Home › Forums › Open Discussion › And then there were four:Billy Mays dies…
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June 29, 2009 at 12:21 am #670814
JiggersMemberInfomercial pro’s Billy Mays and Ron Popeil was/are millionaires. Nuff said.
June 29, 2009 at 2:31 am #670815
jamminjMemberJune 29, 2009 at 2:36 am #670816
CaitParticipantbluebird – we’re all human beings. It is not up to us to judge a person particularly not in death. It’s not up to us what happens. But don’t you think that if Michael Jackson was a pedophile that he’s paying for his sins now? And in that case can’t we as fellow humans give him the benefit of the doubt (seeing that we don’t know his fate OR his guilt/innocence for a fact) and at the very least keep our mouths shut? Enough hatred will be espoused about him after his autopsy is done (I’m guessing, because that’s the sick cycle that this crap goes through), can’t we just give it a few days to either be respectful or… you know… just not say anything? Sometimes that’s the classy option.
And if you DON’T think he’s paying for it now, what good does it do to hate him now? About as much good as it does to respect him. His life is over, what we say won’t make a difference, so wouldn’t we rather just not spend the energy?
The idea of revering someone after death has strong cultural roots and I see it as one of the few areas of decency we have left as a culture – not to speak ill of the (at least recently) dead. Obviously I was wrong though and not everyone holds this sacred anymore. Apparently it’s harder to give the benefit on the doubt and be respectful.
I’m glad you realize how ridiculous it is to compare him to Saddam. Jackson was tried in the court of public opinion and the chances that he was innocent are honestly as good as the chances that he was guilty. Saddam was publicly proud of the people he had killed. He is the only person who has died in my lifetime that I didn’t try to find the good in. I just kept my mouth shut. He was a maniac and is likely paying for what he did in some afterlife, and if not, he’s dead now anyway – what are my puny words next to any of that? Why put negativity out there when death and hatred are so negative anyway and we have it, especially in this country, in spades.
And to say that respect for Michael Jackson is DISrespect for his alleged victims may be understandable. But taking money in the place of putting Jackson away for good to keep him away from touching more boys – that’s disrespect for our legal system and for any other potential victims there may have been. It’s the fault of the parents, but I’d say the whole thing is a circus that it’s not up to us to judge. Believe what you want about what you see in the media but realize entertainment news is a fake media vehicle often times that is used as a cash cow based on making you feel a certain way about a person you don’t know. If you want to do that, fine by me, but at least realize that that is what you’re doing. You do not know HIM. Someone made the point that they knew the prosecuting lawyer on another thread – yet they only know what we know anyway. It takes knowing the person.
Disclaimer – I’m not religious in the least. I just don’t see that as a human that it’s my job to judge.
June 29, 2009 at 2:37 am #670817
CaitParticipantBTW – I was really sad to hear about Billy Mays. Like him or not, he had an energy about him and instead of irritating me, it always kinda made me happy. May he rest in peace.
June 29, 2009 at 3:53 am #670818
JoBParticipantbluebird..
my abuser wasn’t in the public eye.. but he certainly still figures in my family’s conversation.. and most of the time it isn’t as a pedophile.
no person is just one thing… my family can remember him fondly without condoning the sorrow he brought to our family.
i mourn the death of my abuser… and 20+ years later i remember the camping trips as well as the abuse.
If Micheal was guilty, his victim(s) will have to find a way to come to terms with the good and the bad that was a relationship with him.
Nothing is simple.
I don’t mourn the death of the man Micheal.. i didn’t know him.
But it is difficult when the icons of your youth.. whether they were musicians, actors, pitchmen, athletes, political heroes or perhaps the local person who made the most difference to your life.. die.
June 29, 2009 at 4:54 am #670819
DunnoParticipantAnyone thats ever sold something for a living knows how tough it is. To be one of the best is what Billy May’s was. I happen to know how hard it is to reach the top as he did. Like him or not, he was the best in his biz. He was responsible for many inventors dreams becoming reality.
To be sure, he no way compares to Jackson. MK was to my generation, what Elvis was to another.
Lets face it, both had lives none of us could ever relate to.
Now, if someone is smart in the Jackson camp, they
will make Neverland a public shrine to MJ, just live Graceland is to Elvis!
June 29, 2009 at 2:30 pm #670820
kgParticipantAnother short expose from a different source about Billy Mays. It’s NBC news btw.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/80146/nbc-nightly-news-with-brian-williams-tv-pitchman-billy-mays-dies
June 29, 2009 at 2:52 pm #670821
bluebirdMemberCait, I agree with you, on a personal level. I would not speak ill of MJ. I do find it disrespectful. I even lean towards believing in his innocence. But I did not speak ill of him alive either.
I’m commenting more on the phenomena of automatically affording respect based on a death alone, rather than a life lived. I think the jokers/critics, for the most part, are actually more consistent in their behavior is all.
Besides, people react to death in all kinds of different ways, and we do tend to judge based on our own feelings. I’m trying not to.
And JoB, based on my own experiences, I don’t understand how you can do that at all. That person in my life, died a slow miserable death, and I was pleased by that. But again, I’m not you, with your perspective.
It’s all interesting though. Makes me wonder what the reaction to OJ will be. Another polarizing figure who was acquitted of criminal charges.
