Just over a week ago I wrote a blog post about how I’m working to have everything I’m involved in be branded with my name and how when you Google Josh Rimer I’m the first thing that shows up.  My inspiration for the post had come from the fact that I had just found out that another Josh Rimer had recently passed away and that reminded me how there are other people with my name who can be competition for getting found online when people look for Josh Rimer.  I named the blog post “Josh Rimer is Dead” knowing that would get my readers’ attention, especially when I posted it on Twitter and Facebook.

Well, it did get attention. From both my readers and from people who knew the Josh Rimer that passed away.  It’s currently my most viewed blog post since I started this blog and the most commented on as well.  The most recent comment proclaimed me to be “intensely cruel” because the writer found me on Google when trying to find information on the other Josh Rimer.  I apparently had no right to be more popular online than him because he was a soldier killed on duty in Afghanistan.

While I can of course sympathize with the family and friends of the deceased, I find it somewhat ridiculous that they are so offended by my blog post.  I didn’t share any sort of opinion on his death, other than to say that it was a sad situation.  Which I suppose is what they’re so upset about.  Apparently I’m not allowed to write about a fallen soldier without devoting the entire posting to him - someone that I’ve never met and who is fighting for a country that I don’t live in.  I even got an email from one of them saying that I should donate some money to the family.

This all makes me think about when Michael Jackson died.  I was scanning through Twitter when then news first broke from TMZ about Michael Jackson’s heart attack.  I spent the next couple of hours closely following what people were saying online about it, staying of course well ahead of the actual media.  I searched for videos about Michael Jackson’s death on YouTube and could only find a couple that had just been posted within minutes.  So now I was in a situation where I knew I could make a video about his death and likely have it become one of my most viewed videos because it was a super hot topic that people would be searching for… but in the end I felt it would be too disrespectful.  I make comedy videos after all, so I couldn’t think of a way to make that funny that I’d be ok with.

But many other people did.  And they got thousands, if not millions of views out of it.  Take the video below for example, aptly called “Michael Jackson is Dead”.  It has currently passed 2.5 million views. Just a warning that the lyrics will be offensive to some, but the point is that if you talk about someone important who’s passed away it will get you attention, and a lot of it.

So, my condolences to the families of anyone who’s ever passed away, especially if that person is serving their country.  But this is my blog, and Josh Rimer is my name, and if another one makes the news, I have the right to mention it without devoting my entire post to it or paying the family money.

What do you think? Was I wrong to mention the death of Josh Rimer in my blog?  Did I go too far with the title?  Do you agree with the comments that were left on it?

YouTube Comment of the Day:

webkinzxoxo97 has made a comment on Comfortable Stick (Comfort Wipe spoof):