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'Kyle's Mom' is Dead at Age 38
Packetbasher writes "Yahoo News is reporting that Mary Kay Bergman has committed suicide. Mary Kay was responsible for 'many of South Park's female denizens--from the prickly Ms. Cartman to Stan's beloved Wendy.'"
I've lost a family member to suicide. Its always a sad occasion when this should happen. And this begs the question "What now" for south park? All I can do is hope that critics of southpark won't seize this as proof of their criticism.
I never was a huge fan of South Park, but it did have it's moments that it'd get a chuckle out of me.
I just hope we don't see religious or other communities saying this is an answer to their prayers. Even if you don't agree with the humor doesn't mean that this loss of life is any different than a clergyman's death.
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She was obviously very talented. This would be very sad even if I wasn't a fan of South Park.
Of course the show will go on without her. There is a long history in TV of replacing actors. I'm surprised that the author of the article even seemed to think it was an issue.
I wondered about what would happen if a cartoon voice died.... surprisingly few people do it. E. G. Daily is responsible for rugrats, roughnecks: starship troopers, futureama, and many many others.... why do animators use the same person for soooo many voices? Am I missing the logical reason?
Those of us who watched South Park last night may have noticed that Comedy Central inserted a brief, tasteful message saying simply "In memory of Mary Key Bergman" after the closing credits. I didn't realize when I saw it who she was, but I commend Comedy Central for the way they handled it - quietly, and without fanfare, as befits the solemnity of the occasion.
is basically, YOU don't like it, so you want to
see everyone elses fun taken away.
Please do not forget, you have the option to
NOT watch it.
Your words convey the idea that perhaps you suffer
from the paranoid fear that someone, somewhere
might be having fun.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
http://www.hollywood.com/movietalk/celebrities/mbe rgman/html/sound.html
The last one (at the bottom) is a bit eerie in light of recent events.
--
Patrick Doyle
Patrick Doyle
I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
Here is her entry in the Internet Movie Database. She's done a huge number of movies, including STAR WARS Episode 1, THE IRON GIANT, and four Disney animated features, plus over half a dozen video games.
IMDB credits her with the following SOUTH PARK characters: Mrs. Cartman, Sheila, Female Body Part, Nurse, Mole's Mother, Little Girls, Wendy Testaburger, Stan's Mom, Kenny's Mom, Mayor McDaniels, Ms. Crabtree, Principal Victoria, Shelly Marsh, Nurse Gollem.
Stupid job ads, weird spam, occasional insight at
I'm really not trying to get into a huge argument, but I have to speak up. I saw many posts saying "I hope no one tries to use this as evidence for [blank]". Having somewhat of a diverse background, and trying to keep a level head about this, I have to ask, why not? Don't take me wrong. This is a TERRIBLE thing and I'm NOT saying, "Good, she's dead". I watch South Park. I have since soxmas so long ago (spirit of Christmas). I however, have to say that to neglect this incident as useful data would be not only unscientific, but stupid! Would you say, "Boy, I hope they don't use that crash dummy test as evidence that seat belts save lives!"
I'm not saying there is any correlation. I'm not putting together any pieces. I'm speaking in general that when things happen, we shouldn't tie up emotions into a one-sided view. As intelligent people, we should always evaluate situations and change position when we are given enough reason to do so (proof). We should always take facts into account.
Well that's my take. This was in no way meant to take away from the pain I'm sure this is causing the family. And this is in no way an attempt to start an argument. If you want to flame me, please feel free to email me.
SL33ZE, MCSD
em: joedipshit@hotmail.com
SL33ZE - Artificial Intelligence is No Match For Natural Stupidity -
And here is yet another example of fame making someone more important than any poor joe on the street. When a mother to 3 children dies in a car wreck, she doesn't even make it on page 84 of the local newspaper. If I went out and killed myself right now, not one reader of slashdot would mourn my passing, even though I have family and friends, just like this woman did. Face it.. money and fame really does equal importance in the world.
