So the mother of my best friend's boyfriend died on Christmas, this guy that I hated with a passion (who used to be my store's manager) died the day after, and there have recently been a couple of celebrity deaths. Personally..I'm sick of it. Not because these people died, but because I have to hear and read a bunch of sentiments from people who barely knew these people and really don't care.

Is it so evil to not speak on someone's death because it doesn't concern you and you don't care? Now the only person I really feel bad for is my best friend's boyfriend. His mother was sick for a while, yet a surprise brain tumor was what took her out and no one was expecting that. They'd been waiting for her to die of other causes, but obviously not so soon, on Christmas no less. She was just fine a few days before when my friend went to visit her. Such a thing is sad because I know the people personally and the death was a natural cause. The manager I mentioned brought it upon himself and his stupidity eventually became too big for him to get a grip on. No great loss to humanity I can assure you. I suppose one could feel sorry for those who actually liked/loved him but seeing as though I don't know anyone who does I can't honestly give any sympathy..nor do I feel obligated to. Darwinian candidates don't really get much sympathy from me.

I never care much when celebs die (except for special cases) and I hate all the crap that comes with it. "RIP..They were great...etc" Quite often the person died due to things they brought upon themselves (eating disorder issues, drugs, gang involvement, whatever) and of course it's in bad taste to mention that had the person been a little smarter they still would have been alive. They become legendary due to people mourning the loss of someone they never actually had, people who just want to have something to say, and those all too important "do gooder" types who love to offer their "sympathy" and their "hearts" to the families of these people, knowing the second they stop speaking or typing, they won't give a rat's ass. Freak accidents and such things are indeed sad, but I can't really mourn for someone I don't know, especially if they brought it upon themselves.

RIPs surely won't be given as I don't think it's possible to not rest in peace, my heart won't "go out" to the families because I don't know these people and my heart has better use elsewhere, and you'll never catch me saying that most hated phrase "they died too soon". No one dies too soon. Whenever you died, apparently that was when you were supposed to. Life isn't promised and there's nothing saying you'll live until you're old. 67, 28, 33, 45, whenever..you can go at any time and although it may be sudden, it's certainly not too soon.

Now don't get me wrong, if you are truly moved in some way by a person's death, then by all means lend your sympathies..but don't just regurgitate emotionless banter because it's what is expected. I'd rather not say anything at all if my honest personal opinions on the person or situation may offend

>> I have to hear and read a bunch of sentiments from people who barely knew these people <<


What? Just like you've posted this rant here now.

One does not have to know an artist or a scientist personally to know that their death is a great loss to the world.


>> No one dies too soon. Whenever you died, apparently that was when you were supposed to. <<


Supposed to, as decreed by whom or what?

My favorite is when a teen dies. Sad, yes, but it drive me F'ing crazy to see all these teeny boppers on their facebooks and myspaces having their "heart go out" to their "best friend" (funny how friendships suddenly became retroactively stronger following ones death.) Then come all the "in memory of" tattoos. Its just insulting that these people use the death of an individual as a means for siphoning off attention for themselves.

I understand your sentiment about not being particularly moved by the death of individuals that you either don't know or simply don't care about. I know how that is, but I've also felt sad about hearing of the loss of people who have contributed great things to the world. And in regards to our "hearts going out" to those who have lost someone.... I'm not ashamed to say that I have indeed felt empathy for those who have lost a loved one (hell, even a pet). Death sucks. Yes, there are many who deserve it, and then there are those who certainly don't.

The quoted statement above, however, is the biggest load of bullshit I've read all day thus far. There are many people that I have known where I feel that it would be appropriate to say that regardless of the age of death, it will always be too soon. Anyone who would dare tell me to my face that the people I've lost died when they were supposed to and none too soon should probably duck and cover.

It's the natural course of things. As with animals, humans, plants, all living things. To me that phrase indicates that they were supposed to live for an outlined amount of time, and fell short of that. You die when you are supposed to, otherwise it wouldn't have happened. Nature has a way of keeping checks and balances and when it's time for you to go, it's time. Just because we as people feel death should come when one is old, accomplished in whatever pleasures and fields they set out for, ready for it, etc..it doesn't mean the person died before their time. Now I do believe certain factors can quicken things, such as drug use or something of the sort, but you die when it's time for you to, despite what your loved ones may think.

