Yet Another Hollywood Overdose or My Beef with Sympathy for Fidiots

I know this is going to come off as harsh, derisive, mean-spirited and make me look like a huge ass hole to a lot of people, but I’m really damned tired of all the outpouring of emotion and sadness when some dumb ass “star” overdoses on drugs and/or alcohol.  I’m sorry that they will have to be written out of your favorite television show, that you won’t get to watch them walk down the red carpet again, that you won’t see interviews of them on TV or the supermarket rags as you go to checkout, that we won’t be fascinated by their wit and charm and intellect as they spout off on this or that topic on which they aren’t experts, and that you’ll now never have the chance to run into them in an airport or on the street.  Generally speaking, these “stars” have nothing to do with our lives other than being on a show or two that we watch.  Too many of them are prima donnas and pricks who think they deserve special treatment because they are overpaid to entertain us.

Now, if his girlfriend has really been with him so much of the time, she had to know he had a habit, so the question becomes, “Was she trying to get him to clean up his act or an enabler by participating or pretending it wasn’t going on?”  I know, sometimes, it doesn’t matter what you do or say to an addict, you’re not going to get them to give up the habit.  You’re then stuck with difficult choices:  leave them, turn them in to the authorities, or continue to live with them (hoping they’ll “wake up” and quit) until they die via OD or due to a destroyed body.  None of those options are easy or good.  So, unless the girlfriend was enabling him, I certainly feel sorry for her, and for the family and friends who may have also had to sit by and watch this guy kill himself.

You may have guessed who’s death spawned this post.  If not, here’s an article about how Cory’s girlfriend, Lea, will cope with his death.

Do I feel sorry for him?  No.  Unless you can tell me that someone shot him up on drugs against his will the first time to get him hooked.  I’m guessing he chose to do it.

Why does it really chap my ass when I see all the boo-hooing about “Star X” or “Star Y” killing himself/herself?  Because they had a choice.  They chose to be addicted, certainly, at least, to begin the habit that maybe they thought would be just recreational use.

You know who didn’t have a choice?  Besides all of the soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, coast guardsmen, policemen, firemen, and all the others who put their lives on the line to defend our lives and way of life…people like Talia Castellano, the thirteen year-old girl who died today after battling cancer since she was seven, Liam Witt, “Prince Liam the Brave, who died a couple years ago, a few months shy of his seventh birthday, also of cancer.  And there a plethora of others dead or dying of diseases they did nothing to bring on themselves that you never hear about.  These are the people who deserve your sympathy.

Okay, I’ve cooled down a bit.  I do feel a wee bit of sympathy for the dumb ass who killed himself, because it’s sad when someone kills himself, violently or otherwise, but my initial reaction stands.  It isn’t one of “Oh, that’s so sad!”  It’s “What a dumb ass!”

 

**BTW, my lack of sympathy doesn’t have to do with the fact that I don’t watch Glee.  If I heard that Jensen Ackles or Jared Padalecki OD’d, my initial thoughts would be the same.

Music Monday – Dope and Dead Presidents

President’s Day, a United States federal holiday honoring all of our Presidents.  Today seems the perfect day for songs referencing presidents:  dead, ineffective, and great… here it goes.

New Jack Hustler by Ice-T

I care nothing ’bout you, and that’s evident.
All I love’s my dope and dead presidents.

Yep.  Dead Presidents.  Cash.  Some of the ‘dead presidents’ are still worth something.  A few aren’t good for much more than tipping waiters and strippers, unless you have a whole stack of them.

Russians by Sting

There’s no such thing as a winnable war
It’s a lie we don’t believe anymore
Mr. Reagan says we will protect you
I don’t subscribe to this point of view

A dead President.  On his debut solo album, Sting had this “No Nukes” song.  I like it.  Turns out, Mr. Reagan managed to protect us over the course of his presidency.  He showed the strength needed in that time of the Cold War, the strength to get the Soviet Union to come back to negotiate in limiting the spread of nuclear weapons, the strength to call on the Soviet General Secretary to free half of Germany, to allow the two Germanies to reunite when he said during his address at the Brandenburg Gate on June 12, 1987, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”  [Watch the video of this address, “Tear down this wall” at approx. 12 minute mark]

Too Much Time On My Hands by Styx

Now, I’m a jet-fuel genius
I can solve the world’s problems without even trying
I got dozens of friends, and the fun never ends
That is, as long as I’m buying
Is it any wonder I’m not the President?
Is it any wonder I’m null and void?

Null and Void. How far off are they really? Probably a lot closer there than with the solving the worlds problems line.

Smuggler’s Blues by Glenn Frey

It’s propping up the governments in Columbia and Peru
You ask any D.E.A. man, he’ll say there’s nothin’ we can do
From the office of the President
Right down to me and you, me and you

An ineffective President. Another of those great songs from Miami Vice.  And while a DEA man might say there’s nothing we can do, I think if the government really wanted to wage a “war on drugs”, we could be much more effective at it.

[Unfortunately, someone/group who owns the rights is preventing this video from being played.  It’s temporarily unavailable at VH1 and MTV, and the video on YouTube is missing the audio.]

Bicycle Race by Queen

You say coke I say caine
You say John I say Wayne
Hot dog I say cool it man
I don’t wanna be the President of America
You say smile I say cheese
Cartier I say please
Income tax I say Jesus
I don’t wanna be a candidate
For Vietnam or Watergate
Cos all I want to do is…

I guess Freddie and company thought all of these things sounded uniquely American.  I concur on not wanting to be President.