June 29, 2009 at 4:03 pm #670822
JoBParticipantJune 29, 2009 at 4:17 pm #670823
JoBParticipantbluebird…
my abuser died of prostrate cancer and i thought it fitting and i thought he got off easy…
my anger began to die the day i visited him during his last hospital stay to have the last word.. closure for me… and nearly didn’t recognize him in the bed.
He was a very small man by then in so many ways. I didn’t bother… the person in that bed was not someone worth fighting.
It took a very long time to be able to remember the good man he was along with the bad.
And no.. i still don’t allow anyone to tell me how good he was to me.. ever. But i join in the cabin stories that feature him and sometimes in my dreams we are fly casting or camping.
I still despise anyone who endangers children because i know that the price is never fully paid by the victims unless perhaps it ends at death.
but i think now that exposure is the answer… not vilification.
As for OJ.. he was a fine athlete. He is not much of a man. If anyone wants to remember him for the good he did people through sports.. i will be glad to remember him that way.
Whether he killed their mom or not… and i am of the opinion that he did… the damage he did his children will last them a lifetime.
All we can ever hope is that once the damage is done that it ends with those victims… that they don’t go on to perpetuate that kind of behavior with another generation of children.
this is why exposure matters.. why talking about abuse matters… why standing up for children matters… at least, it’s why it matters to me.
June 29, 2009 at 7:29 pm #670824
kellymParticipantThey say celebs die in threes. leave it to Billy Mays to throw in one extra ABSOLUTELY FREE!
June 29, 2009 at 9:35 pm #670825
JoBParticipant:)
June 30, 2009 at 2:37 am #670826
CaitParticipantbluebird – I’m glad we could agree a bit. Honestly, I don’t see it as inconsistent to speak well of someone that you wouldn’t have normally because they have passed away. Like I said, I see it as an opportunity to find the good in people when I wouldn’t normally and any chance I get to change my views towards positivity, I embrace. At the very least we can admit that we’re all human. I’ve always found it great that people are willing to change their way of thinking about people – I just wish people wouldn’t wait until death to do it… but it’s as good an excuse as any…
June 30, 2009 at 3:09 am #670827
DunnoParticipantkellym,
Got a good laugh, and I know Billy would too.
You left out, “But Wait, There’s More!”
I feel for his family, 50 is too young. BTW, I really enjoyed his new TV show on Discovery. I know people who worked with him and really liked the guy.
June 30, 2009 at 3:19 am #670828
JimmyGMemberThreads are started about celebrities none of you knew personally and you want to debate the merits of the lives they lived or their importance to the world.
The cult of personality continues to grow.
June 30, 2009 at 3:46 am #670829
DunnoParticipantJimmy,
There’s nothing wrong with people giving feelings about these performers and how they impacted their
lives good or bad. When you perform for a living,
you are putting yourself out there, if you can’t stand the heat, don’t come into the kitchen. I love the other old saying, be careful what you wish for.
Many of our celeb’s were dying for the fame they now shun. I’ve been in the entertainment biz most of my life and love it.
June 30, 2009 at 3:48 am #670830
CaitParticipantTheir private personas are not something we are claiming to know. Their importance to the world I think we ARE knowledgeable about.
Seeing that… Oh lord… Here I go…
“We ARE THE WOLD. WE are the chilllldren”
June 30, 2009 at 4:47 am #670831
OlMomParticipantI was just curious how there could be so many posts about Billy Mays. Good golly. Too bad the blog was not around when Mr. Whipple died or the first lonely Maytag repairman or perhaps, Madge the manicurist who used Palmolive. All I can say is all these “celebrity’ deaths and not one hit for my dead pool.
June 30, 2009 at 5:15 am #670832
WSBKeymasterDamnedest thing, my 13-y-o won’t shut up about Billy Mays. Michael Jackson=meh, Farrah=who? but he keeps talking about Billy Mays. And I had never heard the guy’s name till he died. Finally saw a photo and realized I’d seen him on infomercials a time or two. Actually my first reaction when co-publisher Patrick broke the news to me the other day was, “Billy Mays? Isn’t that the Tae-Bo guy?”
(Billy BLANKS)
Oh, and I’m personally more broken up about Fred Travalena. Maybe it was the years of living in Vegas.
June 30, 2009 at 6:22 am #670833
pigeonmomParticipantFred Travelena is dead? Oh man, I loved him on TV in the ’70s. :-(
June 30, 2009 at 6:30 am #670834
JanSParticipantMost people I’ve mentioned Fred Travelena tohave responded with “who?”…glad someone besides me knows who he is. Hasn’t been a very good week, huh…
July 1, 2009 at 5:07 am #670835
DunnoParticipantJust a FYI for those of you that have yet to see Billy Mays TV show, there is a marathon on Discovery, channel 8 on Comcast cable all day Wednesday.
Wasn’t the 70 year old actor Fred K on Lost in Space?
July 1, 2009 at 5:17 am #670836
pigeonmomParticipant*pops popcorn for marathon*
August 8, 2009 at 12:01 am #670837
cjboffoliParticipantI just learned that the coroner’s toxicology report indicates that Billy Mays’ regular cocaine use exacerbated his heart problems. I guess Oxyclean wasn’t the only white powder Mr. Mays was enthusiastic about.
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