Surely you may want the person to live a long long life, but often that just doesn't happen. To me they died before you were ready, they died too soon for YOU, but they did not die "too soon"

So I suppose that criminals who indiscriminately kill innocent people are just working on behalf of nature?

Yeah, ok.

I think Witch Bruja responded accurately, but I was just curious...

Are you a determinist? Or a fatalist perhaps?

Are you saying that it's nature that decides or the individual?

If someone has a self-destructive lifestyle, their demise will come because it was their lack of responsibility, their choices that did them in. It just sounds like you think it was "written in the cards" by... something.

Who's to say? Not me surely, but it could be just that. Freak accidents, random violence and other things may be sudden, and they may be shocking especially when some situations could have been prevented but I certainly can't say that they shouldn't have happened. I had a friend when I was a child, who died when he was walking onto a platform at his back door and it broke. The platform was a concrete slab, and it landed on his neck, a freak accident type thing and he was just a child. Even as a child I believed that things happen because they're supposed to..it's just the way of things. Sure I missed him and even now I feel sorry for his family, as his death sent his grandmother into depression (it was her porch he fell from) and she later died. Do I think they died "too soon"..no. There was nothing to indicate they were supposed to live longer than they did, did they die too soon for those around them? Of course.

>> Who's to say? Not me surely, but it could be just that. Freak accidents, random violence and other things may be sudden, and they may be shocking especially when some situations could have been prevented but I certainly can't say that they shouldn't have happened <<

Why not?

Do you believe it should be left up to divine authority?

You must be fairly young or just pompous.

A person having suffered the death of someone important to them would be able to comprehend how death could have been avoided given the correct circumstances.

Death is not as simple as just blowing it off as "it was just his time" to ease your ego. Of course it is easy to say and gives you the reputation of being the apathetic ass (to your enjoyment or not) but it does not make it accurate or desired.

That would imply I believe in some god-like entity that personally deals with death and birth..that I don't. But in nature, all living things die. We as humans don't die like wild animals due to technology and other things, and I think nature allows for that. Instead of us dying from being hunted or whatever, we die of other things more suited to our environment. I think we have the potential to die from a number of things, but the choices we make and the things we do narrow down the possibilities, these choices coincide with other happenings in our environment and what happens from there happens. This would include freak accidents and such. It's just that normally our deaths are more convoluted than the demise of a wild animal and we have the intellect to give it deeper thought than a wild animal would, but I don't see it any differently.

>> This would include freak accidents and such. It's just that normally our deaths are more convoluted than the demise of a wild animal and we have the intellect to give it deeper thought than a wild animal would, but I don't see it any differently. <<


But you specifically said "Supposed to die" - as in, by decree.

>> "Nature has a way of keeping checks and balances and when it's time for you to go, it's time."

Sounds pretty godlike to me...

Fatalism is just a means of taking responsibility for ones own existence out of their hands. (Not unlike what most theistic religions attempt to do.)

Because rarely does one know all the factors. I do think things happen because they are supposed to. As to why they're supposed to and all..I have no clue. Some may see it as a divine power thing but I think that's just a way of giving an answer to a question humans have never known. People never really know the "why" in such situations. I think I mentioned it in another post. I think death is a factor of nature, and for humans, nature adapts to our environment. An antelope dies due to a predator, a bad decision, etc, we die from more "advanced" and/or detailed things because we aren't living in an environment were we can be taken out as easily. For this reason I think when we die and whatever we die from, it is supposed to happen..it's just how things go. Obviously I can't prove it, it's just my take on things.

I certainly could have worded things better, or maybe explained them a bit more, but that's just my opinion on death in general. Everyone has their view on it, as it's the one thing all people have given thought to at some point because it affects everyone at some point.

And regarding God, I see it as nature and all the various parts of it that we know and don't know. God is what people use to explain things they can't explain, everything from how humans got here, to earthquakes and volcanoes. I don't think there's some force personally concerned with us, but a force that's just the way of things, impersonal and not "intelligent" in the sense some would think. It's everything, everywhere, all the time and it's just what is. It's the "shit" in Shit Happens..not something personally watching us or anything else for that matter, it's just what causes the things that are set in motion, the reason it stays in motion, and the reason it ends.

>> I do think things happen because they are supposed to.

Who says they are supposed to? I don't mean to just be an echo here, but it sounds like you are personifying nature and giving it a will and ability to destine events. Like there's some "plan" Would that be an accurate assessment?