Their lives were going to be footnotes regardless. If Kobe and his daughter aren't on board, then "helicopter crash kills 7" leads the local LA news and is then promptly forgotten. As you say, it's a funny aspect of human culture.
Their lives were going to be footnotes regardless. If Kobe and his daughter aren't on board, then "helicopter crash kills 7" leads the local LA news and is then promptly forgotten. As you say, it's a funny aspect of human culture.
It's only getting such exposure because Kobe was a famous person who touched millions of lives in some manner. Otherwise it is as you say.
Everything about Kobe Bryant and his daughter because he happened to excel at basketball. "Tonight is for Kobe" was the mantra of the Grammys.
I appreciate its early and for privacy reasons there has not been much coverage of the others who died, but their lives are reduced to footnotes in this tragedy.
Disagree.
We would have never even heard of those people and their tragic deaths if they weren't with Kobe.
They'll be remembered and grieved by far more people now than had this happened to 9 unknown people.
Everything about Kobe Bryant and his daughter because he happened to excel at basketball. "Tonight is for Kobe" was the mantra of the Grammys.
I appreciate its early and for privacy reasons there has not been much coverage of the others who died, but their lives are reduced to footnotes in this tragedy.
You're not looking at it properly - Their lives were reduced to footnotes due to being one of 7 billion regular, non-celebrity persons on earth. They just happened to be on a helicopter with a legendary athlete.
Look at this way - Are you complaining that thousands of car accident/small aircraft victims are footnotes across the world that died on the same day? Of course not. Which proves that if anything, the victims of this helicopter crash arguably had more exposure and sadness attributed to their deaths than most people on earth by being on the same helicopter.
If you have a problem with civilization's elevation of famous citizens status to god-like status then your issue doesn't lie with civilization or media so much as the human mind, and if you can find a way to change that, please let everyone else know.
Last edited by jayswin; 01-27-2020 at 08:04 PM.
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People grieve because of a connection. It's hard to mourn someone that you've never met or even heard of, but millions of people had a connection to Kobe due to being a sports icon and a positive role model. Every hand he shook, autograph he signed, or sick kid he visited in the hospital left a lasting impression. Of course his death is a huge deal, and no one should feel guilted over it
People grieve because of a connection. It's hard to mourn someone that you've never met or even heard of, but millions of people had a connection to Kobe due to being a sports icon and a positive role model. Every hand he shook, autograph he signed, or sick kid he visited in the hospital left a lasting impression. Of course his death is a huge deal, and no one should feel guilted over it
Celebrity worship is a weird thing. I used to despise it, but after learning so much about it I realized that the problem isn't celebrities, it's how our brains are wired and we'll likely always be this way.
So the choices are to bitch and complain that some have elevated status in the hearts and minds of the global community or just accept that we're wired to look to others to worship and escape the struggle and mundane nature of our regular day to day lives.
We are weird animals. We have huge brains but are just in the infancy of discovering them. We're hypocrites in every sense of the word and it shines through every single day in every human being. If Jarome Iginla died tomorrow then everything changes.
Celebrities and celebrity worship culture is a symptom of our minds, not something forced upon us.
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Celebrity worship is a weird thing. I used to despise it, but after learning so much about it I realized that the problem isn't celebrities, it's how our brains are wired and we'll likely always be this way.
So the choices are to bitch and complain that some have elevated status in the hearts and minds of the global community or just accept that we're wired to look to others to worship and escape the struggle and mundane nature of our regular day to day lives.
We are weird animals. We have huge brains but are just in the infancy of discovering them. We're hypocrites in every sense of the word and it shines through every single day in every human being. If Jarome Iginla died tomorrow then everything changes.
Celebrities and celebrity worship culture is a symptom of our minds, not something forced upon us.
What makes you say it's "how our brains are wired"?
Call me selfish but when a famous musician recently died I thought, "damn, now I don't get more of their good music" and really thought nothing else of it.
I think a large part of it is that people want to be part of something. Like the Humboldt tragedy. Or the ALS bucket challenge. An unreasonable amount of money was donated to those because of the 'popular' nature of them when there are millions of equally deserving recipients of those funds that don't get a cent. While there are obviously benefits I think it's a really stupid part of culture these days.
