Caroline Flack found dead at 40

[Smiley Culture 1,338]

Suicide, according to the media. Wow. That’s really sad. 

[Stan 10,365]

Very sad. Only 40 years old. Guessing last year's events had a big part to play

 

[Smiley Culture 1,338]

In some ways, I can’t believe it. In others, I can believe it. Her life had been torn apart, her career in probable tatters, split from loved ones and hounded by the media at seminal moments in her life recently. Although she may have been the one to end her life, there’s accountability elsewhere for this death. 

[LFCMike 1,684]

The gutter press that hounded her for the last year or whatever will now pay tribute I'm assuming.

RIP

[RandoEFC 4,690]

3 hours ago, LFCMike said:

The gutter press that hounded her for the last year or whatever will now pay tribute I'm assuming.

RIP

The majority of the media are shameless and disgusting. How far do we have to go with stuff like this until it gets looked into? Very sad. I'd never want to be any sort of public figure.

[The Artful Dodger 1,717]

I hate Love Island and I hate people who like Love Island, but isn't this the third suicide linked to that show in little less than year? 

It's poison, I wouldn't be surprised if we have a tv show where it encourages people to top themselves for our entertainment soon. We're destroying ourselves.

[Lucas 2,247]

To be absolutely blunt, this is just an example of how our modern day society works.

And you can see why Harry was protecting Meghan from this kind of inevitable onslaught.

Love to focus on negativity, build someone up, tear them down, throw them to the dogs or whatever. When there is negativity, people thrive on it.

It's too easy to criticise on appearance, and knock people down from behind a phone screen or using another platform of media.

What you don't realise is everyone has a limit. 

It really costs fuck all to be kind to someone.

Edited February 16, 2020 by Lucas

[Danny 1,169]

2 hours ago, The Artful Dodger said:

I hate Love Island and I hate people who like Love Island, but isn't this the third suicide linked to that show in little less than year? 

It's poison, I wouldn't be surprised if we have a tv show where it encourages people to top themselves for our entertainment soon. We're destroying ourselves.

What connection is to be made from Love Island exactly? That she’s a presenter? The team that work on it consistently talk about how great it is to work on it. Not much evidence of Love Island influencing this as there has been with the contestants who suicided. Lazy comparison at this stage tbh 

[The Artful Dodger 1,717]

5 minutes ago, Danny said:

What connection is to be made from Love Island exactly? That she’s a presenter? The team that work on it consistently talk about how great it is to work on it. Not much evidence of Love Island influencing this as there has been with the contestants who suicided. Lazy comparison at this stage tbh  

Maybe. Love Island is just a microcosm of our vacuous, self obsessed culture lived out in our parasitical media.

People moaning about the tabloids don't get it, it's our whole culture that has to change.

[Tommy 4,936]

I don't know her. Just had a quick glance at her Wikipedia page. Seems like her private life was a bit of a mess. A troubled soul so to speak. Tragic. 

[Machado 1,250]

19 minutes ago, The Artful Dodger said:

People moaning about the tabloids don't get it, it's our whole culture that has to change.

My initial reaction exactly. I don't know who this woman is but from a quick search I understand she was very much in the public eye, which at some point probably affected her mental health in a way she didn't expect.

When we're blaming the media who exactly are we looking at? The people working at The Sun are only making a living for themselves. They'd be out of a job if the stuff they put out there didn't sell, so the consumer is to blame. If people want to end the intrusive behavior of the paparazzi, they should stop buying the magazines/papers that feature their work. But will that ever happen? I don't think so.

Cultural change? I think it's bigger than that. Curiosity is part of mankind and living beings in general, which has been exploited by public figures themselves who have craved publicity and press since there is a notion of public figure, so now It's just expected that you open up your life when you're one. It's a prize they all have to pay to benefit a few. These days people see someone on the tv, they want to know at what time they take a shower and which shampoo they use. It's come to a point where people feel entitled to know all sorts of private information, and when they get it, it's a nasty feeling of empowerment really. So again, do I think people will stop buying? Not a chance. It's too late to decide paparazzi are immoral. It's been accepted and normalized. The only way to stop tabloids is through the law now.

[Smiley Culture 1,338]

It may have been the tip of the iceberg for that programme but Jeremy Kyle was cancelled after a guest committed suicide after appearing on the programme. This is now the third death linked to Love Island as a programme. Admittedly, the deaths weren’t as a direct result of appearing on the programme but the duty of care from ITV had been brought into question after each of the previous two deaths linked to the show, so has much changed?

The programme for me should have been pulled immediately. 

[Stan 10,365]

25 minutes ago, Smiley Culture said:

It may have been the tip of the iceberg for that programme but Jeremy Kyle was cancelled after a guest committed suicide after appearing on the programme. This is now the third death linked to Love Island as a programme. Admittedly, the deaths weren’t as a direct result of appearing on the programme but the duty of care from ITV had been brought into question after each of the previous two deaths linked to the show, so has much changed?

