POST #1: "Tragic" Irony

"Anna Nicole Smith died", a friend said to me on the day she died, which is always a wonderful first message when you log on to MSN. "That's preposterous. It's another Paul McCartney and Jon Heder death", I thought to myself. So I went to google. Newsday, IMDb.com, New York Times, all reporting her death. I let out a laugh.

Two thumbs up!

I suppose that means my "Anna Nicole Smith ate my little brother" patch is in bad taste now. Pity.

But, there's something odd about the death of the former Playboy model and Trimspa "spokesperson": over the course of her career, the press has enjoyed mocking her. And who could blame them? She was clearly mentally unstable, and she could probably give Courtney Love a run for her money. With all of the court hearings involving her oil billionaire husband J. Howard Marshall (b. 1905 d. 1995, making him 90 when he died) and his dirty money, and all of the Trimspa ads that made her look like she was actually clinically insane, even Mother Theresa would look at her and say "what the hell was that crazy bitch on?"

However, since her death, real news has taken a holiday. Stories about the crazy astronaut and her diapered road trip of doom were interrupted. Stories about fat cats, gone. All to mourn the death of the late Playboy model. The late Playboy model who they enjoyed mocking.

What the hell happened? One day, she's part of the pantheon of absurd people, and the next, she's a dead idol whose death was felt 'round the world? What happened to the days when, if some random celebrity kicked, people said, "they will be missed. Back to work!", and continued to mock them? Is this what's going to happen when Jon Heder actually dies? Are actual news stories going to be halted to mourn the loss of a talentless so-called "actor", just because he was famous?

Can someone explain what changed? She was no less absurd when she died, what changed between when she was alive and when she was dead? Isn't anyone out there as concerned with the backbone of Modern America? Why has it suddenly become distasteful to mock the loons of higher society?

Odd Addition: Right after hitting the publish button for this article, yesterday's episode of The Daily Show came on, and Jon Stewart began talking about how coverage of the crazy astronaut story was interrupted for a 90-minute commercial free broadcast on one of the 24-hour news channels. While this makes me feel a little better, and glad to see I'm not the only one whose noticed the irony of mourning someone we loved to hate, I still feel quite horrible about the fact that this topic exists for me to write. And to think, I could be writing about the death of American cinema at the hands of Norbit right now. Ah well, I'll get to that tomorrow.