Doctorkenyon’s Weblog

An awkward subject

The huge media attention that Jade Goody’s illness (and I suppose her death) is really beginning to wear me down. I understand that it’s a tragic situation, as all cases of cancer are. However, I found her very very irritating from the first moment she began appearing on tabloid covers. The fact that something real is happening in her life for the first time doesn’t improve my disposition towards her at all.

Of course, I sympathise with her and her family. It must be horrific to go through what they’re experiencing now and I’m very glad no one I love has died from illness. But her life is a media circus and now her death is too. It’s taking the voyeuristic nature of Big Brother culture too far (it’s strange that if I’d used that sentence 15 years ago it would have been an Orwellian reference).

Perhaps she’s using the money from all the media appearances to provide a future for her kids. But it doesn’t change the fact that it just seems like another chapter in a soap opera. And after it’s over, a new character will fill the gossip pages of our papers. I feel like a horrible person admitting to feeling complete indifference (or worse, irritation) but it’s true. I can only observe in morbid fascination at the sheer amount of press coverage she is still receiving.

I also can’t help wondering… would public interest continue if she made a miraculous recovery?