Stop whatever you’re doing a fall to your knees! JFK jr’s plane failed to arrive! It’s the most important news since the world’s most perfect person, the failed Princess, Di was killed. I, for one, can’t even look to the East without weeping for the Kennedys. Can you?
Will this mindless pandering to the wealthy never cease? Can we survive this turn of event? JFK jr was not the man his father was, who was not the man his press made him. I wish him no ill, but come on, he’s just not that important.
Girlfriend of mine called to tell me, and suggested, ridiculously, that the keening and wailing for him would surpass Di. Puh-leeze.
One does wonder, though, about the Kennedy tendency to die young. Perhaps Rose, in living so long, sucked the life out of her children and grandchildren. How many have died young? John, Robert, Joe, Kathleen, that cousin whose name escapes me, now Jr. It really is a disproportionate number…
I will cry for John Jr., and I’m not ashamed to tell you that. I cried for Jack in '63 when he was killed – he was our President, our first Irish Catholic president – and he was family. I cried for Bobby in '68. I mourned Jackie, and Michael.
That family is not perfect, they are human just like every person posting to this board is. They have committed their sins; who among us is without sin, that we can cast stones? They have tried to give something back to this country.
Like it or not, John Jr. is a part of this country’s history. He assumed that unwilling position no later than his third birthday, when he stood and saluted as his father’s funeral cortege went by. I was six years old, and I remember that day as if it were yesterday.
Begrudge that family nothing; they have paid a high price to be what, who, and where they are.
So yes, I will cry, and I will pray for John Jr., and his wife, and sister in law. And perhaps most for Rory, whose father was murdered before she was born, and for whom this was supposed to be a day of joy.
I certainly feel sorrow for the family, but the news coverage is way out of proportion for the publisher of a moderately successful magazine.
Also, I can’t help but wonder how much of this nation’s search and rescue resources would be devoted to finding someone like me, the son of a truck driver.
Probably more than you think. They’d have choppers and Coasties out for you, too, if you went down in a small plane with a couple of other people on board. And I’ve seen searches go for days in the mountains looking for “just plain joe.” Admittedly you probably wouldn’t get national all-day news coverage for it. Now tell me, would anybody out there change places with John Jr., and the crazy life he’s had, so that you too could get that news coverage?
And don’t pretend to be naive. He’s not getting that coverage because he publishes a magazine, he’s getting it because he’s the only son of an assassinated president.
Well, most of the searches on Lake Erie last, at minimum, 36-48 hours and it is quite a bit smoother than Long Island Sound (although it’s more dangerous than the ocean in most violent storms). Those are winter times when it is a reasonable guess that anyone who went into the water died in 20 minutes (November) or 10 minutes (February). In the summer, I have seen searches go for a week depending on the circumstances. That includes at least two and sometimes three USCG stations, at least two police departments, and various other volunteer outfits.
Egospark:
This thought came up on the AOL/SDMB with a certain regularity. My thoughts then were:
««Subject: Re: Phil Hartman, Princess Di & Joe The Butcher
{{What makes this a bigger tragedy when one of these “famous” entertainers/people die as
opposed to the guy who cuts your lawn, the nice hairdresser that styles your hair…or even “Joe” the butcher down the street? }} – Chaz L4
I don’t think it is a bigger tragedy. However, lots of people knew Phil Hartman by his work. When JPetralia asked about Andy Kaufman, lots of members of this MB were reminded of ways in which he entertained them.
Two weeks ago this Monday, my I.T. Director dropped dead of an apparent heart attack. Good family man, generous boss, hard worker, loyal employee, only 56. Now if I post his death and the particulars, here, how are you supposed to respond? You can hardly relate to him. If you have read my posts long enough to form an impression of me, you might be able to offer condolences if I announced that my wife/mother/child died. But how do you respond to
the news that a business man with a good income and grown kids has died suddenly when you can only know what I post about him?
We know about celebrities. We have opinions about their works (if any) and their lives. And in a setting such as a cafeteria or an MB, we can express our reactions in ways that other people around us can relate to because we all shared, to some extent, the same “relationship” (however anonymous) to the celebrity.
I do not think that celebrities are more important, but it is easier to interact with people regarding any loss when the people with whom you interact share something with you regarding that loss. The very act of celebrity simply places some people into a realm where far more people can react together.»»
Tom’n’Deb But then you’re lumping the rest of the universe with yourself. It doesn’t hold. I didn’t much care if JFK jr was alive; his death is equally meaningless to me. I understand he has a minor role in the memory of a select few. This a plane crash of limited news being made into a NATION IN MOURNING tv special.
