Gallows Humour? Fine, after the subject is dead. I have no quarrel whatsoever with the concept of laughing at death, it's a normal reaction in human beings to make fun of the things they fear (or even just don't fancy) and, like most people, I've done my share. Sadly, the OP title, and some of the content, didn't make it clear that the thread was intended to be about Gallows Humour in general, it appeared to be an attack on one, still living, individual - and there were many others who, like me, 'didn't get it'. Mea Culpa, wuppy-do!

Taking the piss out of another individual human being, irrespective of their public persona, who is at this very moment enduring her long and painful death? Completely unacceptable to any decent, civilised, compassionate person. It's not a question of "She's a gobby ignorant twat who made millions from suckers, so she deserves it" - anyone who believes that kind of false rationalisation truly is ignorant. And to direct that kind of hate on to someone who is dying must be one of the basest of human instincts and behaviours.

And, for the record Joe, to be labelled, amongst other things, a 'prude' and be harangued by a Moderator for having the temerity to say what I've just said - a Moderator, incidentally, who goes on to rub the noses of the moderate in the shit by re-opening the thread under a different title and inviting the 'Goody-Haters' to carry on with their abuse - really does beggar belief. IMH-Fuckin'-O.

So Joe - in order to clarify, and for the sake of the uncivilised ones on here who think taking the piss out of an individual who is dying is OK, you have made a clear satement, publically and in our personal messages, that Bad Taste is absolutely and permanently 'On The Mudcat Menu', and posters of material which is in Bad Taste will have your full and unequivocal support. I assume, therefore, that it's absolutely fine for me to post jokes in Bad Taste about Pakis, Towel Heads, Niggers, Dykes, Fudge-Ferrets, Spazzes, Hunch-backs, abducted and possibly murdered 3-year-old children, Dopey Yank soldiers blowing their own side away in Eye-Rack, 9/11 victims, school-shootings in the USA, and anybody else whose race, religion, abnormality or misfortune I personally find amusing at any given moment, and that you will give me your full and unequivocal support when the usual shower of Prudish, Politically-Correct, Tree-Hugging, God-Denying, Namby-Pamby, Moral-High-Ground-taking, Holier-Than-Thou Nincompoops start squealing at me like stuck pigs?

Don't worry folks, it will never happen, just a simple lad from the Backwoods making a point about something that the Mudcat Intelligentsia seem not to be able to take in - that abuse takes many forms, but it's still abuse. But I have standards, and I have self-respect, and I don't debase myself that way. And I won't debase myself by getting kicks from abusing the dying, no matter who they are.

Have your fun, kick the lass to death, shoot off in your pants as she draws her last breath, but don't expect me, or others who see this issue the way I do, to watch and giggle as you do it. Whatever will you lot get up to next? Happy-Slapping filmed on your mobile phones? Snuff-Movies?