20th Sep 2008
check it out:
MyDeath Space Video
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I’m not going to lie, this disturbed me. It’s so true about how in the clip you talked about whether the person who died would want to be immortalized the way Mydeathspace.com does. I know that I personally would not want that. I think that it would be unhealthy and give people a harder time getting over the horrible experience a loved one’s death brings. I almost started crying watching it, not only because i’m too sensitive, but because it really made me sad. I thought about how often I would check the site to see what others had written about someone i’d loved. I think it would be heartbreaking and morbid to continue to think of someone for years because of this site. Others may think that this can be a helpful device to unload feelings (much like your friend’s cell phone that had thirty messages from after they’d passed on). it’s interesting that we’re almost creating cyber tombstones and memorials. I feel as if it is too immaterial, insubstantial, and just not there. I would need solid evidence that someone is gone, like an urn of tombstone, to believe it. but honestly, unbelievable. It’s amazing that everything is cyber, even your dead friends. what is this world coming too? it’s almost as if we’re starting to live in a cyber reality. Has anyone heard of the online game where you have a life and you’re paying (real money) and your cyber self is getting a pair of shoes? it’s the most bizarre thing! if you’re going to spend the money, get yourself a pair of tangible shoes! and go to your friends actual tombstone.
I absolutely agree with Alexie. Her message also got me shocked. When I personally think of MyDeathSpace.com, I say to myself it’s a site that will initially “make me feel bad and depressed”. It will actually track individual profiles on myspace.com that are deceased. Death comes to us all. “But for members of MyDeathSpace.com, a website that archives the profile pages of dead MySpacers, death comes with a heavy dose of the creeps”. For example putting the obituary of the dead person online on a very multicultural website, that the whole world can see the deceased person’s personal profile, is not a right decision to do, but putting the information of the person in the Gazette changes the whole story because its a LOCAL paper, not a worldwide news paper or a worldwide website like myspace.com or facebok.com. I find this idea to put such confidential information on the web is so immoral, not only to the dead person but also to the human being that actually posted the info on the Internet. But, if it’s a celebrity or someone popular in the media that past away, which the whole world heard or recalled this name before like “Estelle Getty” or “Bernie Mac” for example is fine. How would you feel if you posted on the Internet a family member or a close friend? Would you let the world know that this person in your life died? Overall, MyDeathspace.com or any other creative PUBLIC website is a wrong site to even exist!!
People grieve however they need to. If it’s not your cup of tea, fine.
Personally I try to be happy for the person if I know they’ve had a good life. I’m sad if they were unfullfilled. Death is such a natural part of life. Neil Gaiman addressed the phenomenon very beautifully at the end of his first Sandman cycles.
Some people even have the ashes of loved ones turned into a diamond, to make sure that loved one never, ever gets away from them. Is that any better. I personally think our role is to move on. A moment spent contemplating death is one not spent living.
I don’t think the website is immoral, however. Posting personal information of a deceased individual simply has no moral charge. It is not wrong, or right, it just is. What other people do with it then carries a moral charge. Only people’s actions can ever be classed as such.
As I said, I wouldn’t do it, I don’t think it’s a valid way of going about things, but each and everyone one of us have their way of going about things, and some paths are more convoluted than others. Let them all rest in peace, and let us go on living.
I personally do not agree with MyDeathSpace.com, or any other websites that contribute to memories of the deceased. I do think it’s a thoughtful gesture when someone wants to remember or post a memory of a loving friend or family member up on the internet because they want everyone to know how special that person was, however, I think it is so much more intimate and meaningful when a person keeps the memory of a loved one to his/herself. I think it’s much harder to get through a death when you’re just one click away from fantasy. The reality is that the person is gone and they are not coming back. It’s wonderful to remember them and to love them, but I think it should be done privately and should be kept personal. I find that the more difficult it is to actually keep checking the profile or the website of the deceased person, the easier it is to move on. Who knows if the person would have even wanted to be remembered in this way? What if he/she does not want to be posted on MyDeathSpace.com or facebook? My opinion also has alot to do with the way I was raised. My mother always told me that after a person passes, we have to let their souls rest, meaning not to dwell and constantly remind yourself of the death, because when we hurt, they hurt, and I think that these sites bring forth these feelings.