An environment in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own, so that their existing views are reinforced and alternative ideas are not considered.
I was initially surprised to see the outpouring of public grief for a guy who probably raped a 19 year old minimum wage hotel employee and definitely cheated on his wife, but then I remembered the hysteria after MJ died and wasn’t so shocked - people are strange. He was a great basketball player, but probably not a such a great guy, RIP.
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I was initially surprised to see the outpouring of public grief for a guy who probably raped a 19 year old minimum wage hotel employee and definitely cheated on his wife, but then I remembered the hysteria after MJ died and wasn’t so shocked - people are strange. He was a great basketball player, but probably not a such a great guy, RIP.
If you don't know what you're talking about, you probably shouldn't speak up.
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What makes you say it's "how our brains are wired"?
Call me selfish but when a famous musician recently died I thought, "damn, now I don't get more of their good music" and really thought nothing else of it.
I think a large part of it is that people want to be part of something. Like the Humboldt tragedy. Or the ALS bucket challenge. An unreasonable amount of money was donated to those because of the 'popular' nature of them when there are millions of equally deserving recipients of those funds that don't get a cent. While there are obviously benefits I think it's a really stupid part of culture these days.
The reasoning for it may be a little stupid (because often nobody actually knows the celeb personally) but the inherent desire to want to come together with people in a way that transcends the usual differences isn't stupid at all. It's in our nature. Maybe we're grasping for legitimate reasons to do so without realizing it, or just experiencing a sense of empathy from a distance in a way, but maybe tragedies like these are serving as reminders of how much we separate ourselves from our fellow man when we are taking such things as life and our overall well being here for granted. We're all cut from the same cloth and when a life is taken we remember that again, and that is the positive you can draw from ####y and sad things like this.
So yeah I think it is about wanting to be a part of something, and in these cases it is humanity bonding through humanity.
Last edited by djsFlames; 01-27-2020 at 11:44 PM.
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The reasoning for it may be a little stupid (because often nobody actually knows the celeb personally) but the inherent desire to want to come together with people in a way that transcends the usual differences isn't stupid at all. It's in our nature. Maybe we're grasping for legitimate reasons to do so without realizing it, or just experiencing a sense of empathy from a distance in a way, but maybe tragedies like these are serving as reminders of how much we separate ourselves from our fellow man when we are taking such things as life and our overall well being here for granted. We're all cut from the same cloth and when a life is taken we remember that again, and that is the positive you can draw from ####y and sad things like this.
So yeah I think it is about wanting to be a part of something, and in these cases it is humanity bonding through humanity.
Well that's a very optimistic view and definitely one to hold onto.
But I think it probably has more to do with the 'high school complex' of fitting in. If people legitimately wanted to empathize with tragedy there are ~250,000 deaths in Canada every year that they could lend themselves to, be it financially, emotionally, or what have you.
I guess it just annoys me how much self-back patting is going on with these things. Like, wow look at what a great empathetic human I am being sad when everyone else is because it's the cool thing to do. Goes along with the bamboo straw ideals I guess; look how much I'm doing to save the environment (as long as it's convenient and makes me look good)!
An environment in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own, so that their existing views are reinforced and alternative ideas are not considered.
If you don't know what you're talking about, you probably shouldn't speak up.
Shortly after the alleged rape, the alleged victim went to both the hospital and the police. The rape kit indicated numerous lacerations around her vagina consistent with rape. She offered to take a polygraph test when questioned by police. She also had bruising around her neck consistent with the story that Kobe had been forceful with her.
When the police questioned Kobe, he denied anything happened multiple times. Until they told him there was physical evidence. That's when he offered to pay her off. Including asking the officers "“Is there any way I can settle this whatever it is, I mean…?”
His defense was that he also got rough with the other girl he cheated on his wife with.
The victim had her name drug through the mud, namely that she had schizophrenia that required medication at one point and that she was sexually active (as a 19 year old!). Perhaps more serious, the court inadvertently released her name and address and she began to receive death threats.