The programme for me should have been pulled immediately. 

Considering this is the first series where Flack hadn't presented it due to issues in her personal life, what duty of care would they have given she's not presenting it? 

Linking Flack's death to the 2 previous contestants who sadly died after appearing on it is unfair on Sophie and Mike and also Love Island. 

I'm pretty sure as well contestants in the last series said there was nothing wrong with the care they'd received. 

Think it's quite lazy to compare it to what happened on Jeremy Kyle as well. A guest literally died on their show. No comparison there with Love Island I'm afraid. 

[The Artful Dodger 1,717]

Seeing the love island creeps try and distance themselves from this and blame the media is revolting. Voyeur, sun reading cunts. Read a book and stop being interested in Chantelle and Tyrone fingering each other.

[The Artful Dodger 1,717]

11 minutes ago, Stan said:

 

I'm pretty sure as well contestants in the last series said there was nothing wrong with the care they'd received. 

 

Keep hearing bellends say this. You really don’t see what’s wrong at all.

It’s not even about individuals. The whole show erodes humanity. Even the most unique, treasured thing in life is reduced to a gameshow for imbeciles to watch. It is the worst.

[Stan 10,365]

13 minutes ago, The Artful Dodger said:

Keep hearing bellends say this. You really don’t see what’s wrong at all.

It’s not even about individuals. The whole show erodes humanity. Even the most unique, treasured thing in life is reduced to a gameshow for imbeciles to watch. It is the worst.

I do see what's wrong but I don't want to make a lazy assumption that only Love Island was to blame for Flack's death which is what people seem to be doing. Also don't want to jump to that conclusion because probably none of us have any idea what her motive to commit suicide (if this is the case) was. 

[Smiley Culture 1,338]

25 minutes ago, Stan said:

Considering this is the first series where Flack hadn't presented it due to issues in her personal life, what duty of care would they have given she's not presenting it? 

Linking Flack's death to the 2 previous contestants who sadly died after appearing on it is unfair on Sophie and Mike and also Love Island. 

I'm pretty sure as well contestants in the last series said there was nothing wrong with the care they'd received. 

Think it's quite lazy to compare it to what happened on Jeremy Kyle as well. A guest literally died on their show. No comparison there with Love Island I'm afraid. 

She was an employee of ITV at the time of her troubles, regardless of whether she’s on TV or Love Island, there’s a duty of care there, for sure. 

No one died on the Jeremy Kyle show btw. It was after. 

[DeadLinesman 3,248]

19 minutes ago, Smiley Culture said:

No one died on the Jeremy Kyle show btw. It was after. 

But it was directly attributable to the show due to the lie detector test. I believe that’s what Stan is getting at.

[The Palace Fan 1,815]

My understanding is that the Jeremy Kyle death occurred almost immediately after the guests appearance. Hence the immediate decision to cancel the show. Ethically, that show was under huge scrutiny any way by previous comments on how guests were set up and decieved to appear a certain way.

The deaths linked to Love Island, from my understanding, were not immediately after their appearance. Several celebrities have been created as a result of appearing on shows such as Love Island, Big Brother, Geordie Shore etc. and the question has to be how long should the after care be for these contestants? When should these participants be expected to take personal responsibility for their actions? That's pretty much why it's not been taken off the air and I doubt it will be any time soon.

I'm personally of the opinion that Love Island shouldn't take any criticism or this. Neither should any employer who advises their employees to resign following a domestic abuse charge. The CPS will no doubt come under scrutiny from a safeguarding perspective, but given they haven't got the resources to ensure adequate victim care is given to victims I think there are more pressing matters to criticise. Really, the media and social media platforms should take more responsibility, but they wont. We are already seeing hypocrisy from Morgan, Hopkins etc which I guess is expected. So in essence nothing will change.

[DeadLinesman 3,248]

Eamon Holmes’ hypocrisy was fantastic. Tweeting about how terrible it was etc and then someone posts a video of him slating Meghan Markle whilst admitting he’d never met her. Daft twat.

[RandoEFC 4,690]

2 hours ago, DeadLinesman said:

Eamon Holmes’ hypocrisy was fantastic. Tweeting about how terrible it was etc and then someone posts a video of him slating Meghan Markle whilst admitting he’d never met her. Daft twat.

This. I'm barely aware of Caroline Flack and her career but this whole thing is making me really angry. The same white, ageing men with the same outdated, demented worldview being completely hypocritical. I'd be surprised if Eamonn Holmes and Piers Morgan actually had the self-awareness to tweet their sympathies without being directed to by some PR/social media advisor who suggests they'll need to do it for their image.

[Danny 1,169]

2 hours ago, DeadLinesman said:

Eamon Holmes’ hypocrisy was fantastic. Tweeting about how terrible it was etc and then someone posts a video of him slating Meghan Markle whilst admitting he’d never met her. Daft twat.

