Written by:	jupitreas
Published:	29.12.2009

There are certain things in everyday society that never cease to piss me off. In order to function better, we have created a huge amount of norms and little social contracts, many of which are actually quite nice and helpful. Others simply make no sense.

One such thing is the way we deal with death as by-standers. By that, I mean as people who are not directly hurt by the passing of another human being. The deceased might have been only a casual acquaintance, a friend-of-a-friend or indeed, a public figure such as a musician, actor or politician. Life is not Star Wars, my friends. After death, Hitler was not completely forgiven for all his wrongdoings. What is it about the very idea of death that makes every person act weird? After all, it happens to absolutely, and without any exception, all of us.

A musician most likely was not as evil as Hitler but the principle remains the same - we should treat them and see them exactly as we did when they were still alive. If we disliked their music and maybe them personally, dying shouldn't change that. Unfortunately, grief is cool and gives people the opportunity to flaunt their 'sensitivity'. This is grief as a commodity, a fetish with value in society. A selfish tool of achieving self-importance and acceptance by means of hypocrisy. Sadly - hypocrisy based on the death of another individual - the very thing that we're all supposed to be very sensitive about.

Have you ever had anyone close to you die prematurely? Now imagine someone making a huge spectacle of grieving heavily for this person. The catch is - the rabid griever didnt know the deceased all that well, or maybe even disliked them. Doesn't this phony grief cheapen your own pain over the passing of your close one?

Instead, out of respect for the deceased and their close ones, it is far better not to be a hypocrite attention-whore. Michael Jackson suddenly became the biggest American hero when he died because it was fashionable to grieve for the freak.

With this little rant out of my system, let me leave you with the lyrics to a song that I think sums up this whole issue pretty well.

Everybody Loves You (When You're Dead) by Cop Shoot Cop
Everybody loves you when you're dead
And everyone is suddenly you're dearest friend
Nobody talks no dirt about you
But life it just goes on above your head
When you're dead

Everybody miss you when you're gone
They'll reminisce about you
When they hear your favorite song
They'll think that they said something wrong
They'll wonder if there was something they shoud've said
When you're gone

And I'm never gonna tell a lie
And I'm never gonna wear a tie
And I'm never gonna say goodbye
Goodbye

Life is so much better when you're dead
Conversation's easy when there's nothing to be said
But it can get a little lonesome
Maybe you should take along a friend
Like I said

And I'm never gonna tell a lie
And I'm never gonna wear a tie
And if I can't walk, maybe I can fly
Don't ask the reason why
But I'm never gonna say goodbye
Goodbye"