Re: Public emotion : Wed Apr 25, 2012 7:46 am  

MattyB wrote:

Thought's on the £500,000+ raised in just over 24 hours in memory of Claire Squires? Whilst it is a fantastic amount for the Samaritan's and the circumstances are indeed tragic, the cynic in me can't help feeling that the amount raised was more to do with the fact that she was young and attractive. Would the death of a "plain Jane, middle aged woman/man" have raised anywhere near as much?

Difficult to know, but it's massively preferable to piles of flowers etc and thus a much more fitting memorial.

Re: Public emotion : Wed Apr 25, 2012 8:01 am  

MattyB wrote:

Thought's on the £500,000+ raised in just over 24 hours in memory of Claire Squires? Whilst it is a fantastic amount for the Samaritan's and the circumstances are indeed tragic, the cynic in me can't help feeling that the amount raised was more to do with the fact that she was young and attractive. Would the death of a "plain Jane, middle aged woman/man" have raised anywhere near as much?

Seconded. Also, people have died in previous years but I don't recall this much coverage.

Being young ad attractive seems to have its benefits, even in death.

Re: Public emotion : Wed Apr 25, 2012 8:14 am  

MattyB wrote:

Thought's on the £500,000+ raised in just over 24 hours in memory of Claire Squires? Whilst it is a fantastic amount for the Samaritan's and the circumstances are indeed tragic, the cynic in me can't help feeling that the amount raised was more to do with the fact that she was young and attractive. Would the death of a "plain Jane, middle aged woman/man" have raised anywhere near as much?

My first thought was that it was obviously the crowds fault for not praying hard enough for her on the roadside, or indeed the BBC for not giving it live coverage and encouraging more praying.

On the issue of the massive amount of money donated, its a very strange reaction and as you say if it had been a 50 year old man (and it often is) then there would possibly be a single line in a newspaper somewhere, then nothing more.

So there you have it - vacancies next year for young attractive females who are prepared to die for a charity, it works.

Re: Public emotion : Thu Apr 26, 2012 3:04 pm  

The amount of Muamba-based front pages on the red-tops over the past week has been large

Re: Public emotion : Thu Apr 26, 2012 4:59 pm  

MattyB wrote:

Thought's on the £500,000+ raised in just over 24 hours in memory of Claire Squires? Whilst it is a fantastic amount for the Samaritan's and the circumstances are indeed tragic, the cynic in me can't help feeling that the amount raised was more to do with the fact that she was young and attractive. Would the death of a "plain Jane, middle aged woman/man" have raised anywhere near as much?

I'm just curious as to why, after another pointless death, there isn't a concerted campaign to get this cruel race banned....If we can fight to save the horses by trying to ban the Grand National, then why not a similar fight for our fellow human beings?

Re: Public emotion : Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:08 pm  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

I'm just curious as to why, after another pointless death, there isn't a concerted campaign to get this cruel race banned....If we can fight to save the horses by trying to ban the Grand National, then why not a similar fight for our fellow human beings?

What? How do we get from that to the Grand National? And FWIW it's neither a cruel race nor does it need banning, nor is it sensible for the population of a country that slaughters a few million animals a day to "fight" to stop the annual death of between 0 - 2 horses. In fact it's plainly mad. But we've surely done the pro-anti Grand National thread enough times now?

Re: Public emotion : Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:14 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

What? How do we get from that to the Grand National? And FWIW it's neither a cruel race nor does it need banning, nor is it sensible for the population of a country that slaughters a few million animals a day to "fight" to stop the annual death of between 0 - 2 horses. In fact it's plainly mad. But we've surely done the pro-anti Grand National thread enough times now?

Both have willing participants taking part in an extreme race, which, unfortunately, can lead to tragic deaths??

Re: Public emotion : Thu Apr 26, 2012 6:25 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

What? How do we get from that to the Grand National? And FWIW it's neither a cruel race nor does it need banning, nor is it sensible for the population of a country that slaughters a few million animals a day to "fight" to stop the annual death of between 0 - 2 horses. In fact it's plainly mad. But we've surely done the pro-anti Grand National thread enough times now?

The London Marathon had horses running in it.

And cows.

Re: Public emotion : Thu Apr 26, 2012 6:29 pm  

Didn't the name of the Marathon come from a guy who ran the said distance and die
in ancient Greece delivering a message, you'd have thought they'd have learned lesson from that.

Re: Public emotion : Thu Apr 26, 2012 7:34 pm  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

Both have willing participants taking part in an extreme race, which, unfortunately, can lead to tragic deaths??

Given the number of participants in the London Marathon and factoring in the duration of the race, when compared to the daily UK death rate, I reckon that there is a high staatistical probability that one of the participants will die.

A tragedy for some I admit but statistically no big deal