Also, I just wanted to briefly talk a little bit about violence and how it sort of relates to this MyDeathSpace.com. Not only do sites like these show the memories of the good people, but some sites remember the bad as well. This really disturbs me, since I am a victim of the Dawson College Shooting that took place on Sept.13th 2006. Just as an example, I have seen sites that show Kimveer Gill holding up his guns and making faces into the camera. This is how the memory of Kimveer Gill is being portrayed through sites like these, and I believe that no one deserves to see that. Why just not stop making these sites period!!!It causes more hurt than anything. After reading chapters 8,10, &24, I also realized that the media does portray alot of violence in the newspapers, on t.v shows, videogames, movies and even cartoons. Many children grow up watching t.v and learning what they watch. If it gets out of hand it may lead to bad news. After all, Kimveer Gill had a passion for violent videogames and look what happened! I think that the media focuses on violence a little too much, you can never be too careful in today’s society!!!!
I’m going to post my blog response to the talk show theme here, sorry to confuse anyone.
The talk show I chose to watch was an Oprah Eckhart Tolle episode I downloaded off the internet, it might be a little out of date but I find that people still talk to me about it all the time so clearly it has had a big impact on a lot of people.
What interests me specifically is the way Tolle’s book’s popularity coincides with an economic recession in the United States, an issue that Oprah hasn’t covered, at least to my knowledge and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. How would advertisers feel about a discussion of recession? Heaven forbid an analysis of the mortgage crisis or the war on Iraq.
Self-help books do have value for some people as they try and improve their circumstances, but they do nothing to challenge the social factors that create such circumstances, such as job loss due to layoffs, racism, poverty, abuse etc. I find this very problematic because it individualizes the policies required to improve people’s lives. Personal empowerment through self-help is not a bad thing but I would wager that when it comes to understanding hard times during a recession, or due to other social issues, Oprah would do better to showcase social movements that work to improve people’s lives. As Chapter 30’s authors illustrate though, this would never fly because it would upset advertisers, many of whom are the very people who moved their manufacturing sectors out of the United States in the first place…
Like the others who have already posted, I don’t agree with sites like mydeathspace.com. I think that people are starting to go overboard with technology, because the fact is, there are just some things that are better done face-to-face. Mourning is something that everyone deals with at one point or another – and if there’s something that I’ve learnt, it’s that it’s at times when we deal with the bad, that we find out who our true friends are. I think the internet may probably provide some sort of comfort initially, but it may not exactly be healthy in the long run because it is a constant reminder of the individual’s death. We have to learn to let go, because otherwise we will forever live in the past. I also just have to point out how disgusted I was that someone is trying to profit from this by charging people so that they may find out 24 hours in advance about deaths. Are people that twisted? I can’t even imagine who would want to do such a thing.
Lisa’s comment also made me realize that sometimes, sites like this one can have pages dedicated to people that have caused unbelievable pain to so many. September 13 is a day none of us will forget, and just knowing that a few clicks away, I can find sites that praise what he did disgusts me. I saw how he affected the friends I love most and it’s so unbelievably wrong that there are websites paying tribute to his actions and so many others who have acted in similar ways. Instead of charging people to see deaths in advance, why not charge people to clean up websites like those? To monitor them and report them….and ACTUALLY do something about it? Because honestly, people should not be taking multiple pictures with firearms! In my opinion, they shouldn’t even own guns – no one should! Maybe I’m being narrow-minded about it, I can’t honestly say, but I’d like to know that I’m safe when stepping out of my house and going somewhere like school or work. This summer while working I was held up and I think that if I ever came across a site that promotes the behavior, I think would flip out! There are just some things that internet should not be used for, people need to have respect for the pain others are going through.
