<<<Some do. I suspect that a lot of those who are reacting so
strongly have very little memory of the Kennedy years.>>>
You don't have to have a first-hand memory of the Kennedy years to have a mental wardrobe of JKjr. images, and images of his parents. They're out there. Christopher, I see, made the same point as you did about this. And if one doesn't watch the TV news or any 'magazine shows,' one might be able to miss those images.
I've never read an issue of People Magazine. I might mention that I have also never watched any program or read any personality-article about the Kennedy family, and had no particular interest in JKjr before this conversation here, in which I became aware of a good deal of what seemed to me undue contempt for the grief of others (not of mine; though I did feel sad when I heard the news.) I didn't even know the name of his wife before her death, though I could have picked it out of a group of three. But usually I do watch the nightly news, and the occasional magazine show. And that was enough to make me feel a personal sadness at the death. (As I said before, there is no TV at my son's place, where I was when the plane crashed, so I also missed what is being called the "media circus" that followed it.)
<<<...precisely why I feel that this reaction says something about our culture...toward whom do we develop feelings of affectionate warmth?>>>
I am in sympathy with you there, and I do think it is a good and interesting question.
In some ways, the obvious ones, it's not a hard question. The most obvious is that we have to have, or feel, a personal familiarity/emotional connection, toward the person. There are others. To me, the emotional attachment felt by so many toward JKjr is much less peculiar than that felt toward movie stars and sports teams and figures. Caring what team of multimillionaires wins in a ball-management contest? To me, it's Give Me a Break time. But I'm only bemused at, and not scathing toward, those who do care.
<<<I think these things show a visceral yearning for inherited
aristocracy, for royalty, for the idea that some people are
inherently better than others, more deserving of attention
and recognition.>>>
Steven, you explicitly offered as an idea that one of the three might conceivably be seen as more deserving because of her business acumen and bilingual status. No one else proposed such a thing. They only expressed felt grief for the one they felt close to. (But the greater media attention to his death than to that of the others may reasonably be assumed to contain an implied component of what you complain about, I see that.)
I must point out that JKjr was a person who was not only a successful business person, his magazine George doing very well, but was a socially conscious person who was engaged in many good works, virtually all of which were done anonymously. I think you simply do not have the information from which to conclude that his death was a lesser loss to society, and less deserving of recognition, in your scales, that was the death of Ms. Bissette.
However, I agree that there is this drive in people to identify, affiliate, with those of much higher status. It is, I suspect, "hard-wired," and it does appear quite pathetic in its modern manifestation as "celebrity-identification." It no doubt appeared less pathetic and more instrumental when the gestures of affiliation and obeisance were made by our puny ancestors to the sharp-eyed, muscular hunter three caves down from the big rock and our sycophantic cave guy ancestor could hope to derive a lump of bear grease next winter in appreciation for the praise-grunts he emitted round the communal fire. (In this metaphor, the powerful hunter is JKjr, or a sports hero, and the disadvantaged affiliation-seekers are the fans, or affines.)
<<<I don't like this notion, and I think the best antidote is
conscious rejection.>>>
I see, now, that that is what is going on. Lather feels much the same as you do, and he elucidated similar feelings for me. However, the process of the rejection seemed to me to throw the entirely normal baby out with the regrettable bath water. And also: sorry, dude, but... the antidote won't work!-- though a few voices in the wilderness expressing your and Lather's views are undoubtedly salutary to have in the meme-mix.
I think the discussion at this point would, if we were to continue it, turn to the subject of news management, the media in general, and ~Ratings~. But I don't have much heart for that depressing discussion, and suspect you don't either, at this point. |
