With Regret

With Regret!

Whitney Houston's death, while a sad thing, was the direct result of very unwise life choices.

It dominated the news.

Charlie Sheen is 45 and his story is all over the news because he is a
substance abuser, an adulterer, sexually promiscuous and obnoxious.

Lindsay Lohan is 24 and her story is all over the news because she is a
celebrity drug addict and thief.

Amy Winehouse’s story was all over the papers and shoved down our throats as she was a singer and ‘celebrity’ and a substance abuser.

Something as frivolous as Kim Kardashian's stupid wedding [and short-lived marriage] was shoved down our throats. While the following


Justin Allen 23
Brett Linley 29
Matthew Weikert 29
Justus Bartett 27
Dave Santos 21
Jesse Reed 26
Matthew Johnson 21
Zachary Fisher 24
Brandon King 23
Christopher Goeke 23
and Sheldon Tate 27...

are all British Royal Marines who gave their lives last month for you. There is no media for them; not even a mention of their names.

Re: With Regret

Worthy sentiments Geoff but sadly the details of the fallen are totally wrong and just the subject of a viral that has been doing the rounds with certain 'refinements' for quite sometime.

All of these poor souls were in fact Americans except for Brett Linley and I think of the original twelve that were listed nine were not marines, all died sometime ago.
Staff Sergeant Brett George Linley of Birmingham, from 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment, The Royal Logistic Corps, serving with the Counter IED Task Force, died in an explosion in the Nahr-e Saraj District of Helmand Province back in July of 2010.

The point of the report remains worthy and carried some weight but then lost its credibility by very bad accuracy, the author even got a name wrong.
Anything to raise the awareness of what is happening to our troops in our name is good but by the same token it has to be factual.

Re: With Regret

Whatever our take on the war in Afghanistan, the soldiers killed in that conflict have much more merit than those celebs who are no loss to the world, imo!

Re: With Regret

You often see comparisons like this on Facebook, playing on peoples sympathy and sense of outrage at wrongdoings. However I always think, why compare two unrelated things in order to make the point.
Yes, celebrities doing wrong make the news headlines, and ad-nausiumly so. But it sells newspapers. But what has this to do with coverage of our forces at war?
You could say that certain sports events get more coverage, or that the discussion of the latest X factor or goings on in coronation street attracts more attention, and you'd be right, they do. Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending the celebrities or their actions. They are deplorable, and certainly given far too much exposure in the media. But only for a few weeks, then they fade into obscurity till the next time.
Our gallant troops are remembered annually on a special day, and I think more of the nation takes notice and participates by buying a poppy on the run up to that day and on the day itself than takes any notice of what the latest celebrity has got up to. And when one of our troops loses a life, it's headline news in the papers and on all the news programs, pushing the celebs to a secondary place every time.
So like it or not, sensationalist comparisons like this don't grab much of my attention I'm afraid.

Re: With Regret

My thought go out to the young men, who life's are lost in this war. Also the solders who come back injured.
All these solders will have trouble getting over, the things they have witnessed in this war.

Re: With Regret

The point is their lives were taken and for what!

Re: With Regret

I suppose the point is that the war on terror is to prevent things like 9/11 and 7/7, but how effective it will be remains to be seen.

Re: With Regret

I agree with you Geoff, No matter what Country those young Soldiers came from they fought and died for it. I too am sick to the back teeth of stupid things so called Celebs do.....Who Cares? I certainly don't.