I have mixed feelings about the idea of this kind of website. I think the idea of a website like this seems like a loving, thoughtful gesture, but in a way I feel it would be harder to let go of a person with a site like mydeathspace.com. I feel that saying “goodbye” to a person is very personal. When the example was given of your friend whose cellphone had many messages left on it after the death I felt that the messages were propbably not wanted to be heard, but a really good way of getting rid of somefeelings. As well I agree with the notion that we are becomind too rapped up in cyberspace, our lives revolve around the internet which does not always reflect reality.
I would like to respond to the blog that focused on Oprah’s Eckhart Tolle episode because I really agree with a lot of the points that Tess brought up. Although self-help books can be helpful, it is important to realize that they do not necessarily deal with the inherent cause of people’s discontent (in fact messages in the media sometime contribute to this discontent).
This is not the first time that individual strategies have been promoted to deal with discontentment. I know this may be a bit of a stretch but it’s a bit similar to the switch in popularity of the Classic Greek philosophy to the Greco-Roman philosophy in ancient times (bear with me). To be brief, Classic Greek philosophy focused on wisdom and understanding and Greco-Roman philosophy focused on peace of mind, tranquility and acceptance. From what I have learned, the switch in philosophy corresponded with the social political decay and turmoil in society. Eckhart Tolle’s philosophy seems to be very similar to the Greco-Roman philosophy and it’s interesting that it also happens to have become popular in a time of economic recession and social inequality. As admirably comforting as his philosophy may be, it is a safe philosophy that doesn’t question authority and I think that is something to pay attention to. I guess to bring my tangent back to media literacy, it is important to understand that there are certain themes that we just aren’t exposed to in the media.
I feel that the whole idea of commemorating the death of a person on a website is a little bite creepy. Its hard to believe (until i saw this topics posted) that people would actually want to even do this. i mean it makes me think that the person who does take part in this as a way of remembering a loved one is a little bit obsessive. Why would someone feel the need to express their feelings on cyberspace? What role does cyberspace have in our lives? Evidently a major role, especially if people start taking real sad personal stories like death to the web. To me its seems a little abnormal (or maybe this is just a new trend that is still very new) because it is normal for people to mourn socially but to go on the web to express this intimate feelings on cyberspace is going too far. I also agree with Lisa, would the deceased person want their death and other information posted on the internet for anyone to see?
Personally i know that i would not! This is mainly due to the fact that i think it is disrespectful to the deceased and flimsy. Even the name of the site (MyDeathSpace) gives me the creeps and gives the vibe of weirdness and negativity. Its just so weird to actually see that such a site exists and to know that people are using it. In reference to this same thing being on the local newspaper, even that i find a little odd, especially when i first saw that there is a section on the gazette that is dedicated to postings of the death of people. Now i am more comfortable with it. i think Demitri best explained my opinions when he talked about the difference between deaths being posted on the local news paper and a website.
But of course there seems to be a market for this. i guess one can also agrue that if people can post deaths of people on the newspaper what is wrong if they do it on cyberspace. Personally i would do neither (as far as i knw now) but i can see many differences as to why people would be against cyberspace version of the death posts on the newspaper.
Moving on to violence, one can easily see that we are surrounded by it since we were born. From t.v shows to news to cartoon to movies to commercials to video games to all other forms of media violence seems to be a prevalent topic that our society seems to just love featuring! I mean one of the reasons why American culture has been so successful in transporting its movies and entertainment venue is becuase it has a lot of violence and violence is a universal thing that people can relate to. For example, comedy (the notion of what is considered humorous versus not so humorous) varies from culture to culture, however violence still has the same face ( in other words, the same meaning) around the world. We can see the influence of violence on our youth just by watching them play on at school. Just look at the boys at school who wrestle or even sad incidences as the Dawson Shooting or even the guy who played Grand Theft Auto and then tried to re-enact the same thing in real life. These incidences are never ending….and it leads us to ask many questions like, why are there so many school shootings that have taken place in the last decade or so? Could it be the violent video games or the movies that our youth are watching? Do these entertainment venues have such a negative impact on our youth that they can’t even tell the difference between reality and entertainment? What leds them to enact what they see on tv or media in general?
I leave with this last note:
our society and world seems to be emerged in violence from real wars to the virtual world of wars and fighting to tv shows and sadly above all the effect that this has had on our fellow citizens.