Already bizzare statements like “three years ago TODAY” flight TWA 800 went down in the same waters. Eerie coincidence." Nah, an eerie coincidence would have been Jon-Jon getting his head blown off in Dallas. But that still would not have necessarily changed anything in the world.
It’s not the need for celebrities I find revolting so much as the need for dead celebrities. I think anyone who is honestly moved to tears should shed them. I think anyone who is moved to tears so they can call into Channel 3 Action News and “remember JFK jr” should place a black wreath over their tv set and jump off a tall building.
Egospark, I ment it as another AIRPLANE accident occuring on the same day. Not as a somehing spooky happening with the Kennedy tribe.
But I gues bad things happen everyday and we should react as thus.
“Oh look that Kennedy boy died; I wonder how the Yankees did today.”
My second intended point was that now and forever (if JFK Jr. is dead) July 17th will be “Kennedy-Died-in-a-Plane-Accident Day” rather than “TWA-800-Went-Down Day.”
But I guess you’d suggest to people who whatched over that accident to, as you so eloquently said it, “place a black wreath over their tv set and jump off a tall building.”
since people die everyday in so many extraordinary ordinary ways.
Ahh, the advantages of not owning a functional television.
I was not aware that special coverage was being planned. I generally agree that when the media decides to make an event of it, it is usually overblown. JFK jr’s death will bother me no more than Di’s or Phil Hartmann’s or any other celebrity (i.e., not at all). My comment was generally on the lines of people challenging others who are upset by the deaths of celebrities. If someone is upset at a stranger’s death, I think the reason is the one I gave. When TV turns it into an event, they are simply siezing on the expected profits that they can garner from advertisers by cashing in on a large number of people grieving. I don’t think that TV is particularly noble in this case, but I don’t find TV producers particularly noble.
Personally, I found Phil Hartman’s death much more tragic. I felt much closer to Phil Hartman because he was very very funny. Hartman accomplished something on his own. His funeral wasn’t televised (wanna take bets on whether JFK, Jr.'s will be?) and he wasn’t cannonized.
What is (was) JonJon famous for? Being the son of JFK and publishing a magazine. That’s about half a step removed from Steve Forbes. What did he do for himself? He used his family’s money (of dubious origins) to start his magazine. I just don’t see it.
It strikes me as very similar to Princess Di. An attractive famous person is suddenly struck dead. Ohhh, let us quickly proclaim them a saint and devote an issue of People magazine to them.
Don’t get me wrong – I don’t exult in JFK, Jr.'s death and I didn’t in Di’s. It’s tragic whenver people that young die suddenly. I just think our society confuses fame with virtue, and mourns the famous instead of the good.
Sure the rich and famous get more attention.
That’s kinda half of being rich and famous,
isn’t it? That and politics aside, ya gotta admit that family has had some tough luck. I grieve not so much for them as being reminded
of all the folks who suffer more than their share of tragedies.
Just caught a little of the coverage this afternoon - all I could think was the Coast Guard was being pretty gracious about the lack of a flight plan - kept waiting for someone to say Of course, if we had a flight plan, we could search more effectively
I agree about Phil Hartman. Those of us who really enjoyed and appreciated his work had an actual relationship of sorts with him; without knowing him at all he made us feel something, he made us laugh, which is one of the best things in life. So when he was gone, it was very sad.
JFK, Jr. may affect some people the same way, after a fashion. There’s no question that he made some women (and no doubt some men) FEEL something… he was stunningly good-looking. But as for touching our lives? Not.
I have figured out the Kennedy thing, though. As I mentioned earlier, it was Rose. She managed to live so long by borrowing against the lifetimes of her children and grandchildren. It was her pact with Satan.
Well…as we all feel bad about the poor Kenndys it was pointed that Jon-Jon’s wife’s family has lost two daughters and there hasn’t been a word said about them. In rightous anger, I’m declaring today a special day of mourning for female victims of Kenndy stupidity. Of course if I can’t get any tv crews here, I’ll call it off.
Wrong. The news coverage I’ve seen has talked quite a bit about Carolyn and Lauren Bessett and their families, and expressed sympathy to that family as well.
And the searchers have said that it might have been easier if a flight plan had been filed – but since they have the radar blips they are pretty sure they know about when and where the plane went down. They’ve also commented that there was no requirement to file a flight plan.