This clap for Captain Tom idea

[User133847]

I've just seen a lot on social media about this clap for Tom on Thursday at 8, similar to the clap for the NHS.

I'm a bit ambivalent about this. The one organised the other week was a damp squib and nobody got involved. The weather is still dark and cold (it wasn't in the summer when the pots and pans were out for the NHS). However, for a nation in mourning at Tom's passing, perhaps this could help really bring the country together on Thursday.

[quote cantmakealifeofit]@Port1aCastis Precisely. The ones who died alone and terrified in hospital having not seen a loved one in literal months.

Captain Tom lived a long life and was allowed a dignified death surrounded by his most loved ones. He was 100 years and recently enjoyed a holiday with his family as well. Again, nothing against him but it isn’t a tragedy and the idea that the nation should all be collectively bawling over him is borderline offensive.[/quote]
Have to agree

As much as those who are going to clap are called virtue signallers, the opposite is this seeming need to voice on here, quite competitively, just how defiantly you won’t be doing it!

This place is bloody weird at times.

Regarding the comment about Capt Tom and recognition, I think it's about keeping a sense of proportion.

@PurpleDaisies

I can totally understand the public grief about that.

Grief over someone you didn’t know and would never meet? It’s bizarre. Sad, yes but floods of tears? I don’t understand that at all.

Diana held a place in a lot of people’s heart. I was only a kid when she died, but I can remember the mourners tens of thousands deep up and down the mall on TV.

I know a few people who really liked her and were upset when she died. I don’t mean bawling for weeks on and bug tears after finding out.

I mean people cry at films and they aren’t even real so it’s not totally unimaginable why people would be sad about the tragic death of a 36 year old with two kids.

*Precisely. The ones who died alone and terrified in hospital having not seen a loved one in literal months.

Captain Tom lived a long life and was allowed a dignified death surrounded by his most loved ones. He was 100 years and recently enjoyed a holiday with his family as well. Again, nothing against him but it isn’t a tragedy and the idea that the nation should all be collectively bawling over him is borderline offensive.*

Thank you.

I will light a candle for him. He was a good man. I don't need to stand outside my door clapping to the cold air so my neighbours can see how virtuous I am to respect him.

I mean people cry at films and they aren’t even real so it’s not totally unimaginable why people would be sad about the tragic death of a 36 year old with two kids.

Which is why I said I understood sadness but the level of hysterical “grief” was absolutely bizarre.

I think a lot of the Diana grief was shock that someone so well known ( and young and healthy) could die suddenly like that. She was probably no 1 celeb of the time. It was also whipped up by the media.

I wonder if this will all be repeated again on the day of his funeral?

@PurpleDaisies

I can totally understand the public grief about that.

Grief over someone you didn’t know and would never meet? It’s bizarre. Sad, yes but floods of tears? I don’t understand that at all.

That was when the nation visibly changed in terms of how it reacts. The stereotype was stiff upper lip and do your grieving in private when it comes to those kind of things (i.e. people you don't personally know).

Diana's death took the stereotype from one extreme to the other. Now you had to publicly show your grief and how upset you were which the poor Queen was then forced to do. Social media has just accelerated that further.

Wear a seatbelt. Do things for others and make the most of your life.

Meanwhile I shall be defiantly slabbing around in my house in front of the TV as I do every night tonight.

@Stovetopespresso, he couldn't get the vaccination because it was being offered when he was in Barbados. Very quickly on return he developed pneumonia and wasn't well enough to get it. He went to hospital dying from pneumonia and tested positive for Covid. That's being widely reported.

The only purpose is to virtue signal. As there is no other purpose which sits in the realms of reality

I'm sorry you can't see that isn't true. Many people genuinely wanted to show their appreciation within a community, feeling that it would be a stronger symbol of encouragement if done together not alone.

You could just as easily argue that some of those staying in are virtue signalling and judge. So virtuous, not crass like those clapping outdoors. So keen to tell everyone they are lighting a candle indoors, so their contacts will think they're virtuous and better than those awful, tasteless people outside.

judgy not judge

No. Lovely chap and well done to him but no

My grampa is currently in hospital dying from covid/pneumonia and cant be with family as he slips away. I'll be raising a toast to the hero he has been to me the past 30 years .

Sick of this hero worship if I'm honest. And certain celebrities getting certain privileges that other normal folk cant have.

I won’t be doing it, I find it all a bit odd tbh.
He did a nice thing and I’m sure he was a nice man but so do many other people good things every single day, he managed to raise an amazing amount of money because his family made sure he was pushed into the limelight and it caught people’s attention, he fit the narrative, white, elderly, fought for his country, close family, nice home, those things appeal to people. If he has been a young Asian male working in Asda nobody would have cared.

I personally can’t get over the fact that he could have spent a lovely Christmas at home with his loved ones, meanwhile the majority of the nations elderly spent it locked away alone. And yet people still thought he was entitled to the whole “Christmas in Barbados” thing. Other people would have killed for the opportunity to just be with their family at Christmas.

Not criticising Tom himself at his age, but those who made the holiday happen and those who thing he was entitled to it.

He's the nations grandad now apparently Jesus wept !

He's the nations grandad now apparently Jesus wept !

So people might feel comfort at the thought of a Grandad figure in a time when they feel things have gone to shit.
So fucking what?!
Everyone's different.
If it makes them feel positive, or happier, good for them.

@Borisjohnsonshairbrush

Sorry to hear that , but family should be allowed to visit at end of life ? That is the guidance ?

I really don’t understand threads like this . It’s what he stood for not necessarily the individual .

You don’t have to join in . It’s not compulsory .

Just don’t do it if you don’t want to .

Why join a thread just to be nasty .

No. I cant as I'm just granddaughter

@lollipoprainbow

I didn't notice a minutes silence last week for the 100k plus people that have died. It really has got way out of hand, I see flowers are now piling up outside the hospital where he died and his hometown. What next a state funeral ??

We're wondering what will happen with his funeral

No, I wont join in. I may raise a glass to his memory.

Captain Tom did a great thing raising so much money and being knighted for it in his 100th year. He certainly went out with a bang. However, I feel the Government is using this as an opportunity to connect with the masses, largely the ITV viewers.