There’s no forum for the talk show subject, so I’m blogging here about it
Today I watched my guilty pleasure, the faux-reality show “The Hills”, I usually turn it off at 10:30, before the “Aftershow” comes on, because it is so pointless. Today I stuck around, and realized why I ususally don’t. Everyweek they show clips during the actual episode saying how “This is the biggest show all season!!!” and the Aftershow will be “even bigger!!!”. It’s ridiculous, they show a program, and then devote an entire 30 minutes to making fun of that show, if these characters are so pretentious and disgusting, why are we watching them??? And why do we need another program to explain it to us? I watch it, so I’m really making fun of myself, but I just think it shows how much our society really takes advantage and misuses media. We have a fake-but-sort-of-real show that has an entire follow up show devoted to the play-by-play and poking fun at it, it’s so pointless…
I had no idea, before looking at your clip that there existed such websites as Mydeathspace.com. Just like Amanda A., I have mixed feelings about this topic. At first, it creeps me out because it is about dead people. I am not afraid of death or dead people or anything, but I am just not sure it is mentally healthy to keep posting things about someone when that person is dead. Like Shirley said in her interview, I think it might actually be because people are unable to face death and accept it when one of their loved ones died, which, if it’s the case, is, from my point of view, not healthy at all. Yes death is a taboo, but people do need to learn to cope and deal with it. They need to heal. I’m not sure it is then helpful for them to use Mydeathspace.com. Moreover, another reason why I would say I’m against such websites is what Shirley also brought up in her interview: people who post things about dead people commercialize them in a way, and make these dead people look the way they saw them. It does not mean it respects what the person was, or what she wanted, it just satisfies the people who post their personal items online.
However, I would say that if it is the person’s will to have a space on Mydeathspace.com once they die, with pictures, comments and videos they chose to represent themselves and how they saw themselves once alive, then it can be a good thing, because it would mean it is there only for people to remember, and keep their loved ones with them. I also think, even if it might seems like a contradiction to something I have said previously, that it can be good in the process of dealing with a death that someone writes on a dead person’s wall. It might help them express their true feelings or it might help them feel that they are doing the right thing; that they are not to forget that person.
Nevertheless, I think there is more bad than good into supporting such websites. Death should be the next taboo we unfold… this way people may get a sense on how to deal with it.
Hm… This might offend some of you, but personally I don’t see how this would be wrong… I mean, it might seem creepy, but there are some people that will find support and help in the possible comments of the surfers. Also I’m sorry to say it like this but, in a way, it doesn’t really matter what the person would think about the image his friends and family will give him posthumously, because that person cannot really care anymore, since he or she is dead.
Also, most people, I think, would be happy that such thing brings comfort to their loved ones. Because the ones writing are in a way saying what they didn’t have the opportunity to say. It’s like being sick, you cannot really feel better until the fever broke.
I seriously cannot understand the big fuss around it. Personally in the last months, there was someone I knew who had a car accident in which herself and her mother died. But that girl being on vacation in her mom’s family in Ontario and living near Prince-George in BC, only a few of her loved ones were able to take the plane and assist directly to her funerals. But because of the internet, they were able to film it and stream the ceremony live on the web. Everyone in the small community joined in the highschool cafeteria to watch it.
In this case, it won’t ever be possible for quite a few of them to go visit her tombstone, since she was buried in Ontario… The internet is the only place where they can “say” one “last thing” to her. So personally I don’t think there is anything reprehensible in the idea of giving the dead a last mark of respect on the internet…
Wow that is shocking. I absolutely agree with the point that people are contacting their friends and loved ones even after they know they’ve passed away, because they are not able to cope and accept the fact that they’re dead! I don’t think that’s okay, because people need to be in contact with reality!
On the other hand, as in Frederick M. comment, it is true that losing a loved one is difficult. But the fact is that people should accept it sooner or later, and not letting go and sending cyber messages or comments will not help them move on! Denial makes the whole process of mourning take longer, and harder, in my opinion of course.
