would make the distinction between the attmepted genocide of an entire race of people and those from 9-1-1. How about if one knew for certain that had she not died she would have been able to fund a cure for AIDS and help lessen the crises in Africa?
And jjimm, if you’re saying the avearge Brit who goes on about it is not doing so out of love or concern but just for the salaciousness of it, then that’s a different story.
Nitpick: 9-1-1 is a phone number. 9/11 is the event.
Did Al-Qaeda set off the London Bombings four days too early? Because 7/11 would’ve fit the pattern much more smoothly.
Count me as another Brit who is fed up with the media pandering to al-Fayed’s imbecile conspiracies, and with the Cult of Diana of the Etonians in general. Posing winsomely for photo opportunities does not constitute actual charity work.
And the current media coverage is just stupid. “What is the secret meaning of Diana’s last smile?” … Well, I would guess that it translates loosely as “Whee! I’m pissed as a newt, and I’m going to shag my slimy boyfriend senseless tonight!”
Gaah.
Not really, because we would say “11/7”. The gallows joke at the time was that “7/7” was the American notation.
Wee Bairn, who are these “average Brits” of whom you speak? Have you met them? I don’t deny that people like them exist, since a few hundred thousand people still buy The Daily Express every day, but I don’t think “average” is necessarily the truth. If you want to do some research into other points of view, as expressed by every Brit so far that has posted in this thread, please read that novel I linked to. It’s a fictionalised account, but one that nicely captures the bizarre mass hysteria that Diana’s death prompted in Britain, and the hidden dissent. It’s covered in the movie The Queen too, to a lesser extent.
I’m intrigued by the idea that the tragedy of someone’s death is somehow proportional to how much they’ve done for me, personally. Particularly in regards to Princess Diana, who never did a damned thing for me, seeing as I’m not a homeless AIDS baby living in a minefield. And neither, I assume, is anyone in this thread. On the other hand, the destruction of the WTC had a palpable effect on the US economy, and the ripples of that destruction were felt by our trading partners, of whom the UK is one of the largest. The economic disruption caused by the destruction of the businesses housed in the WTC indicates that, while those businesses were extant, they were having a measurable effect on our lives. So by your own standard, 9/11 was more important than the death of Princess Di.
I don’t people hate her, so much as they hate the people who keep digging her up and parading her in public. Let her be dead already.
No, I’m not that shallow to think that the price of my taxes or milk or whatever going up a bit is more important that helping the sick or homeless. 911 had no noticeable effect on my life, so I really don’t understand what the middle part of your post is referring to, specifically.
I have way much more respect for Nurse Anonymous, who goes to work and does his job every day for a mere paycheck and little respect and still does it to his fullest, then I do for Princess Diana.
The WTC had a personal effect on me. I submit to you that I don’t need to know anyone in the deaths for it to have a personal effect on me. Fer Christssakes I live in NY so of course it had an effect…in money, rememberance, funding, a different skyline, the memories of the people I know that had to flee the area, the debris, the firefighters, the cops, the equipment, all of which we had to replace, and the feeling that NYC was not safe.
Di had no effect on my life that I know of and I’d like you to point it out if she has.
But you don’t know what the 3000 people were doing before they died in 9-11. Perhaps they were giving to charity. Perhaps they were doing some or all of the good things that Diana did. But we only know about Diana because of people’s slavish devotion to her.
At least she found true love before she died… in the arms of a random unattractive billionaire.
The sick and poor have to buy milk, too. And given your statements on the relative importance of famous people dying versus regular folks dying, you’re really not in any sort of a position to go calling other people shallow.
That’s my point, you don’t know what the 3000 did, you do know what good this one did. You seem to be knocking her because of her status- she can’t help that she’s wasn’t Nancy Night Nurse at Cook County General. She was in a position of status and wealth, could have sat on it or made token gestures, but did so much more. The grand total of two Brits in Toxteth I know who mourn her still do so (they say) because of the great person she is. I don’t mourn her, I find it a bit odd to be honest, but can understand it in a way, like the Americans who still might moan about the loss of John Kennedy.
You are sort of saying that 9-1-1 is more of a tragedy because you maybe had to the long route to work a few months, or your favorite deli closed (not trying to sound smarmy). I just don’t get the “I live there, so its different for me” mentality, like I don’t get the V. Tech students acting all troubled and such.
Said nothing about famous people. This was a saint who just so happened to be famous. And I absolutely did not call you shallow, I said I was not, and didn’t imply you were by default.
I once started this brilliant (IMO) thread that dead football player/solider Pat Tillman’s family should let it go, and no one seemed to agree. So to extrapolate from that, minus a degree in logic, I get-
not letting the death of a loved one go is oK, not letting 9-1-1 go is OK, but not letting Diana go, not ok.
9/11, Wee Bairn, not 9-1-1, for pity’s sake.
7/7 is the only bombing I can think of that we refer to in such a manner, and I should think it’s so named as an echo of 9/11. It’s not as though we haven’t had our share of bombings in the past, but we mention them more by name than by date, such as “the Birmingham pub bombing” or “the Brighton hotel bombing”. Easier than trying to keep track of which date meant what, I imagine it was.
To give this a little perspective they (media and whoever feeds their appetites in the UK) are going on about whether or not she was pregnant when she died 10 YEARS AGO. Who fucking cares? Seriously? Show the lady a little respect if you care that much about her and let her go. How did the pregnancy thing get dreamt up 10 years after the fact? What will it be next year? “She was a lesbian leading a secret life and her lesbian lover killed her? Time to start another inquiry!!!”
It’s stupid. Get over it.
10 years after the fact? That one’s been floating around for years. Favourite Diana Conspiracy Theory: “Di was pregnant with Dodi’s child, and she was killed so that the future King of the UK would not have a Muslim stepbrother.”
No? Allow me to refresh your memory.
Emphasis added on that last one, of course.
Of course, that’s not the only reason you’ve used to argue that Princess Di’s death was more important, just one of the stupider ones. You’ve also argued that Princess Di has helped, as you put it, “many many many sick, homeless, and poor.” Which is also pretty dumb. If we’re supposed to care about Diana because a group of unknowns might not get as much charity, why are we supposed to care less when a different group of unknowns gets slaughtered outright?
You have an intriguing grasp of the English language.
But not half as intriguing as your grasp of analogy.
Here’s a quick score card for why the events you keep trying to compare to Princess Diana’s death are not, in fact, remotely comparable.
Princess Diana died because of her own poor lack of judgement. The people in the WTC died because of a deliberate attack orchestrated by a man who is still at large, and who has publically announced his intention to attack us again. Pat Tilman may died during an ongoing military conflict that many feel is being mismanaged, and said mismanagement may have directly contributed to his death, which (if true) means that all of the other soldiers serving in that conflict are also at risk of being killed by similar mismanagement.
Similarities between Princess Di, and 9/11 or Pat Tilman? None.
The people being told to “get over” Princess Diana’s death are largely people who had no direct relationship with her, and whose lives were not materially effected by her. The people you’ve told to “get over” 9/11 are people living in a country still being actively targetted by the man who orchestrated the attack. The people you’ve told to “get over” Pat Tilman’s death are his fucking parents.
Similarities between Princess Di, and 9/11 or Pat Tilman? None.
The crash that ended Princess Di’s life killed a total of three people, and does not further threaten the lives of any other people. The crash that destroyed the WTC killed three thousand people, and is directly related to circumstances that could claim many other lives. The friendly fire incident that killed Pat Tilman killed only one other man, but may have been indicative of an institutional problem that could cause the deaths of many other people.
Similarities between Princess Di, and 9/11 or Pat Tilman? None.