Another thing.. hoards of people will ring in with chimes of "she was such a wonderful " when they had never even heard her name before this event. If you don't know anything about her, please don't try to fake it and say she was so wonderful. Maybe she was a complete warbitch. Maybe she was an angel. I certainly don't know the woman, so I won't make any comments as to how she lived her life and treated others.
For the record, I am not trivializing her death. It is, indeed, a bad thing when someone dies. (most of the time, not counting terrorists and such) I just want to point out that many people are more pissed off that the voice of the southpark characters is gone rather than that a woman has died and left behind mourning family members and friends.
I'm fairly sure I'll be moderated down as a troll or as being flamebait, but that is not my intention.
> I just hope we don't see religious or other > communities saying this is an answer to their > prayers. And once again slashdot demonstrates its incredible tolerance of religious communities - look, right, it's like any situation with a vocal minority. Just because there's a few nutters out there it doesn't mean that they're representative of the group as a whole. I make no attempt to hide the fact I'm a Christian. I think South Park is utterly hilarious, although on occasion yes, I do find it a *little* close to the mark. However, you are completely right - no loss of life is cause for celebration, and I am saddened to hear this news. I am also saddened, however, that people will pre-emptively attack certain groups of people before anyone has even said anything...
-- I reserve the right to be completely wrong --
Not on the incident itself, but on Parker/Stone's actions:
Yahoo's report (actually, from E-Online's news) says "Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the duo behind the cult animated hit, declined to release a statement--a Comedy Central spokesperson says they're mourning in private.".
MTV had a report yesterday morning that stated, "The show's creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, addressed the news in a statement that read, "Mary Kay was with us from the very beginning and helped make 'South Park' a success by sharing with us her amazing talent. We will miss her as an artist, a co-worker, and above all else a friend.""
So which is right? Did they make an official statement or not?
"But remember, most lynch mobs aren't this nice." (H.Simpson)
-- Joe
Moreover, it's just as possible that many clergyman are damned (if your beliefs extend to that possibility).
-----------
"You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."
The IMDB (Internet Movie DataBase) shows that she did voices such as Daphne on the new Scooby Doo, Bimbette on Beauty And The Beast, and some voices for Star Wars EP1-TPM.
She even did vocals on Weird Al's "Pretty Fly For A Rabbi" ("How ya doin', Bernie?")
A great talent has been lost and this is very sad.
Wherever you are Mary Kay, I hope you are at peace.
Russ
War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. - George Orwell or George Bush?
Why on earth would a merciful God, who (remember) is in control of *everything* want /anyone/ to suffer in the pits of hell forever? Believer or not?
If I truly believed that the majority of mankind, including most of my friends, were going to hell, I'd never stay sane.
--
The reason people are mourning her and not some unknown mother of three in a car wreck is that they don't even know the mother of three exists.
There are six billion (6,000,000,000 to make sure that we Yanks and the Brits are thinking of the same "billion") people out there in the world. People are dying all the time. In the time it will take me to fisnish this sentence at least one person (at my typing speed it will be far greater than that) will have died somewhere in the world for some reason.
Do I mourn the person(s) who died while I was foolishly puttering away my limited time on this world typing this? Probably not.
Why? I DON'T KNOW THEM! I have never met them, I don't know their names, I've never seen their faces, they have never directly impacted my life in such a way that I can associate the effect with the person as an individual.
The death of a famous person is a lot different. I don't really know them, but I know of them. I've seen their faces, or heard their voices, or music, read their words, seen their films, etc... They have efeected my life in a way _I_ can accociate the effect with the pserson.
THAT is why famous people are mourned by the masses of the population. It is BECAUSE we know of them, we know they exist.
In the end >99% of us will only be mourned by the family and friends we leave behind. Is that really so bad?
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
If you don't know first hand, it's difficult to explain, but...
