Guess Who Died!

Someday, someone is going to have to explain to me why people love to tell their friends which celebrity just died. I don't know why it is, but people can not wait to shoot you a text that someone famous has passed away. I mean, it's not like they knew that person or their family. Half the time people don't even actually care, because it is not like this news will effect their life in any way - they just want you to know. (Before we go any further please don't think I'm writing this from the moral high ground. I am just as guilty of this as the next person. But, they say the first step to conquering a bad habit is admitting that you have it.) At first I thought this was just an Irish trait, because they seem to read the obituaries like a racing form and have the unofficial motto of "he who goes to the most wakes wins". However, as I have gotten older I have discovered it is pretty much universal. Wanting to spread the news about someone famous dying is apparently as common as breathing. I guess this is the reason fake celebrity death rumors are always so popular on the internet. I'm not saying people want it to be true but, just in case it is, they want to make sure you heard it from them.

I was reminded of this over the weekend with the passing of Penn State coach Joe Paterno. People practically had a countdown going as soon as news came out late Saturday night that he was in failing health. A couple stations even jumped the gun and said he was dead before he had actually passed. So when the family did finally confirm that he had died it was like releasing the hounds. News crews were out in force on campus as everyone fought for the best camera angle in front of the Paterno statue by the stadium. Twitter was exploding with people sending out condolences to the family and other people getting on their high horse about how this was the moment we should be thinking about the victims of the sex scandal. [Sidebar: What caught my eye was that no one seemed to be mentioning the fact that Joe Paterno pretty much predicted this exact thing was going to happen. He said years ago that he was afraid to retire because he wouldn't know what else to do with his life and he'd just die. Much like those couple that are married for 65 years and pass away within a couple weeks of one another, he just wasn't sure what he was going to do when he wasn't the head coach at Penn State anymore.] Even with two conference championships that afternoon, it was all anyone on ESPN was talking about Sunday morning.

The news stations really are the worst at this kind of event. Half the time they are practically giddy when a celebrity passes away. I have to admit, I can sort of understand it from the newscaster's point of view. I mean, this is their moment. Every journalism student worth their salt has seen that famous clip of Walter Cronkite stoically delivering the news that President Kennedy had been killed and wondered if they would have been able to handle such big news as professionally. Believe me when I tell you, no one in television worries about delivering a story about a bag of kittens being successfully rescued from a tree with the correct tone, but everyone who has ever taken a television class has practiced their "somber" voice on many occasions. It can be hard to get it just right and it can be a big moment in a career. The simple truth is that the clips about bad news are always the ones that live in history. And from a producing standpoint celebrity deaths are appreciated (especially the anticipated ones) because they essentially translate to a day off, as producers can just roll out the montage about the person's life that has been in the can for months on end. 

I wish I could say that people's morbid fascination with spreading the word about death was just their way to remind the rest of us that life is short and we should be living the time we have to the fullest. I just don't think that's the reason. I think it goes more to the more raw human condition that gets joy out of telling your friends, "I know something you don't know!" People love to let other people know how informed they are, even when it is about something like this. I mean, the entire pub trivia industry is based around the enjoyment people get from letting a group of total strangers see just how much useless trivia they have retained in their lives. That's why I know it's unrealistic to ask people to back away from the habit of letting other people know who died, so instead I'm just going to suggest we all try to do it with a little less glee in our voices.