R.I.P. Michael Jackson

[DeathsHand]

Originally Posted by KillerGremlin

"It sucks when anybody dies and my heart goes out to Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson's family, but thousands of people die daily and no one cares. I guess our society needs famous celebrity deaths to remind us that life is precious."

While I never really payed attention to either Michael Jackson or Farrah Fawcett (or Ed McMahon), this response inevitably comes up in every celebrity death thread, and common sense tells me that the reason celebrity deaths are made into such a big deal is because they "touch" the lives of millions slash tens of millions slash hundreds of millions of people.
You know, due to their celebrity.

Sure, little Jimmy might look up to his Aunt Jean, the world-renowned neurosurgeon, and think "I want to be just like her when I grow up!", but tens of thousands of people (if not more) looked up to Michael Jackson and said "I want a child named Blanket when I grow up!".

They grew up being told that someone out there in the world wants to rock with them (all night). And that it doesn't matter if you're black or white.

See what I'm getting at? Influence.

[Typhoid]

Originally Posted by DeathsHand

While I never really payed attention to either Michael Jackson or Farrah Fawcett (or Ed McMahon), this response inevitably comes up in every celebrity death thread, and common sense tells me that the reason celebrity deaths are made into such a big deal is because they "touch" the lives of millions slash tens of millions slash hundreds of millions of people.
You know, due to their celebrity.

Sure, little Jimmy might look up to his Aunt Jean, the world-renowned neurosurgeon, and think "I want to be just like her when I grow up!", but tens of thousands of people (if not more) looked up to Michael Jackson and said "I want a child named Blanket when I grow up!".

They grew up being told that someone out there in the world wants to rock with them (all night). And that it doesn't matter if you're black or white.

See what I'm getting at? Influence.

So you're saying every life that ended today, still doesn't add up to the importance of Michael Jackson?

[DeathsHand]

Originally Posted by Typhoid

So you're saying every life that ended today, still doesn't add up to the importance of Michael Jackson?

No, not at all.
Edit: By which I mean, that's not at all what I was saying.

Everybody means something to somebody, but some folks mean something to a lot of people. Simple as that.
Taking it further than that turns life into some sort of competition.
And I don't think one's life's importance is something that can really be measured in the first place.

Being a celebrity is like being the popular girl in high school. Just as frivolous, but if the popular girl in high school suddenly goes into cardiac arrest and dies, everybody will soooo totally be talking.