# Over 25,000 children v. Brittany Murphy **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 20, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992 "2009-12-20T22:35:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/21 "2009-12-21T00:23:47Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > \*\*Over 25,000 children v. Brittany Murphy \*\* > > Man, I know kids are small and such, but if this Brittany Murphy chick can fight 25,000 of them and not only win, _but kill them_ all? Damn, that’s one badass bitch. She was fatally wounded in the process, though, presumably succumbing to her injuries just after strangling the last child. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/22 "2009-12-21T00:23:58Z")
Does anybody really believe he was mourning the dying children, and not just being a threadshitting douche? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/23 "2009-12-21T00:24:38Z")
> [@The\_Cleveland\_Steamer](#): > > No wonder the world hates us. They don’t hate us. They just hate you. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/24 "2009-12-21T00:26:38Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Does anybody really believe he was mourning the dying children, and not just being a threadshitting douche? Nope. I say ban his ass. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/25 "2009-12-21T00:26:51Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > \*\*Over 25,000 children v. Brittany Murphy \*\* Isn’t that the one where they desegregated the schools? I had no idea she was so opposed to integration. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/26 "2009-12-21T00:34:17Z")
One of the most annoying things about the Dope is that, by the time I see a thread, people have already said what I wanted to say. It’s not fair! 😛 Okay, so I thought of one extra thing: I’m starting to warm up to Twickster’s enforcement of the “Don’t be a Jerk” rule. (As long as she doesn’t warn people for their first offense.) ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/27 "2009-12-21T00:35:56Z")
> [@statsman1982](#): > > Well, the Stalin-esque answer that most of the earlier posters have alluded to is that 25,000 people dying is a statistic, while one person’s death is a tragedy. It’s difficult to comprehend that many people dying at once, but put a famous face on death and everyone takes notice. > > Not the way things should be, but it is the way humans are programmed to some extent. This. It’s so true. People are really detached from the kinds of horrible things that go on in the world due to those victims mostly being seen as “strangers,” I guess. But when you watch a movie with a celeb in it, regardless of them actually being a “stranger” to you as well, you feel more like you know them and you then take more notice of them when they OD/get busted/commit suicide/get a disease or what haveyou. As **Stats** said: that’s not how it should be, but that’s how it is. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/28 "2009-12-21T00:43:04Z")
> [@The\_Cleveland\_Steamer](#): > > What will get more attention, the over 25,000 children that died today or rugged-out, anorexic Brittany Murphy dying? Anorectic. ---
**Author:** ![TurboNuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f19dbf/32.png) [@TurboNuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TurboNuke)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/29 "2009-12-21T00:45:49Z")
Also idiot, the proper reaction would be “its a horrible tragedy 25000 children and B. Murphy died today” not “its a tragedy that 25000 children died and fuck that drug using bitch B. Murphy.” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/30 "2009-12-21T01:03:44Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Anorectic. Both are likely accurate. People who abuse anorectics are often anorexic. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/31 "2009-12-21T01:05:31Z")
Obvious troll is obvious. This thread got 30 more replies than it should have. DNFTT (yes, I know I’m adding to it by replying–no need to point it out) ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/32 "2009-12-21T01:06:53Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Nope. I say ban his ass. Could we mourn him, or would that be wrong? ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/33 "2009-12-21T01:09:30Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > \*\*Over 25,000 children v. Brittany Murphy \*\* > > Man, I know kids are small and such, but if this Brittany Murphy chick can fight 25,000 of them and not only win, _but kill them_ all? Damn, that’s one badass bitch. Brittany Murphy must have rocked at [this game.](http://www.howmanyfiveyearoldscouldyoutakeinafight.com/) I could only beat up 25. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/34 "2009-12-21T01:14:15Z")
Show me **one person** who knew a kid that died today that cares more about Brittany Murphy’s death than the child’s. That’s right, not a one. They don’t exist. Is it so fucking hard to grasp, **Cleveland Steamer** , that people care about the deaths of people they’re familiar with, but not people they’ve never heard of? And what really chaps my ass is that people love to toss out “celebrity obsession” like it’s the norm. In actuality it’s “celebrity mild interest”. Yes, everyone cares a tiny, insignificant bit about Brittany Murphy’s death- but why do people latch onto the “everyone” part and miss the “tiny, insignificant” part? Our country (and others) is hardly celebrity-obsessed. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/35 "2009-12-21T01:26:26Z")
Celebrities are representative of ‘people in general’. It’s not that we don’t care about the 25,000 kids who died today, we just don’t KNOW about them as individuals. We care about Britanny Murphy because we knew who she was. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/36 "2009-12-21T01:39:41Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > If a child died from a Cleveland Steamer it might make the news. Isn’t a Cleveland Steamer something that the Browns lay on the field every week? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/37 "2009-12-21T01:39:58Z")
If it helps the OP feel better, I’m not currently weeping into my G & T over Brittany Murphy’s demise. OTOH, unlike the OP, apparently, I can understand how this event may spark a thread or two. In conclusion: lighten up, Francis. ---
**Author:** ![Obsidian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/51bf81/32.png) [@Obsidian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obsidian)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/38 "2009-12-21T01:42:14Z")
I think for the vast majority of people, a celebrity dying is like . . . a friend’s coworker’s spouse dying. Y’know, that nice dude you met once at your friend’s barbecue? You think, oh, how tragic. You feel sad for his family, if you pray maybe you say a small prayer for them. And then you go about your day. If my friend’s coworker/s kid was one of those 25,000 children, it would get the same thought process from me. Each of those kids probably had hundreds of FOAFOAF people who heard and gave it the same five minutes they gave Brittany Murphy. If the celebrity is someone whose work I enjoy, I’ll often be more sad about the fact that I will see no more of their movies/music/writing/whatever than the fact that they, as a person a don’t even know, are dead. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/39 "2009-12-21T01:44:23Z")
One can certainly make an argument that we should give at least as much consideration towards those dead children ( and adults for that matter, why do you only care about children? ) But even so, at most that means you should criticize the people who aren’t doing so instead of bashing a woman who died young. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992/40 "2009-12-21T01:52:20Z")
It’s called the monkey sphere. Well, there are more technical terms, but they’re no fun. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-25-000-children-v-brittany-murphy/521992.md?page=3)