On Jun 2, 12:24*pm, outsider wrote:
Will in New Haven wrote :







On Jun 1, 8:18*pm, D Mahoney wrote:
I don't understand why any decent person, who doesn't harm anyone,
should ever get negative media attention - regardless of appearance,
intelligence, or any other noteworthy features or talents. The kind
of cruelty she's had to endure is inexcusable. If her singing were
less impressive, that wouldn't have made it more excusable.

Unfortunately society as a whole is deplorably insensitive and cruel.
It
seems that as time goes on our society becomes less and less civil.
"Common sense" and "common courtesy" are both very UNCOMMON
commodities.
The more I see of society, the more I appreciate my cats.

I think the impression that things are getting worse in this respect
is quite wrong. I am not excusing the treatment this wonderful and
talented singer got from some quarters but this isn't new. Janis
Joplin was the victim of a huge amount of unkindness from people all
over the world, especially from the people in her home town. And Janis
was, in my certainly fallible opinion, an even greater talent.

I think that the media may actually _be_ worse today in this respect
but huge segments of society as a whole had no interest in seeing a
woman who was not conventionaly attractive back then. And some of the
worst of the abuse came from women.

--
Will in New Haven

Agreed about things have not changed in general and strongly agree about
Janice. *I love the bus scene of her and Garcia in Festival Express (I
think it was those two). *And if you want to talk about one of the best
voices ever Cass Eliot was right up there and she suffered for her looks. *
Roy Orbison was overshadowed by the "pelvis of elvis" but another "top
10" voice. *This is not anything new. *For me, I could never understand
why a singer's looks mattered.

A singer's looks, for me, could add but not detract from her appeal. I
_guess_ that's why I followed Grace Slick around with my tongue
dragging on the ground. But that was long ago and I've matured.

--
Will in New Haven