And in response to Frederick M. again, how is it that people believe they’re opening up and “saying what they didn’t have the opportunity to say” to the person passed away? Because really, they are not being heard, and whatever they couldn’t tell that person before they passed away is never heard and never will be.. So really, it’s all about people and their way of dealing with their psychological difficulties that precede losing a loved friend or family member, and it is not for the dead one. It’s to help people grieve, and not to honor the dead.
Honestly I think that it’s important not to forget our passed away friends because they were part of our lives and they had a good impact on our lives(at least at some point). The concept of tombstones i believe was first designed as a sign of respect to the dead,NOT to damage their former bodies. It then became a sort of tradition for other people to go to tombstones and bring flowers,for example,as a sign of memorial. There are then 2 functions for tombstones: respect for the dead and memorial for the dead. The difference with mydeathspace.com is that the representation of the dead can be changed by someone that might not have been told directions as to how the dead would have wanted himself to be represented as. How closely related are the dead person and the creator of the profile on the site,it is not always clear. I personally think that it’s a nice thing to do to create a webpage for their beloved,just as a sign of respect. On the other hand, leaving messages such as R.I.P are ok on the person’s actual profile page that he himself created. But if you’re leaving messages like “see you tonight” or “i miss u,wen’re we gona chill” kinda stuff,that’s wen i gotta tell u to move on with life.
Moreover,when you think about comparing this cyber-immortalization versus tombstones,tombstones too aren’t designed exactly the way the late person wanted it to look like; perhaps he didn’t want his age to be revealed,perhaps he didn’t want to have a gothic font,perhaps he didn’t want a tombstone at all and would rather be incinerated. All in all, the dead person most probably didn’t plan his death and how he wished to be remembered,if he wants to be remembered and grieved at all. The people designing their tombstones and/or creating their new profile page on mydeathspace.com is only to show respect for them and to remind others of what inspiration,good friend,and good memory that person used to be.
I don’t see mydeathspace.com as a bad thing for our society,in the sense that i don’t think it’s allowing people to stay stuck on the grief of someone beloved,but its original concept was only to immortalize the person by reminding themselves and others what great person they used to be. It’s just that some people make it turn out wrong by showing signs that they are still caught up and are still stuck on the pain that their beloved one died.
In my humble opinion,here’s an analogy: a knife is made to cook and cut food,but some people will use it to stab other people. In the same way,mydeathspace.com was supposed to allow respectable friends to be immortalized,but some people do not move on when they see the profile page
Although I do agree that it is important to remember our loved ones who passed away, I don’t think its very healthy for the people who are greeving to constantly be reminded of it. When someone you love and cared for dies, you don’t need a web page or even a tomb stone for that matter to remember them. You think of them everyday, when you see things that remind you of them, when you go somewhere you’ve been with that person, when you do something you did with them, etc. I think it just makes the process of heeling more aganising if you have this web page where you can send messages to that person. You know, we don’t always have to make everything, a media thing! Death is apart of life, and we shoudnt need more than our hearts and great memories of that person to keep them ”alive” so to speek. We are human, we don’t need a web page to immortalize someone after their death, they are forever immortalized in our hearts and in our minds.
Just like many of you, I have mixed feelings about sites like Mydeathspace.com. Although the idea behind it may be to remember and share memories about loved ones who have passed or express condolences to family and friends, it think that more than anything it glamorized death. It is in fact this glamorization of death that can lead to a number of negative consequences. My midterm presentation is actually on a chapter in our book that talks about the influence that different internet sites may have on teenage suicide. In doing some research, I came across a number of articles that talk about the fact that memorial sites on the internet for teenagers who have committed suicide are becoming fashionable. As it was stated in the interview, with these websites “un-celebrity people are becoming celebrities in their death by how they died”. It is this type of glorification of teenage suicide that may encourage individuals who are already hopeless and unable to envision other means of dealing with their problems to “catch the bus”, which is the phrase that is used for committing suicide. Considering that teens, now more than ever, look to the internet for information about almost anything, I believe that sites such as Mydeathspace could be dangerous to those who are vulnerable and looking for validation, which they would generally not get in the real world, for their actions. Also, as some of you have mentioned, these sites are also making “celebrities” out of individuals who passed away as a result of committing some sort of crime, thereby promoting and glamorizing violence and individuals who commit violent acts.
