Why does the death of one person seem to create so much hysteria?
All this drama, all this crying… In a world of 6bn+, how many people die a day? Do you imagine putting this kind of show every time someone died? We’d be wasting our lives in mourning…
At risk of sounding insensitive what relationship are these people regretting? The person they more than likely never really personally met or knew. The music will remain (timeless?) to reminisce and to introduce to new generations.
The remnants of any political engagement in me would like to see such displays of empathy and regret when it comes to the plight of so many suffering painful and miserable existences around the world… there are millions out there that were not as lucky as to live in Neverland and succeed in squandering millions in eccentricities…
Then but lets not make it political… what about all the failed relationships around us? Are our lives that empty and devoid of meaning that we feel bonds were there are none?
For a bond to exist you need at least two parties to feel uniquely and intimately connected. Thousands are crying over a guy they did not knew… they may have felt uniquely connected to him but how could he ever reciprocate?
Why do they put so much effort in deluding themselves? Could it be because it is easier to pretend to have a bond with some distant character? Never requiring comforting but readily providing “solace”. Allowing us to indulge in self-gratifying relationship to ourselves?
It is indeed much simpler than relating to “real” people, whose needs must be acknowledged and measured on the same standing as ours…
Then again maybe I am being over optimistic thinking people are just selfish…
Maybe the emptiness is a sign of how vacillating we are… capable of fierce scorn one minute, and inconsolable sorrow the next…
As you may have guessed I am not particularly touched by the death of the 'King of Pop'. I am not particularly sensitive to his legacy, after all I was never really an MTV child… but I will give you this: it is all about entertainment!
The mob is fickle... Roman emperors knew it and they gave people the Colosseum.
The King may be dead but soon another will be found to fill his place and the crying will subside… Long live the King… the mob will have another surrogate through which to live…
Continuity is after all very important; 'monarchs' they come and go… life is a big irony!
As usual, you're right and you;re wrong (ben oui :)), but you write very well!
ReplyDeleteReaaaally good point, especially about society being vacillating... I think most people (including me) overlooked that observation with the shock of the news... I think there are some out there that were just taken by surprise, but you are absolutely right that it is perculiar that we should feel a bond with someone we barely know, and overlook and take for granted the real bonds we have with the people around us. Love how you have brought this perspective to light :)
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