Celebrity Deaths

I thought it might be a good time to discuss some of the more famous deaths that are in the media.  Of course, right now, we’ve just lost Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon.  It really does seem as if death comes in threes.

It’s a real shame that we lost so many American icons in such a short span of time, and what I was really struck by was the fact that we lost an icon from each generation- it’s almost as if each generation lost a little bit of their childhood (and the things we grew up with) with the passing of these three much admired and respected individuals. 

No matter your thoughts about the decisions they made in life, I’m sure we can all agree that they made significant, almost revolutionary contributions to our culture.  May God Bless them all.

I’d love to hear everybody else’s thoughts on this subject…

I was also going to start a similar discussion but didn’t know where to put it. Thanks, Jacqueline!

It is surprising to see these significant deaths all in the same week. I’m watching one of the Michael Jackson tributes now. I’m bothered, though, by some of the coverage I saw last night when there was an image shown of him being put in the ambulance. Since we know now that he was already dead, I don’t think the networks (I think it was CNN) should have shown that.

I know Holly, I agree, it is just gratuitous to show images like that.  The tributes are so touching.  I had turned on the radio late last night and they were playing Jackson’s songs and it was really wonderful.  It seemed so fitting to me to hear his songs over the radio again, since that’s how it used to be back in the day. 

You know, I wonder if Michael Jackson knew how much everyone appreciated his talent.  It’s so sad that he was never able to live a really fulfilled life.  I also really like what Lisa Marie Presley had to say- isn’t strange the way that her father was the King and she married the King of Pop- weird, huh?

I saw a magazine cover at the grocery store that had a close-up of Jackson’s face from the ambulance. It really made me made. It’s sick to publish photos of a dead person, especially on the cover. No one needs to see that. I don’t even know why someone would want to buy a magazine with that particular photo on it when so many other magazines have nice tributes with images from his glory days. If you’re a true Michael Jackson fan, why would you want a photo of him when he’s dead?

Hi Holly, It really is terrible that some in the media peddle that garbage.  I think a lot of that anger (at the media) was seen today at the funeral/memorial service for Michael Jackson.  I was telling some of my friends, they (media) are the ones that began the whole “waco jacko” stuff- not his fans. 

And it’s funny because the word (from the media again) was that this service was going to be a “circus”, but once again, as usual, they got it wrong.  I thought that the service was a wonderful tribue to Jackson. Sure, it had a lot of stars and was flashy, but it managed to be respectful the whole time. When are they just going to let people (even famous ones) “be”?

Further, I was pretty aghast at what representative Peter King had to say.  I mean, if someone is found not guilty of something in a court of law, I don’t think that he has the right to try to usurp that or put his own spin on things.

It’s tough to know how to feel about Michael Jackson. He wasn’t convicted and we’ll never know for sure what happened. He certainly made odd choices, but we don’t know exactly what he did. Because of that, I agree that what Peter King said was inappropriate, especially at a time when everyone was still grieving and holding memorials.

It is hard with him because you are right; the choices he made were certainly out there.  I don’t think that we’ll every really know why he did what he did.

The only problem is that this story is going to go on for a long time.  We don’t know where he’s being buried, now his sister and dad are claiming that he was murdered, there’s the custody for the kids, the estate- it’s endless!

Also, I was saddened that the OxyClean guy died (Bill Mays).  I know that he wasn’t a superstar like Jackson was, but I really liked him.  It’s such a shame that he passed- and so young too.

I am more sad about Farrah dying than I am about Michael Jackson… She was such a classy lady… wasn’t in the news much and suffered through so much the last three years. I wonder if MJ hadn’t died, would the media have played up her funeral and life more..

Hi Mary Beth, I think for sure they would have ran with Farrah’s story (was that the name of her documentary? If so, no pun intended) a whole lot more.  She was very brave in the face of her cancer, and I have to say, it took a lot of guts for her to show the ravages of treatment (going bald, feeling sick etc.). I found that very heartfelt and courageous. Especially since she was so famous for her hair.  While frivolous, it left an indelible impression on our culture.

I guess the media felt that since we had time to anticipate Farrah’s death that it wasn’t as much as a shock as MJ’s was.  It is odd though that someone as iconic as Farrah was reduced to, well, almost a blurb, while MJ got over a week’s worth (and probably a lot more to come in the future) of coverage.

Hmm, I wonder, what do you think is the standard that the news media are using to decide who gets the bulk of the coverage?

I had posted this question under a different topic, but I thought it would be good to post it here as well. I’m interested to know, do you guys think that it was appropriate for Michael Jackson’s children to see him (after he had died) at the hospital? Do you think it will help or harm the kids?

Also, I know that Walter Cronkite passed last week Friday. Do any of you remember watching him on television?

I think at least two of his kids are old enough to understand and maybe handle seeing their father’s body. Not sure about Blanket… My sister’s best friend recently passed away and he was like a father to my nephew (he’s 12 and doesn’t have a father in his life). She let him see the body and to him, she said, it made it more real. So, yes, I think it’s OK that MJ’s kids saw his body.. they had a chance to say good-bye….

I agree Mary Beth, I think it was fine for the kids to view the body to make it “real”- I actually hadn’t thought about Blanket; age 5 is pretty young. Also, I’m not even sure that Blanket saw MJ, but I know that the older kids did.

I’m so sorry about your sister’s best friend, and I think that she made the right call- 12 seems like an old enough age to view the body. It’s still a sad situation though.

I just read an article today that said Michael Jackson’s hair that burned in the Pepsi commercial is going to be made into diamonds. I think it’s weird that the hair is still around, but, whatever.

It made me realize though that you could, in theory, have something like that done with a loved ones hair even when they are living. It’s expensive, of course, but it might be something neat to do with baby hair as a keepsake.

I know, it keeps getting weirder and weirder, and I’m sure we haven’t even seen the half of it yet!

How do they make hair into diamonds? I didn’t even know that was possible.

And did you hear about this “love-child” thing? I wonder if there’s any truth to that (although, I don’t trust MJ’s father as far as I can throw him but still…it makes you wonder).

While I was not a big fan of MJ, I do find it sad that he died at a young age… At one time, he was a fabulous and talented musician. It’s too bad he turned down the wrong road—even if his drugs “were” medically prescribed, i think it’s sad that he supposedly had to use anethesia to get some sleep. Something is clearly wrong there.

I agree Mary Beth, something really was wrong there, but as an interesting side note, I read on Saturday that these drugs (drugs that really need to be given under a doctor’s supervision) is gaining in popularity in Hong Kong (the term the news media used was “a wave”), so that’s super strange. I wonder what these people are doing and what is so bad that they just want to knock themselves out?

Also, I saw that Katherine Jackson (M.J’s mom) got permanent custody of the kids today, so hopefully those poor kids can start getting some semblance of normalcy back in their lives.