2009-08-30
Let the lion sleep already.
I've said it before -- Facebook is such an interesting beast. Everybody has to be the first person to post news of a death, and this summer has provided more than ample opportunity for everyone to show how firmly his or her fingers are on the fading pulse of celebrity.
It's both funny and sad.
But then Facebook -- and the internet as a whole -- is also a place to gather, to socialize, to reunite with old friends and to remember those who've passed. In that sense, it's important to remember that even if you're sitting in your darkened living room in front of your computer wearing nothing but your underpants, drinking boxed wine and typing furiously away on a keyboard full of donut crumbs, you're still amongst others and certain rules of behavior still apply. I admit that this can be difficult.
Let's take, for example -- since it's timely and all -- Ted Kennedy's passing. Now, would you walk into a memorial service and start screaming about the personal failings of the recently-departed? Of course not, because not only would you be physically (and perhaps forcefully) escorted out of the building, it would also be disrespectful to those in attendance, right?
Here's my question: why then is it okay to barge in on a message board or thread where people have "virtually" gathered to remember Ted Kennedy, and start yelling about Mary Jo Kopechne? Because it doesn't seem, to me, to be all that different from the aforementioned "real time" example.
The internet offers us all a forum in which to vent our spleens, so to speak. It's also fairly easy to avoid upsetting yourself by simply NOT READING things that you know are going to upset you. I happen to hate -- HATE -- the smell of the laundry detergent aisle in the grocery store. I'm not about to haul a sleeping bag in there and bask in the fumes overnight so I can spend the next day complaining about my headache.
And yet a lot of us do this very thing, online, ALL THE TIME.
You want to canonize Ted Kennedy, there are places to do that. You want to go back to Chappaquiddick, you can find like-minded folks to take that trip with you.
I'd just like to believe that there's also some kind of middle ground.
lisamcc at 12:20 p.m.
2 comments so far
Lynette
2009-08-30 23:27:20
For me, Teddy's death kind of brought home my own hypocrisy. Because I was sick of all the haters bringing up the bad when he did so much good. Like, when I die, will people stand around going, "Man, she was such a horrid BITCH when she was a bouncer!" or "Remember when she'd sleep with all her friends back in the 90s?"? I sure as hell hope people would allow that I had grown and possibly made amends for the stupidity I had wrought in my life. So as I thought that, I realized I had totally done exactly the same thing with a recently departed celebrity that I happened to not like. I was one of the haters for that guy. But when it was someone I respected, I really hated the haters. So I, for one, have to really consistently apply the respect for the dead thing. And the hater thing? Man, what a waste of energy. Blah blah blah. I'll leave now.
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Jess
2009-08-31 17:49:33
There's always an asshole (or 12) in the crowd. The best we can do is not be that asshole :)
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Stumble It!
