So Many Obituaries...

With the death of Billy Mays, who was quite possibly the only person in the world who could out talk the Sham-Wow guy, I was reminded of just how many people have died recently. I mean, just off the top of my head, I can already remember seven quite famous people dying so far this year (except for the dates, which I had to Google):

• Billy Mays - TV Infomercial Guy (June 28, 2009)
• Michael Jackson - The King of Pop (June 25, 2009)
• Farrah Fawcett - Actress (June 25, 2009)
• Ed McMahon - TV Announcer (June 23, 2009)
• David Carradine - Actor (June 3, 2009)
• Irving Levine - Newscaster (March 26, 2009)
• Helen Suzman - Apartheid Activist (January 1, 2009)

It really is quite sad...But it has led me to another realization, that was sort of compounded by a quote I saw outside of a gas station the other day:

No one cares who is pulling the cart until the horse dies

So bring in your car for a checkup now, for the low, low price of...etc. But the latter bit isn't really important. My point is this: people care more about others once they are dead. To illustrate my point: Michael Jackson was ostracized for much of his later life, all because he was said to have been a child molester. And though he was declared not guilty, that trial haunted him for the rest of his life. Though the quote above does not apply directly to Jackson, the integral point remains. People no longer cared about him until he died. Now that he has died, Michael Jackson jokes aren't "OK" anymore, people are listening to his music again, and people feel sorry for him, including many people who were involved in ostracizing him previously.

This is not to say that I don't think people should feel sorry for what happened to him. I just think that should have come out a little earlier. Michael Jackson might be an extreme example of this, but it seems to be an integral part of the human condition that we don't miss anything until it is gone.

~Setsanto

Your Daily WTF Moments

I swear I'm basically going to become a link-to-news-watchdog's blog, but anyway, here are your daily WTF moments. And yes, that is the most scientific way I can think of describing them, thanks for asking.

1. Fox News is accusing ABC of having unprecedented access to the White House and Obama in its report on Health Care reform, even though they got to do exactly the same thing with Bush when he was in power but a few years ago.
2. North Korea are planning on firing a missile at Hawaii to celebrate July 4th. "Oh, that's the day independence day is on? We just thought it was the 15th anniversary of Glorious Leader Kim-Il-Sung's death..." There really isn't much more I can say on this one.
3. Lastly, PETA is annoyed at Obama since he swatted a fly. And if you want to see some real newscasters on it, Stephen Colbert covered it here (it starts at around 3:15).

~Setsanto