sometimes people die, & sometimes it sucks

[whoreinyourhead]

heath ledger dying is not sitting well with me. i suppose i find it random that someone so talented & seemingly fine may have died of a drug overdose. aaron pointed out, "like, everyone is paying attention to lindsay lohan and britney and kanye west's mom's plastic surgeon, and then there's heath ledger, being totally ignored in that capacity until

Comments

[rubincomp]

I feel like that's kinda backwards thinking, though...would Lindsay and Brittany BE so fucked up on drugs all the time if they didn't have the media following their every move and footstep? I for one think that Brittany Spears would probably have a bit of a better time getting her shit together if she didn't have the entire universe checking to see what crazy shit she's up to now. I don't like thinking that these media swarms are a form of public interest group to make sure celebrities stay off of drugs--I think that if people had made a big deal of Ledger's addictions and problems, things would only have gotten worse, and he probably would've died even sooner. Substance abusers in the media get made into complete social pariahs, and as such, the need to use and abuse seems to get worse...at least, that's the way it seems to me. I doubt anyone seriously feels like getting better because the whole world is painting them as fuck-ups. I think it just reconfirms the feelings that drove them to abuse in the first place

[whoreinyourhead]

oh, i agree with that too. i was going to write something similar as a counterpoint, but thought it might get confusing.

& while i DO read perezhilton.com, i am growing very tired of this celebrity saturated media shit. i really hope the paps leave people alone while they mourn heath's death.

[gomezvsrufio]

well also, half the time it seems, britney and lohan have been giving a heads up to the media about where they are going and when, calling for the attention themselves.

nobody should be getting followed around by media and over-scrutinized, it's just when your problems are thrust in front of everybody, at least people might try to help you. there's no telling how that kind of treatment could have affected heath ledger. people are interested in that up until the point where we get stories ABOUT the coverage.

certain celebrities are always going to use drugs, and sometimes they will use too much.

[whoreinyourhead]

well of course they are, but that still doesn't mean they deserve to be swarmed by paparazzi every time they leave their house.

[resilient_me]

Ugh, I just want to watch 10 things I hate about you and cry that heath is gone and that julia stiles is such a terrible actress.

[namja]

It's his fault for not having tits.

[whoreinyourhead]

yeah, what WAS he thinking?!

[magnetgirl]

Addiction doesn't work that way. You can't be "shamed" into actually quitting. Sometimes being forced into recovery by outside forces backfires in that it creates resentment and apathy towards actually opening yourself up to treatment.

There's no raisin. Media or no, people die in fucked up ways. I think celebs sometimes forget their own humanity. Not always in a totally ego-centric way, but if you think about it, most of us normals forget how easily we can die from time to time-I think that's increased when you're on movie sets and junkets all the time and lose even for touch with your own humanity/mortality.

[whoreinyourhead]

brian pretty much summed up my counterpoint above, which i didn't include in my post for some raisin. which basically is what you said. i understand how addiction works, my mom has been talking to me about it since i was in elementary school. i wasn't talking about being shamed into recovery -that just doesn't work- but friends & family realizing the severity of a situation [& unfortunately, sometimes media scrutiny can bring their attention to someone that's not doing so well, especially if they aren't in constant contact with said person]& trying to be there for the person in whatever capacity they can