Sometimes the pain inside, in your gut, gets so bad you're willing to do anything to stop it. The reason for trying suicide isn't always the desire to end life, it's just one method of stopping the pain. Wanting to die isn't the objective, it's just a side effect of that particular method of making the suffering stop. But if you don't have the guts to... commit to death, then you have to do something about the pain some other way. Anything, you just have to make it go away. The reason you need to do something painful is to block out the other pain, to overwhelm it. This can be done physically, but it doesn't always have to be so. Self-inflicted psychological pain is another method, although that sort of thing is very personal. As for the physical... remedies, they can often be habit forming. You do it so often to stop the pain, that eventually you get... addicted to the counter-pain in a sort of way. It becomes a ritual, you don't even think about it. It can be anything - starvation, induced puking, forced sleep, the list goes on. But the thing is, you don't care. It keeps you alive. It becomes a survival mechanism, and gets built into your system. I have a particularly sick method of stopping the pain - self-mutilation. It's not pretty, but it works. I inherited the habit from my mother. But as I've studied depression a bit, as well as my own depression cycle, I've come to have better control over it all. It's like a hunger pang: if you just wait a while, you do eventually get over it. Same thing goes with depression, but it doesn't go away as quickly. Oddly enough, the act of knowing you're in a depression cycle, and knowing that it does eventually end helps a bit. Mine are long and dark, though, but they come far less often these days. I'm not sure why I'm telling this. Maybe to help those who don't really understand have a little better of an idea. But if you've never felt the pain, the... blackness, then you'll never fully understand...
If only people with extreme amounts of fame receive attention, eventually everyone will be worshipping the exact same set of people, and there will be less and less variety and flavor in life.
... ahem, sorry.
Myself, the only person I worship is my Dominatrix. And then only when I'm horny, or when she demands it, or I see her in those sexy, skintight black leather pants that so deliciously accentuate her
:-)
In all seriousness though, suicide is a terrible tragedy, as is all death for that matter (terrorists and serial killers aside). There is simply no way around it: mortality sucks. My thoughts go out to her family and friends, who will be very hard hit by this.
However, we should remember that suicide is her right. Perhaps not legally, under our less than just legal system, but ethicly and morally it is her decision to make. While this is hardly comforting or joyous (and I personally really wish she hadn't made that particular choice), it is nevertheless IMHO an important point that often gets ignored and forgotten. Whether she was diagnosed with a painful or perhaps undignified disease, or just unhappy with her life in general, the decision to end her life, while tragic, was her's and her's alone. A choice we may all regret, but one we should respect nevertheless. Of course, those local representatives of the religious right will almost certainly pull out their flamethrowers and moderate me down to -1 for expressing this opinion, but that's alright -- I wore my asbestos underware this morning anyway.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
A copule of comments on this thread have been along the lines of "Man, she was successful, had a way better life than me, why would she do this?" I just wanted to comment on that. It's natural to think that way--I used to, I'm not trying to rag on anyone here--but clinical depression (not the blues, or being down, but an honest-to-God mental illness) can strike anyone, regardless of what reason they have to be happy. I speak from personal experience that I'm not going to delve into, but let me say outward success will not help someone get over this disease. They need treatment, both pharmacological and psychological in most cases, to get through it. And it's not easy to tell if someone's depressed. The person I know is a wonderful actor, and if you aren't very close to them you don't know what's going on. It would be entirely possible for her close coworkers--hell, even for her husband and family--to have been completely unaware of what was going on until it was too late. There doesn't have to be an obvious trigger, a depressive episode can start for any number of unclear reasons.
Now, I don't presume to do pop psychology at a distance, since we don't know any details (and shouldn't. It's not our lives.) This has probably been to presumptive already, I just wanted to share my experiences. Without meaning to turn this into a PSA, I wanted to point out that there are plenty of resources on depression out there on the web if you're curious about what I was saying or depression in general. It's worth a look; it's very likely to touch your life somehow before it's all over.
Stevis
We've got two lives, one we're given, and the other one we make. --Mary Chapin Carpenter
What the hell is wrong with the moderators on this site? This post raises valid questions, and I don't see the core of malicious intent which would validate a label of 'Flamebait'!
Her suicide is sad news, and we know nothing of the details and circumstances surrounding it. Just because this poster admits he doesn't like South Park and questions how her role in it influenced her life doesn't mean he's trying to start a flame war.