It is important to remember that not everyone who visits these sites are in a stable frame of mind, meaning they can take what they see and view it as inspiration to harm themselves or others. Is that really what the world has come to- instead of helping people work through their problems we are putting out there information and ideas that give them incentive and support to act in ways that are destructive?
Something like mydeathspace.com, is a very touchy subject. In one aspect it is a good way in memorializing the dead. It serves as an outlet for those who have lost a loved one, and to be able to share their loss with others. As well it alerts people of the dangers out there, like drunk driving. I think that it is a good idea, however I believe it has been taken a bit to far. I think the idea of having an obituary type website is a good idea, however being able to subscribe to find out who has died, before others, is creepy. It just seems like another get rich quick scheme. What started out as a good idea, has been taken to far.
This website could be therapeutic for some, in sharing their loss and relating to others who have lost loved ones. However it now seems like a bad idea. Having a subscription fee to find who has passed away first, is very strange. There are a whole bunch of weird people out there, and I really don’t think this is a good idea. We should respect those who have died, not send out a newsletter.
I think this site was probably made with really good intentions, all aimed at remembering lost ones and the sharing of memories and stories about people who have passed on. I only think the actual name of the site, and the fact that money is involved in order to find out who died before other people do is extremely creepy and disrespectful to those who passed away. I think the traditional tombstone in a cemetery is very respectable, and allows people to have a concrete place to go and ‘talk to’ or mourn over their loved ones. These sites could in fact cause people to avoid the fact that death is permanent, and since death can be very scary, it is understandable why people would want a site like this to exist. Technology is so prevalent nowadays, but at the same time, some things should remain sacred, and a concept that started out with good intentions can become all too touchy in my opinion. At the same time, it enables people to send messages and our condolences to the family, without being too intrusive especially during that fragile period of mourning. I lost a friend last year in a fire, and a Facebook memorial page was set up in her and her boyfriend’s honor. The page was probably very touching for her family members to read, since friends all wrote encouraging messages to the family and to her, hoping she’s in a better place. On her birthday, all of her friends wrote messages to her once again, and in a sense, it was like they visited her in the cemetery. I believe that this is a very respectable way to mourn over her death, and since no money, or constant messages were written, I believe it’s a healthy way to deal with the fact. Basically, I think that in moderation, the concept of virtual memorials is a wonderful idea, but much like everything else, a certain line shouldn’t be crossed, and I believe that mydeathspace.com has officially crossed it.
I restate that mydeathspace.com was originally a good idea,except that in some cases,it holds some ppl back from moving on. Among those ppl i’m talking about those who leave messages to dead people pretending they’re not dead. I must disagree here with Joline Nelson tho,i disagree with the point that you dont NEED a webpage or tombstone. Altho i agree with the fact that we don’t have to “media-tize” everything,i believe that we DO need some sort of physical concrete THING,tomb stone,letter,webpage or anything of the kind,to explicitly remind us of the existence and the good times of a beloved one. For example, the grandmother of my friend always used to make me fried rice when i was a young kid, around 6 years old. Best fried rice ever. She passed away when i was around 9 or 10. Looking back at it now,approx 10 years have passed, i do NOT think of her every time i eat,see,hear,smell or even think about fried rice. This might be a silly example,but it goes the same way for anyone and anything else. This being said,once again tombstones for example are a good way to remember a passed away beloved, as long as its use is for ppl to pay respect to it and not so they can picture the late person still being alive.
