Twenty Years Ago Today
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| Di and Dodi trying to avoid paparazzi |
Sacrificial Rites
Driven by a drunk they sought escape
In their Mercedes. Paparazzi sped
After them –– a form of Public Rape
No one has outlawed. Then they wound up dead.
Dead! Because of Folklust for Cheap Thrills.
Dead! Because “The Folk” should get a life.
Ogling the Rich and Famous fills
Dreary lives with smut, intrigue and strife.
Idle minds find Idols to adore.
Devoutly do they worship these false gods.
Only soon they’ll look for reasons to deplore
Deities with whom Life seems at odds.
In death we canonize what once perplexed ––
Eager for the Victim who’ll come next.
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| Begnning their last journey |
~ FreeThinke, The Sandpiper, Summer 1997
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| The People's Princess (1961-1997) R.I.P |
Paparazzi are like drug dealers in many ways. If people didn't crave pics and inside scoops on celebrities, they wouldn't exist.
ReplyDeleteI never understood the whole Diana craze. Royalty is an anachronism in this day and age.
Princess Diana's popularity had little to do with "Royalty," but everything to do with CELEBRITY.
DeleteOf the two I'll take Royalty any day.
You're right about the Public's insatiable appetite for cheap sensation being the the raison d'etre for the paparazzi, but I, of course, lay the blame for the Publuic's deplorable sense of values on the inordinate power of the ENEMEDIA, and by that I mean News and Information, but also Entertainment –– i.e. movies, TV, popular printed matter, unlimited access to pornograohy, and the lowest forms of vulgarity on the internet and every other conceivable venue, and the increasing denigration and illegalization of Christian doctrine in public places by leftist Jurists run amok.
Pay people for photo's of celebrities and you'll get a lot of people photographing celebrities. And if you like periodicals with photo's of celebrities in them, then you're the one paying them.
ReplyDeleteYes of course. P.T. Barnum told us "There's a sucker born every minute" more tha a hundred years ago. He was right, but so what?
DeleteI can't blame anyone for exploring Public Stupidity in order to make a buck, can you?
btw - Where do you think your "featured" photo's came from?
ReplyDeleteWhy would you ask? We happily take advantage of all material freely available to illustrate and promote our creations. Only fools don't.
DeleteIf the images gleaned from Internet Central Supply Depots weren't readily available, there would have been no impetus to write the poem in the first place.
DeleteOne again I quote Piet Hen:
The Universe may
Be as great as they say,
But it wouldn't be missed,
If it didn't exist.
~ Piet Hein - in Grooks
That seminal sentiment could easily apply to all phenomena.
...the paparazzi took all your photo's.
ReplyDeleteThe high cost of "free," I suppose.
It may have cost Diana and the Arab Playboy their lives, but it cost ME absolutely NOTHING, Beanie.
DeleteAnd –– as I already said above, which succintly explicates the entire point of this post:
If the images gleaned from Internet Central Supply Depots weren't readily available, there would have been no impetus to write the poem in the first place.
20 Years ago today, Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play!
ReplyDeleteHow very sad!
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ReplyDeleteFrankly, I have never understood the phenomenon of celebrity groupies.
ReplyDeleteI say the same about political groupies.
The above said, I remember noticing at the time of Diana's death many people taking her death personally -- as if they knew her. Palpable grief. Strange.
I thought the sonnet, based on the acrostic "Di And Dodie Do Die," in case you hadn't noticed, explained that rather well, albeit in oblique poetic terminology.
DeleteWith few exeptions most people's lives are dreary and devoid of excitement, satisfaction, fulfillment, indeed any kind of meaning.
The ENEMEDIA freely EXPLOITS this for profit by deliberately fomenting "Crises" from "Shocking, Tittillating Events" that show rich, privileged, prominent individuals to be no different from the Common Herd.
This creates an ADDICTION to CHEAP, RAW SENSATIONALISM in the Vulgar Populace that does great harm to the Social Fabric in my never humble estimation.
Once fed, any unwholesome appetite never ceases to grow.
She was murdered because England did not want a moslem heir to the throne. THEY'RE GETTING ONE ANYWAY !
ReplyDeleteKid,
DeleteOne of my friends in the UK believes that to be true.
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ReplyDeleteKeep your sarcastic quips, aspersions, and snotty, unwelcome oetty assertions to yourself, Nursie-Poo-Poo.
DeleteNotice that I did NOT say "PLEASE."
Nursie-Poo-Poo. LOL, thats a good one.
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DeleteFrau Klinkenheimer Schmidt say...
DeleteGood one Sir FreeThinke!
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ReplyDeleteI just want to wish everyone on the board and all of your family and friends, a Super, and Safe, Fantastic Fun Filled Labor Day weekend!
ReplyDeleteAnd take it easy on those Hot Dogs and Burgers.
I hope you have a good Labor Day weekend too, DD.
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ReplyDeleteA Marvelous Labor Day to ALL hard working patriots!
ReplyDeleteMAGA!!!
Yes, but we need to make it a CONTEMPLATIVE Labor Day Weekend too.
DeleteThink about WHY we are supposed to celebrate this occasion. It ought to help us straighten out our priorities, which appear to be in a terrible state of disarray.
True happiness cannot cime to an adult without acquiring a bit of wisdom each day.