Paul Walker died

Oh great.  First we lose Paul Walker to a car crash, now Kevin is all TICKED OFF!  What more do you people want me to bear on a Monday evening???  :(

I dunno... how bout your cable TV goes on the fritz or your PC monitor decides today is the day to give up the ghost? 

And no, I'm not ticked off, or angry whatsoever. I simply find this aspect of our modern society, where a celebrity life is worth more than your own in the eyes of his or her fans, a pathetic commentary on modern values. More pathetic, though, is people like Scottrf who, besides getting butthurt by my comments, also let those comments fly over his head like the International Space Station, and then try to call ME stupid for MY opinion. It's laughable at best, but unfortunately this guy will one day be old enough to have an impact on the world... and we can only imagine what a meager impact that will be, since he's so absorbed in worshipping his celebrities... kinda sucks the laughter out of things when you realize guys like him are why this world has gone so far down the tubes in the past century.

Also, I do not personally know Barack Obama. So I would definetly object if his untimely death would hit the news - what business is it of mine if he died?

Etc etc by that logic.

His opinions are just ridiculous. Nowhere have I worshipped any celebrity, I just said it's not up to him who people can be upset over the death of. I have also never stated one life is more valuable than another.

He has missed my points repeatedly while making judgments on my celebrity worship (shown where?).

I'm the reason the world has gone so far down the tubes, and this scumbag doesn't even know me. He's making these judgments based on me saying people should be allowed to express sadness over the death of a human being and a father. And they don't really need his irrelevant graffiti over the thread.

One thing that is interesting is that you don't even need the "old lady" analogy...the driver of the car also died, and nobody is saying anything nice about him ;).

The problem here is not the inclusion of Paul Walker, but the exclusion/omission of everyone else.  It's like 911...3000 people died.  An order of magnitude less than other things, like drunk driving, or smoking...yet in the US, we have contorted our whole society around and spent trillions of dollars based on that one act, while DUIs still get a slap on the wrist and smoking companies are still selling cigarettes. 

These are all forms of "celebrity", and the basic notion underlying it all is that people you "know" are more important somehow than people you don't.  That fundamental immoral position is the cause of much of world's maladies.

They did a study after the Miley Cyrus "twerking" incident, which occurred during some noteworthy events in Syria...in the US, the average internet browser was 12 times more likely to click on a Miley Cyrus link than a link about the situation in Syria.  That...is criminally ignorant.

So, while I would not bash anyone that posts to this thread (two wrongs don't make a right), the celebrity aspect of the media reporting in stories like this is always disturbing...

Clearly. You wouldn't expect people to mourn people who have had no impact upon their life equally with someone who has?

Also, why do people anyone fuss over the games of Carlsen and Anand?

I dont even know them personally!!

Of course I wouldn't, that would require a leap of human nature far above the animal state we live in now ;)...nevertheless, if people could value everyone equally, there would little or nothing in the way of wars, murders, etc.  It's a failing of human nature...that we can understand perfectly well that other people are the same as us, and we can give lip service to valuing them equally, but in the end people don't give a damn for anything not in their immediate line of sight.

Of course it's completely impossible. You can't attend a funeral for everyone that dies like you would your own family. It doesn't mean we are all animals or that it's a failing of human nature.

Thanks for making my point.

Why do people pour hundreds of billions of dollars every year into sports...endeavors which produce nothing of value at all?

The difference is intent/motivation.  Obviously, you cannot care about anyone/anything you have no knowledge of.  In this case, though, once these deaths are brought to your attention, you will value the "celebrity" that you have some false knowledge of over the unnamed driver of the car.

Yeah!

Also music.

And movies are worthless.

Not to mention tasty food.

And nice clothes.

I think we should all live in caves, and use rocks for pillows.

Nice straw man, but there's a difference.  All the items you listed have a purpose that fufills some human need that is actually worthwhile.  Sports...or, pardon me, spectating at sports without participating in them, only fills the need of allowing beta males to identify with something alpha, so their baboon brains can feel better about themselves..."our team won!...we are so bada$$".

I would love to see you describe the purposes of

1. music

2. movies

3.tasty food

4. nice clothes

5. fancy homes

In a way that would draw clear distinction from the benefits of sporting events.

So you knew Paul Walker? He personally impacted your life? You, son, are a hypocrite.

3-5 are food/clothing/shelter related, so I am not even going to bother explaining those...you can look up Mazlow's hierarchy of needs if you want to.  Music and movies...music fulfills a human need to find patterns, beyond it's more obvious benefits.  Movies can be a form of communication and exposition of ideas that can't be done as well in other mediums.  

Sports I already covered.

Nomad, you're looking at this all wrong.  You're correct that Paul Walker's death is no different than any other tragic accidental death.  But when people grieve in public for the death of a celebrity, they're performing a collective empathy ritual.  They are sharing in the mutual understanding that it is sad when people die.  In a way, they are grieving for everyone who dies through this ritual.  This opportunity for group morning on a massive scale does not come when grandma down the street dies.  It comes when a celebrity, a world leader, a great athlete, or an otherwise well-known person dies.  Whether or not the person was great, or did great things is not important.