I have mixed feelings with sites like these.. I mean, we could look at it from one perspective and my find it very offensive and very creepy. But on the other hand, we could look at it as simply paying respect to a loved one. What I am trying to say, is that as long as these sites are made and updated in order to pay respect to someone who has passed away, I don’t think that there should be anything wrong with it. I have a friend who has a tattoo of his dead grand-mother’s name on his neck, and it’s not offensive in any shape or form. I play a lot of basketball and when one of our teammate passed away on a tragic car accident, the coach had us wearing a warm up sweatshirt with his picture printed on the back. And once again, it was not offensive or even creepy in any way. I think its somewhat the new age of tombstones. Now, instead of having a meaningful message engraved on our tombstones for people to remember us by, we have websites such as mydeathspace.com. Furthermore, as many people pointed out in their blogs, it is also a goood way to make people aware of some of the dangers out there. I mean the people who are featured on these sites are young people, and by having such websites, it forces us young people, to be aware of certain things like drinking and driving. Finally, as i have aforementioned in this blog, I believe that such sites aren’t offensive just as long as they are made/updated in a respectful way; the way that the deceased person would have wanted to be remembered.
The important aspect that I took from that website was that, while I personally found it to be ‘creepy’, not everyone shares my perspective. It’s easy to ‘bash’ a website like this (just because the very nature of the website is easy to insult). Giving it more thought, it’s amazing that this wasn’t thought of before. If anything it’s a simple evolution of technology. Being more traditionalist myself, I think I’ll go with an old tombstone. That doesn’t mean that theirs anything wrong here - let people mourn in the method that they want to. So long has it helps them, I see nothing at all wrong with it.
im kind of on the fence about this one. im not too sure if this is a good idea or not. i guess this could be a good way to remember someone who has passed on. i will allow loved ones a chance to dedicate something to the deceased, it might also help people remember all the good memeories about the person and in turn may help with the healing process. and i guess this could be a bad idea. like it said in the video, this takes away the private aspect of the persons death, and this makes it a public affair. also i don’t thinki that it is right that the site charges people who pay hommage to there deceased loved ones.
i really am still unsure about this, i guess this is still a personal choice and if someone wants to be remebered this way than they have a right, and if someone wants to be remembered the traditional way than that is fine also.
p.s. this is my make-up blog.
I missed this blog when it first came out so I’m going to comment on it now.
I think that the idea of a site like this is a great idea. Being a member myself of facebook groups dedicated to those I knew back home that have passed on, I am glad that something like this is out there. I lost someone I knew from school back home the first month that I moved out here to go to school, and the only way that I found out about it was through facebook. I was devestated when I found out because the person died in a car accident and was only 20 years of age. Some may think is sad that I only found out because of facebook, but being on the otherside of the country I was just glad that I found out. Which is something that I think is good about this site. We all have friends, family, and even accanitences that don’t live close to us anymore and would like to know if we passed on, and the grieving family may want to, have the time to, or know all the people that they should notify so this can help them. As for the being notified it can be creepy if you look at it the way that Shirley does, but I thought of it this way. If I was at a tournament overseas and I subscribed to this site and someone I knew passed, I would be able to get the news a lot sooner then later.
I think it’s interesting that our world has become so dependant on media, but at the same time media is also a good thing. My grandfather passed away earlier this year and my whole family has always been very close. In my religion/culture we don’t bury the dead body in a graveyard. The body is burned and the ashes should be put in a specific river in India, or if you can’t go there then they could be put in a river close by. So sure for my family and I if wanted to go somewhere to remember my grandpa we could go back to where we put his ashes in the water, but we know those ashes have traveled very far we saw them disintegrate into the water. However my uncle did create a group on Facebook for my grandpa just to honor him. He had put up some pictures of my grandpa from the past, some of his accomplishments and left it free for anyone to write on. He didn’t make it a public group so that anyone could join. For us as odd as it may seem that is in a way his tombstone area for us. We can go just to look at the page and see some pictures and thats it.
So although media is a little frightning (knowing about someones death 24 hours in advance for 35$…a little freaky times a billion), but being able to review someones life as you want to remember it, kind of nice.
Not only that but my family and I are so happy that there is technology. My grandpa loved photography and my grandma has kept all the home videos from like 40 years ago and being able to watch those, and see all the 60 albums my grandparents had collected over the years, bring back all the memories we did share together. Technology is great in that sense, that we can now capute the moment and keep it safe until we want to relive it again.
capute = capture (sorry!)
Amoxicillin….
Amoxicillin….