Topic fo the Day

Ok, I'm going psycho on this blog thing. I'm loving it. I'm sure I've already succesfully deterred any possible followers because of my need to ramble and ramble, but oh well. I'm doing it for me, baby. So I'm implementing a topic of the day. I'll try to do it daily anyway. Now, this whole blog page of mine is just that, mine. My opinions are likely to be horrible to some others, maybe even ridiculous and I respect that. But take it easy on the comments and realize that whatever we all think, we're idiots to someone out there. So here is todays topic:

Celebrity Deaths

Macabre, I don't mean to be. But I've realized that nothing gets people enthralled more than a good, public death. As the saying goes (Keats I believe, but I could be wrong), "Through death, a terrible beauty is born." I guess we are all fascinated with the deaths of those we basically have become to believe are our friends, in a sense. By discussing this topic I'm in no way trying to say that a celebrity's death is more tragic or newsworthy than anyone's (I believe quite the opposite). But, truth be told, most change the channel when the story is about Bob in another city dying in a tragic car wreck, but change Bob to someone like George Clooney or Tom Cruise and now you're cooking. By the way, those two mentioned above were random names chosen on a spur of the moment, you can substitute anyone you like. Personally, I think George Clooney is gorgeous and Tom Cruise is intellectually fascinating.

Ok, so we've established that Bob isn't newsworthy. Sorry, Bob.

Lately, celebrity deaths have been all over the media. Brad Renfro, Heath Ledger are the latest tragic stories. But a star really doesn't even have to be dead to make the dead celebrity media. Take Britney Spears for example. I've actually seen websites that are taking wagers on how soon she will kill herself. I find this disturbing to say the least.

I'm certainly not pretending to be immune. I was around when Chris Farley, Princess Di, Phil Hartmann and many others died. I was even alive when Elvis and John Lennon died, though too young to remember. I do remember Reagan being shot in honor of Jodi Foster though. I, too, have been fixed to the TV.

But there is a part I do not want to see or hear about. That part is where the line is crossed (my humble opinion). I don't want to see a celebrity's body being wheeled out to the coroner's vehicle, I don't want to see loved ones grief stricken faces plastered on the TV and magazines, and I don't want to see aerial photos of funerals. This is the part where we have turned into something similar to a vulture circling a skunks roadside corpse. It's degrading to human beings to see these things. And, mostly, it is disrespectful to the dead and their loved ones to show them.

Has the media and society forgotten that celebrity's are first and foremost human beings just like us. Yes, they agree to a certain amount of privacy invasion and public desire for more, but no one asks or wants what is done when a celebrity dies. I watched Nancy Grace (who I actually really like) ask a reporter how Michelle Williams was handling Heath Ledgers death and the reporter responded with a detailed account of her emotional state. How would they know? I'm sure she wasn't out giving emotional update statements to the press. Did the reporter track down people who were there and ask? If so, how rude. My point is, death is tough, famous or not.

Think of the death of someone you love and then imagine having to read speculations and opinions about it in every magazine or seeing it on every channel and then having a camera shoved in your face every time you showed yourself in public. Yeah, we miss our favorite celebrities. I still haven't gotten over Brandon Lee and Steve Irwin dying myself. But why do we have to rub salt in the wounds?

It seems as if the people left behind when a celebrity dies understands that there is a certain obligation to the public because celebrity demands it. In the end, we get that story from them. After time has brought composure and maybe healed a little there are public statements made, interviews given and we, the fans, are given the taste we need in order to feel closer to those we admired so greatly. If you are patient, they will come.

But in the famous words of Dennis Miller, "That's just my opinion, I could be wrong."

See ya next time, Sissy