Total War and the tsunami disaster

[petesbeats]

It never ceases to amaze me how bored some peoples lives must be to actually campaign about this stuff.

[Tanky]

I've been reading one of my housemates stock of early 90s rock biographies lately which listed a load of bands and songs which were banned during the first gulf war and reminded me just how out of hand this kind of thing can get. Anyone remember Massive Attack being called Massive for a year, or the sudden disappearance from the airwaves of Bomb the Bass?
IMO, what Dud's suggesting is no different and i think pulling the story would ultimately upset more readers than leaving it where it is.

btw, when did Yellowstone blow up? what happened?

tanky x

[Matt Timson]

Even more amazingly, this is the first thread to even mention the Tsunami disaster (unless I've somehow missed it).

I expected somebody to start up a thread about it almost instantly, to be honest.

[GordonR]

You're presumably referring to the Two Towers campaign nut-jobs, and not anything that's been said here?

I think Dudley's concerns are valid, and, as some people have already pointed out, recent events give those opening scenes of the Dredd story a certain possibly uncomfortable resonance.  Had it been a comedy Dredd story - Hey, millions die in big disaster!  Now here's the weather! - then, yes, it would maybe have been inappropriate, but the story avoids any of that.

And, y'know, life goes on, despite all the shitty, horrible things that happen to people, and you can't take every possible circumstance into account when you write or draw something.  Death is often treated comically in 2000AD, but death isn't really much of a laughing matter in real life.


Without wanting to fish for expressions of sympathy (or wanting to make this thread suddenly turn deadly sombre) my younger brother killed himself last summer.  A upcoming Dredd story of mine, written just a few weeks ago, features a  slightly black comedy scene with a suicidal cit.  Was that an appropriate thing for me to write?  I don't know.  At the back of my mind, I think I did it because I wanted to avoid spending the rest of life being over-sensitive every time suicide was mentioned.

Okay, I've probably killed off this thread now...

[Dunk!]

My condolences, Gordon.

I feel the audience for 2000ad is easily old enough to have experienced a lot of the grief that life can throw at them and can put into perspective any occurrences in a story that might strike a cord with real world events.

Personal tragedy will always have a fresh painful edge to it for the individual, but all good stories are based on what really happens in life and will give reminders to those similar events have affected. It can?t be helped.

Life goes on, no matter how much some people want to fight that fact.

Tulkas ? talking bollocks.

[Byron Virgo]

I couldn't pretend to know how that would feel, but I could attempt to imagine. I think I know what it is you're trying to say, though: humour, no matter what it is, is always based on some kind of cruelty, we're always laughing at someone's misfortune, even if it is the teller's. All humour will offend someone, simply because it will remind them of their own experiences.

I saw Mel Brooks talking about the reaction to The Producers recently, and how Jewish groups were up in arms at the release of the film. Now, the film is obviously a satire, and was obviously mocking the Hitler and the Nazis, but there were still some people alive who had actually seen their entire families butchered in gas ovens, and there was no way that they were ever going to get beyond that. It doesn't mean that the film wasn't funny, or that it was in bad taste, just that if a subject's close to you, personally, then it may be that much harder to view it from an objective perspective.

[Max Kon]

condolances from me too, gordan

[Richmond Clements]

Gordon, I had an uncle of mine, to whom I was very close, kill himself a couple of years ago, and I think your response is wholly appropriate.
I was told of by my sister for making jokes at the funeral, because 'people wouldn't like it'.
I pointed out to her that I didn't care, because my uncle would have liked it, and that's all that matters.

[longmanshort]

My condolences to you and your family, Gordon.

But diverting slightly off-topic for a mo ... when did Yellowstone blow up? what happened?

BBC postpones docu-drama about volcano after tsunami

[shazhughes]

So does that mean I have to put my newly aquired Apocalypse War books away so I dont laugh at the Jaques Cousteau Block joke after the big wave hits the eastern wall.

[Richmond Clements]

Nah, I'm sure you didn't throw out the annual with the story where the Twin Towers got blown up.

[thrillpowerseeker]

trench humour is a valid way of dealing with tragedy..

[Queen Firey-Bou]

shit gordon... i'll shaddap before i offend you with some group hug hug bollocks.

i agree with the general whats been said here. when in pain or grief, triggers are everywhere. i often wonder when cancer care or similiar 'adverts' come on, how many people across the country burst into tears or experience that electric shock of trauma. maybe going thru all those jolts is part of the healing ?  when the tsunami news hit, i like most, was transfixed in horror & could think of nothing else. we organised a fire brigade thing to fundraise immediately , next Sat sponsored wotsit...tiny pro-active gesture.

but then having lost my friend to suicide at hallowene, & that pain that all to many of you know being too fresh, its too much to think of the relatives & friends of that many people all doing that grieving thing, all hurried & without the nessessary dignity of ritual & ceremony. thats one big black hole in the zeitgeist my friends. ive stopped watching. but am more determined than ever to do aid work or join international rescue when the kids grow up or such.

in fiction ? sensitivity is always welcome, but spare us the cotton wool.

[opaque]

They cancel a fictional programme about a potential threat but have hours and hours of news and special programmes actually showing the waves hitting land and killing people, not to mention bodies of people who could be relatives of those watching.
They seriously have their head up their collective asses.

[Bico]

Late condolences, Gordon.  That's something seriously shitty to have to get to grips with.  A mate once told me that he was quite glad when his suicide attempt failed, because it made him realise how badly everyone in his family took it, and he couldn't consider it again - but I know he's right in that the family are left just to try and figure out 'why?' more than anything else.  I'm sorry to hear about your loss.

They only found my cousin's body a few days ago, after his sisters and uncle went out to Phuket to go over the last few places he was seen alive and ask if anyone had seen him since.  I suppose it's good that they know one way or another, now.
Even with that happening so close to home, though, it wouldn't stop me reading or watching something featuring tidal waves, though it might obviously be a very different case for his mum, dad, and sisters.  No-one knows how people close to the incident feel, so they can only make a judgement call as circumstances dictate.  However, people get shot on a daily basis, or run over by cars and killed several times a day (75 deaths on the roads per day, isn't it?) - does this mean we should insist on road deaths and gun-murders being banned from television outright?  We aren't as sensitive to those because they happen all the time, and not usually to our group of family and/or friends, but should the scale of suffering per capita be the only measure of taste or decency is shown by the media?