I liked South Park. She was the voice of many South Park characters. She's made me laugh. She's made many, many people laugh.
Why so much anger? Do you simply hate celebrity status of people?
Absolutely.When I die, I will be replaced at work. But there will be ~100 people at work who will mourn my passing, because they either know me, or in most cases they simply know of my work and realize that losing me will be a setback for the company.
Now, Mary Kay is known by thousands and thousands of people all over the world. That's the only reason it's news. There's nothing wrong with that!
Then you will have profoundly touched my life at the time of your death. In the meantime, I will simply remember you as Yet Another Slashdot Poster.
I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
Simon and Ganfunkle did a good song of the same title, based on the poem.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
I really didn't want to get into this (so why did I start it? Ok you got me) -- but wasn't God supposed to have created Satan. And isn't God supposed to be everywhere and in control of everything?
It all makes less sense than believing, as I do, that it's all just there. Nobody made it, and when you die, you rot away and nothing else.
--
If she was a Christian, then she was either a very lax one or had some serious issues. "By your works you shall be known".
-- Slashdot sucks.
Duckman still comes on every night on Teletoon here in Canada. For a while David Misch, one of the producers, was hanging around on alt.tv.duckman talking about making the show. It was very cool.
He would not, absolutely would not, tell about what was supposed to happen at the beginning of season 5. The last show of season 4 was quite a cliffhanger (apparently designed to get people to pressure USA to keep the show). The newsgroup went alight when that episode first aired in Canada. He wouldn't tell though, and he has a good reason for it.
He maintains (as well as many other sources) that they are actively trying to get Duckman back on the air with new episodes. Comedy Central just picked up the first four seasons for air in the US in 2000, there is hope that this may trigger a resurgence. I'm hoping, at least.
On a sadder note, in 1997, the voice of Charles, Dana Hill died. The voice was taken over by Pat Musick. That was too bad...
Doctor says 'Treatment is simple. Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him, that should pick you up.'
Man burst into tears. Says 'But doctor, ... I am Pagliacci.'
From The Watchmen, Alan Moore
Heaven forbid that we Christians should ever be as intolerant and callous of others as they are of us
And then, from the message this reply attaches to (by the same author):
If she was a Christian, then she was either a very lax one or had some serious issues. "By your works you shall be known".
To this I say "Good Show!" Thank you for illustrating the very reasons many people distrust and are "intolerant and callous" of Christians.
Damn, how'd I get sucked into a usenet religious flamewar?
--
NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
What did the simpsons do when voice of Troy McCleur and others died?
(I dont know, because in here in the UK we havent caught up yet)
If you want to respond, respond with a counterexample.
Your last sentence is so ridiculous it hardly merits a mention: you are saying that I can't tell if someone has a Christian faith by their actions over a period of time? The Bible disagrees with you, pretty strongly. In fact, the sentence you object to is a quote from the book of James.
-- Slashdot sucks.
What if you've picked the wrong god?
One thing I have never been able to figure out is how people think that a god that would sentance people to burn in hell for all eternity just for not believing was a 'kind and loving god'. There are just too many inconsistancies there to take everything at face value. One has to wonder if god(s) does/do exist, how accurately man has forwarded their message. Would it be the first time that (often self-appointed) authority figures overstated the downside of misbehavior in order to try to intimidate people to 'correct' behavior? Would it be the first time that authority figures invoke the name of a 'higher power' to gain power?
Tony Hancock, Max Linder, Mark Sheridan, T. E. Dunville, the French clown Marceline, Freddie Prinze... that's not counting attempted suicides and drug and alcohol abuse (many others). It's like black-lung for coal miners: black-spirit for comedians. It's daunting. One cannot protect some types of artists- they remain vulnerable and you can only wish them well and do what you can to not overload them, knowing that much of the world will not be so forgiving, and even if it was, it still might not help... ;P *heh*
In conclusion, I'd just like to say, "Suicide is baaaad, mmkay?"
The part that's wrong is the fact that nobody cares if an average Joe kills himself.