ITV as a whole have been pretty terrible, to employ him and Morgan and then genuinely run a mental health campaign is beyond belief.

The sad truth in all of this is that from print, to digital to television and radio there is zero accountability for things like this. The media shapes and informs our daily lives, it is almost impossible to switch off from it realistically without living like a hermit and we’ve become conditioned to believe that this is normal.

Even with what happened to Caroline Flack, from social media to digital publications to television and radio her suicide is everywhere. There is no news story big enough that we should not be able to escape it without locking ourselves in a shed. 

[Smiley Culture 1,338]

Not read the article (obviously) but The Sun’s front cover today appears to be pointing the blame towards the Crown Prosecution Service by asking “why take her to court?” after they had knowledge of her self harming (allegedly) in the past.

What a way to dodge any blame.  

Edited February 17, 2020 by Smiley Culture

[Stan 10,365]

6 minutes ago, Smiley Culture said:

Not read the article (obviously) but The Sun’s front cover today appears to be pointing the blame towards the Crime Prosecution Service by asking “why take her to court?” after they had knowledge of her self harming (allegedly) in the past.

What a way to dodge any blame.  

Saw on Twitter they've also - with a lot of irony they're surely blind to - said in an article 'we can all positively impact on others' wellbeing - despite literally casting headlines each day that do exactly the opposite. 

They're utterly disgusting. 

[DeadLinesman 3,248]

1 hour ago, Smiley Culture said:

Not read the article (obviously) but The Sun’s front cover today appears to be pointing the blame towards the Crown Prosecution Service by asking “why take her to court?” after they had knowledge of her self harming (allegedly) in the past.

What a way to dodge any blame.  

In a nutshell....

 

[Steve Bruce Almighty 2,840]

What is the moral of the story? That you never know how vulnerable the person you are slating or talking about is?

Remember when that rape victim googled herself and found a TFF thread with some members being callous toward her.

This forum deals in criticism. Slagging people off. Slating them. In some extreme cases some members slate other members here. Slate their likes, their dislikes, their behaviours. We slate players. We slate owners. 

Should organisations of more coverage be held to a higher standard than that which we hold ourselves? Is it top down? Is it bottom up?

[Pyfish 1,277]

This whole situation is still very much raw and I don't want to get into any arguments or petty forum fights with anyone but there is so much shit being spouted in this thread that it is unbelievable. 

No matter who is to blame, Caroline Flack was struggling with her mental health and the tabloids didn't help, trolls on social media didn't help, constant coverage of her struggles didn't help. ITV do have a responsibility but as do the 'humans' who write the shitty articles and the imbeciles who hide behind anonymous social media accounts.

We can speculate, we can argue and we can sing about mental health until the bloody cows come home but until something is done about this 'cancel' and 'rubbernecking' culture, we are fucked.

[RandoEFC 4,690]

1 hour ago, Harvsky said:

What is the moral of the story? That you never know how vulnerable the person you are slating or talking about is?

Remember when that rape victim googled herself and found a TFF thread with some members being callous toward her.

This forum deals in criticism. Slagging people off. Slating them. In some extreme cases some members slate other members here. Slate their likes, their dislikes, their behaviours. We slate players. We slate owners. 

Should organisations of more coverage be held to a higher standard than that which we hold ourselves? Is it top down? Is it bottom up?

Yes, surely. The wider platform you have, the more people you can potentially influence so the more responsibility you have to take. Also an organisation full of people who are paid to deliver news and opinion to the public should obviously have a higher bar of responsibility than a bunch of sad idiots on an internet forum.

That said, it isn't really okay for anyone to pass sweeping judgement on anyone else when they barely know any of the facts.

There was a minor incident involving a knife at the school I work last week, nobody was hurt thankfully. However the comments on one of our local news and politics pages were hysterical and some people were very unfair in their criticism of the school. Did I really care? No, because I know that they didn't know what they were talking about, I know what people are like these days so it was water off a duck's back. Had a local journalist, radio programme, news report etc come out with the same I'll informed judgements though I would have been apoplectic because those people are paid to inform the public about what actually happened and it would have been blatantly obvious that they'd sensationalised the story to get more clicks and whatnot with no regard for what the students, teachers and parents involved in the incident would feel when reading an exaggerated and or inaccurate account of what would have been a traumatic ordeal for them.

[The Artful Dodger 1,717]

The Sun are absolutely noxious vermin, that isn't really debatable. They are not an existential thing though, they are made up of human beings and read by human beings. People lap up trash tv, trash entertainment, celebrity gossip etc. It's not a separate entity. We have the culture we created.

 

[The Palace Fan 1,815]

It still amazes me that since the developed of smart phones that the shitrags who have been known as shitrags for decades are still in business and appear to be doing rather well.