With the defense allowed to enter her sexual activity into evidence, the death threats, and public humiliation, she decided to withdraw from testifying.
This was a case of how money can buy you great PR if nothing else. But fortunately we don't have to decide if the alleged victim was truthful or not. We can take Kobe's word for it:
Quote:
First, I want to apologize directly to the young woman involved in this incident. I want to apologize to her for my behavior that night and for the consequences she has suffered in the past year. Although this year has been incredibly difficult for me personally, I can only imagine the pain she has had to endure. I also want to apologize to her parents and family members, and to my family and friends and supporters, and to the citizens of Eagle, Colo. I also want to make it clear that I do not question the motives of this young woman. No money has been paid to this woman. She has agreed that this statement will not be used against me in the civil case. Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did. After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter.
You know what a sexual encounter that one party doesn't consent to is called? Rape.
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honestly its a tough one...I get why people feel the need to mourn. We feel like we know and have grown up with these celebrities.
but to pretend he was a good guy? family man ect.
He got away with rape because he was good at putting a ball in a hoop and bought off wife with a fat 4M diamond...honestly I think its sick that anyone would buy/wear such a thing but that is a convo for another day
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Last edited by dino7c; 01-28-2020 at 12:15 AM.
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LA traffic is as bad as all the stories. If money was no object, I would commute in a chopper too. I don't fault him at all.
I heard Celine Dion would commute in a chopper from Henderson to the casino to do her nightly show.
This guy was a mega star. Probably only surpassed in popularity by a handful of athletes like Becks, Ronaldo and Messi.
Funny thing about the extreme wealthy, When Dion first got the big gig in Vegas(2003) she bought big monster home over looking the TPC Summerlin golf course, had a heli-pad built in the yard only to find out the answer is no to helicopter traffic, she never even moved in! when I played the course the home was on the market for 2 years.
LA traffic is as bad as all the stories. If money was no object, I would commute in a chopper too. I don't fault him at all.
I heard Celine Dion would commute in a chopper from Henderson to the casino to do her nightly show.
This guy was a mega star. Probably only surpassed in popularity by a handful of athletes like Becks, Ronaldo and Messi.
I heard one radio interview that said it was 40 miles from his home to the Academy, but that in drive time in LA would be 2-3 hours! I couldn't believe it.
honestly its a tough one...I get why people feel the need to mourn. We feel like we know and have grown up with these celebrities.
but to pretend he was a good guy? family man ect.
He got away with rape because he was good at putting a ball in a hoop and bought off wife with a fat 4M diamond...honestly I think its sick that anyone would buy/wear such a thing but that is a convo for another day
Man, I'd retract before the lynch mob around here comes after you.
What makes you say it's "how our brains are wired"?
Call me selfish but when a famous musician recently died I thought, "damn, now I don't get more of their good music" and really thought nothing else of it.
I think a large part of it is that people want to be part of something. Like the Humboldt tragedy. Or the ALS bucket challenge. An unreasonable amount of money was donated to those because of the 'popular' nature of them when there are millions of equally deserving recipients of those funds that don't get a cent. While there are obviously benefits I think it's a really stupid part of culture these days.
As someone who has a family member with ALS, your comments are extremely ignorant. The Ice Bucket challenge raised a ton of money... none of it unreasonable that pushed research ahead quickly and was directly responsible for at least one new drug on the market to slow it down. The sad part of it is that it was a flash in the pan and now fundraising has declined to the point where research is pulling back, specifically because ALS doesn't have the name recognition of Cancer or Heart Disease.
Very short sighted, ignorant view of the world.
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honestly its a tough one...I get why people feel the need to mourn. We feel like we know and have grown up with these celebrities.
but to pretend he was a good guy? family man ect.
He got away with rape because he was good at putting a ball in a hoop and bought off wife with a fat 4M diamond...honestly I think its sick that anyone would buy/wear such a thing but that is a convo for another day
I have been hoping that most here are just too young to remember this, or have really short memories. Because the alternative and what it says about people is disturbing.
Last edited by RogerWilco; 01-28-2020 at 08:20 AM.
