Is it just me.....or

leggo

Is it just me.....or

leggo

Every channel I go to is inundated with Whitney Houston. I don't think it's assuming much to figure out her death was drug/alcohol related. It really bugs me that if she had died from cancer, it would be a pretty short story. Man oh man, Gary Carter just died of brain cancer and if I didn't get the tweet, I wouldn't even have known. Why are cancer deaths so quickly swept under the rug? No wonder we're not getting anywhere. Seems to me it's just still a whisper when it's discussed. Still a stigma.

ETA: I can't think of one single celebrity that died of cancer and didn't get more than a two-minute blurb on the news.

lrr4993

It is getting this level of coverage because of who she was, not how she died. If she died of cancer there probably would still be this level of coverage.



Gary Carter's death was not swept under the rug. He just was not that well known. I actually don't even know exactly who he is. Is the baseball player who died recently?

leggo

Gary Carter was probably a bad example....but really, everytime someone famous dies of cancer the news reports just want to spit it out and move on. If it's an overdose it just goes on and on. I guess it's just me.

sweetbean

It might also be the suddenness of it all, too?  I remember Patrick Swayze and Farrah Fawcett both got a lot of coverage, but nothing compared to Michael Jackson and I think they all died around the same time.  Michael Jackson's death was a big surprise, though, and the other two were expected.  Sad.

leggo

Good point sweetbean.

ETA: I guess I just wasn't all that surprised at Michael Jackson's and Whitney Houston's death. Admittedly, the media can be very fickle.

lrr4993

I agree that the suddenness of it is a factor. Cancer deaths are rarely unexpected. I cannot recall anyone of the level of fame of whitney houston who died at a young age from cancer, so I cannot compare. Steve Jobs is the closest I can think of and he got A LOT of coverage too. Not this level, but for a non-celebrity, that is not surprising.