Slashdot Mirror
'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.'"
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.
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.
This is all too true, though maybe not in the context you mention it. I don't believe that its fear of being prevented from killing themselves that stops most people from talking about their suicidal feelings. Most suicides make multiple attempts to let people clue into their pain. Often these attempts may be too cryptic for relatives or friends to realize. Often the fear that keeps them from being more open about their pain is that whatever they fear will be confirmed from those around them -- eg. I confess that i'm extremely lonely and if I tell someone they might tell me its cause I'm an asshole, or ugly or something along those lines.
And this is still a way too simplistic explanation. I've spent over 8 years dealing with the suicide in my family. I've been in therapy and have examined this problem from many angles. Its just too complex to reduce to some pat explanation, even as I have above. The biggest damage that suicides bring are usually to those around the victim. Having lived through one, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Its not something you get over very easily.
But I also agree with part of your assessment. I have come to believe that there are many situations where suicide may be warranted. I don't believe you have outlined any suicides i would consider acceptable (which i define as something I would be able to accept if it happened to a family memeber or loved one). Chronic pain with no cure is one of these. Perhaps a debilitating condition that one can't work through might be another. Its a personal choice. But this choice is also one that your loved-ones will have to deal with. To only consider your own view is selfish. Many others will be severly impacted by your decision. At least recognize that.
Its a sticky subject, and there are lots of emotions on all sides of it. Its something I wish I didn't have to examine so closely, but I think I'm better off from having done so.
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.
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