Before I put down my thoughts on this I am going to preface it with the following. When Jack Layton passed away I was saddened, not because I held him up on any pedestal, but because I have followed his career for a number of years right up to his victory over the Liberals in bringing the NDP to official opposition status. Since his passing there have been many well wishers from all corners of politics and there has been a great outpouring of emotion regarding his death. To see Olivia Chow standing at his coffin certainly invokes the memory of a grief we have all faced at some point in our lives.
What I don't understand is the people who are crying, displaying what has been deemed Teddy Bear Grief. This is not a new phenomena, the death of Princess Dianna had a similar effect. People caught up in the celebrity of an individual who was struck down seemingly in the prime of their life and built up by the media as a saint. For the people who are crying (I mean really crying) openly over Jack Layton's passing I have to ask, "why?"
Are you caught up in the celebrity of his death. Did you know him personally? Do you really believe that he is the wonderful political bridge builder? What is the the draw? Why does the public get swept up in an event like this, but act indifferently when 18,000 Japanese are wiped out by a tsunami. (Remember them?)
People lined up for hours to bid farewell to Jack Layton, cried openly on the news as if he was their oldest friend when in all honesty most probably only knew him from news bits on CBC, CTV or any other affiliate that carried politics. This public grieving is puzzling when you think that we barely blinked at the massacre in Oslo only a bit over a month ago.
Human nature is very strange and this new collective grief is even more puzzling. No doubt this Op will anger some, but I am not insulting Jack Layton or throwing stones at a funeral. I am looking at the public at large and trying to understand how they can be spun into a collective grief while so many others go to to their grave without a second thought.
My condolence to the Laytons and may they come through these very difficult times.
What I don't understand is the people who are crying, displaying what has been deemed Teddy Bear Grief. This is not a new phenomena, the death of Princess Dianna had a similar effect. People caught up in the celebrity of an individual who was struck down seemingly in the prime of their life and built up by the media as a saint. For the people who are crying (I mean really crying) openly over Jack Layton's passing I have to ask, "why?"
Are you caught up in the celebrity of his death. Did you know him personally? Do you really believe that he is the wonderful political bridge builder? What is the the draw? Why does the public get swept up in an event like this, but act indifferently when 18,000 Japanese are wiped out by a tsunami. (Remember them?)
People lined up for hours to bid farewell to Jack Layton, cried openly on the news as if he was their oldest friend when in all honesty most probably only knew him from news bits on CBC, CTV or any other affiliate that carried politics. This public grieving is puzzling when you think that we barely blinked at the massacre in Oslo only a bit over a month ago.
Human nature is very strange and this new collective grief is even more puzzling. No doubt this Op will anger some, but I am not insulting Jack Layton or throwing stones at a funeral. I am looking at the public at large and trying to understand how they can be spun into a collective grief while so many others go to to their grave without a second thought.
My condolence to the Laytons and may they come through these very difficult times.
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