My understanding is that something like 10,000 people kill themselves every year. If I wept for each, I'd be grieving approximately once an hour. Add in all the other unfortunates who die prematurely for whatever reason, and I'd be crippled if I expressed grief for each of them.
Grief doesn't help the deceased. I think the real priority is getting us to care about the living.
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
Why do people care who Sarah Michelle Gellar is dating? Do they actually think they'd stand a chance with her otherwise?
This is totally true:
I have a friend who has a friend who went to Michigan State. Well, he went there with his girlfriend I guess, and they had been dating for a number of years in high school also. Well, I guess this girl is a total bitch! Yah know, the kind to keep the ol' ball and chain around his neck at all times. Well, this guy gets a great intern opportunity to work in L.A. (he wants to be an actor), so of course he takes it, depite his obviously upset girlfriend.
So his job is not too exciting.. basically driving a cart around sets of various Television shows. BUT, he actually gets to cart around a lot of the actors and actresses. One time, eh was carting around Sara Michelle Gellar... and she was like, "you're really cute". Well, obviously he is pretty flattered and all... and then she actually ASKS HIM OUT. So he really wants to, but he fels bad because he still likes his girlfriend back home... yah know, the total bitch. so he tells her no. and he tells his girlfriend about it too, who of course gets pissed and real jealous.
Well, then Sara persists.. you know those Hollywood types, always getting their way. So he actually goes out with her! And they have a great time, so he starts seeing her more often. Well, his girlfriend is starting to get a clue, because he si never around at night when she calls anymore... so she is being double bitchy. Then, one night she calls.. and I guess Sara Michelle Gellar actually picks up the phone!!!!!! Now you can imagine the fireworks that come from this! I guess the girl actually flies to LA to bitch her boyfriend out and all, and i think he actually made up with her and they are back together again still! Can you believe it! He actually gave up Sara Michelle Gellar! I could just die...
Free Will.
It's an old philosophical saw:
God is All Knowing, All Good, and All Powerful.
BUT.
Evil exists, therefore, He either Doesn't Know About It, Doesn't Care About It, or Can't Do Something About It.
Sound like rational logic isn't up to the task of explaining this paradox?
One explanation I've heard for this is that God create us with Free Will. The principle of Free Will is very important, God didn't want to make a bunch of robots to be "His friends". He created beings who could CHOOSE to be "His friends". This essentially redefines "Good" to mean, standing for the principle of Free Will over human miserey and suffering. The human miserey and suffering is allowed to exist, because if God stepped in and interfered in our Free Will to stop it, then we'd be robots.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said "Information wants to be free".
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
Good thoughts. What I guess I was trying to say, was if people only knew how *much* suicide really impacts those around them, they might realize how important they really are. But you're right. In the throws of depression, its very difficult to think about anyone else besides your problems.
I would hope that if someone became lucid enough to think about other people's reaction to their death, that they might realize the profound impact it would have. Perhaps then they might realize that maybe they should stick it out and try to improve things. Its my hope. Not necessarily realistic.
BTW, we might want to informally agree to separate Church and Slashdot. This just doesn't feel like the right forum to discuss spirituality.
-- Dave Aiello
The real problem with hell is that it is eternal punishment, the point of no return, no second chances.
:-), etc). Even a lot of people who really are pretty much assholes really don't deserve eternal torment and damnation.
That kind of attitude is one of the things that turns so many people off from religion. 'No second chances' just doesn't seem consistant with a 'kind, loving and forgiving' deity. And eternal punishment seems only fitting for the worst sort of offenders (such as Stalin, Hitler, Bill Gates
The Bible tells you how to be sure that you will avoid hell. Take the advice. Don't go there.
Well, the Bible is not only inconsistant and vague, it is greatly open to interpretation. There are hundreds of denominations which call themselves Christian, and yet almost nobody agrees on what the Bible really means.
All I can say is that any deity that would condemn me to eternal fire for basically being human is evil and doesn't deserve to be worshiped. So either way, it looks to me like most of the world's organized religions really have things wrong one way or the other.