Geez, They're All Keeling Over Like Flies

Lori Lancaster | September 29, 2005
[hidden by request]

Amy Austin | September 29, 2005
Funny you should mention this, Lori... (not that what I'm about to contribute is entirely -- or even closely, I guess -- related...)

In one of my recent searches, I came across this (kind of old) bit of editorialism: (link) and I just found it a bit interesting -- especially in light of that what brought me there was the "celebrity goo game"! (BTW, did anyone else hear that Demi & Ashton tied the knot on Saturday, or am I bringing up way old news here? ;-D)

I read and kind of nodded along with slight concern... up until about the last third of the article, when he starts to talk about ...losing the ability to recognize true human greatness -- something I found just a tad extreme and damning. I was going to post it in the start of a new discussion, but didn't find it compelling enough for whatever reason... Since Lori brought up celebrities, however (and I hope you won't read anything insulting into my addition here, Lori!), I thought I might go ahead and make mention of it here and ask what anyone else thinks about it.

But not to change Lori's topic entirely and to answer her question, I do think that all of the above play a role... I also think that being "thirtysomething" (or close to it ;-D) seems to have the effect of putting us at that weird transitional stage of life between "youth" and "middle/old age" where death becomes a more noticeable thing. I don't mean to be too deep or dark or pessimistic here, but it just seems to me that the milestones of marriage and children and seeing your parents and grandparents really start to age and/or decline in health start to have some kind of impact on what you notice in the world around you and your priorities (I guess the rumblings of what people tend to refer to as "mid-life crisis"???)

I certainly don't mean to imply, Lori, that you're on the verge of some kind of breakdown or in the grasp of an unhealthy celebrity fixation just because you seem to be noticing all these famous deaths of late... but I do think that we are in kind of a unique position, compared to our parents and grand-parents -- and even to our children or younger siblings. The media, with the addition of computers to television!, has grown to a level of omni-presence that you just can't even help but notice these things. When I think about the fact that television (B&W, no less!) was a new thing to my own father, and I never even touched a computer (not counting Atari!) until my late teens, it becomes really apparent to me just how much technological growth separates the generations anymore. It's a little bit freaky to process these things and realize that, "Holy shit, I'm getting old!" Thus, I notice these things (like Johnny Carson dying, as my own grandmother deals with her emphysema at the same age), and I might wonder the same as you, Lori!

Hmm... perhaps it is I who am on the verge of something here, as I am still dealing with the back injury I sustained in my car wreck. I've been even less active than usual because of it (a tough feat for a chaise potato like me!) and a bit scared about the possibility of permanent residual pain. I am suddenly very empathetic with people ten-fifteen years my senior who have chronic back issues (two female friends of mine from when I lived in WA, whose pain --until now -- I could never fully comprehend!), and I cannot help but think "I'm only 32 -- I'm not ready for that!!!" So, I'm terribly sorry if I seem to have taken this conversation in a really weird direction... I'm going to go eat something now and try to get a grip! ;-DDD

Lori Lancaster | September 29, 2005
[hidden by request]

Scott Hardie | September 29, 2005
On so many recent deaths: I guess I haven't noticed a trend, partly because I read about celebrity deaths all the time and click the Wikipedia death list (link) regularly, but mainly because the recent ones didn't mean much to me. I didn't watch their shows, I didn't follow their careers, and they were only names to me. I write a little here on TC when someone dies who I admire a little, but I'm going to be hit hard when my real favorites go because it hasn't happened yet. :-\

On celebrity obsession: Great article; thanks, Amy. I don't know if I'd call it a mental disorder – what's next, obsessive love-of-breakfast-cereal disorder? – but I know people take it hard when their favorite celebrities die or have a big change. I was in counseling when Cobain committed suicide, and I remarked that several teen copycats would do the same, and my psychiatrist scowled and shook his head as if the suggestion was ludicrous. But sure enough, I read in the months that followed about several teens around the U.S. who didn't want to live any more without Nirvana's music (obviously, they suffered from depression and other factors, and Cobain's death was merely the final straw).

On pain: No kidding. I see 50-something John Edwards (FIN player) regularly, and he has sharp pain in his knees from years of being fat. They are a source of severe pain no matter what position he's in, and this is a guy with a fairly high pain tolerance, and I don't ever want to go through what he's going through. But I'm about his size, and lately my knees have been starting to ache too...