Friday, September 29, 2006
well, the Terrell Owens Might Have Committed Suicide event seems to be over. The Owens camp is denying everything. The police are a little bit angry that the Owens camp has lamely claimed a police conspiracy to make him look bad. but it looks like he will go back to playing football, probably way too soon. (http://select.nytimes.com/2006/09/29/sports/football/29araton.html)
Senor Beavis (coefficient of relatedness = 0.5) spoke well about the complex and awkward relationship our society has to depression in light of the Terrell Owens incident. (http://banthetubetop.blogspot.com/2006/09/we-hope-you-choke.html). In his piece he also discussed the fact that we are having trouble generating opinions because no one is sure what if anything took place.
My first night in my first apartment out of college in San Francisco, my craiglist roommate/master tenant was taken away in an ambulance. Her friend who had been on the phone with her determined that she had intentionally overdosed on NSAIDs and called the cops. Upon her return the next morning, she claimed she had a bad reaction to a combination of meds and a head cold. I don't care which it was, it isn't my business, but the point is that suicide isn't like pregnancy. Often times, it cannot be determined objectively.
There has been an swirling undercurrent that this whole event might have been staged as a publicity stunt/ploy to make the nation feel sorry for him. (For the non-sports-inclined, Terrell is a famously self-centered wide receiver and about as close to a national villain as we have. Even Tom DeLay has partisan support.) If this was a publicity stunt, it is so ill-conceived and poorly executed, that it displays a fairly serious detachment from reality. and if it wasn't and his actions were suicidal, it shows a similar level of unwellness. I feel sorry for terrell owens. But I always have. The whole event reminds me a little of "Network" and"Rollerball." I guess it is just the public death of public figures aspect.
Senor Beavis (coefficient of relatedness = 0.5) spoke well about the complex and awkward relationship our society has to depression in light of the Terrell Owens incident. (http://banthetubetop.blogspot.com/2006/09/we-hope-you-choke.html). In his piece he also discussed the fact that we are having trouble generating opinions because no one is sure what if anything took place.
My first night in my first apartment out of college in San Francisco, my craiglist roommate/master tenant was taken away in an ambulance. Her friend who had been on the phone with her determined that she had intentionally overdosed on NSAIDs and called the cops. Upon her return the next morning, she claimed she had a bad reaction to a combination of meds and a head cold. I don't care which it was, it isn't my business, but the point is that suicide isn't like pregnancy. Often times, it cannot be determined objectively.
There has been an swirling undercurrent that this whole event might have been staged as a publicity stunt/ploy to make the nation feel sorry for him. (For the non-sports-inclined, Terrell is a famously self-centered wide receiver and about as close to a national villain as we have. Even Tom DeLay has partisan support.) If this was a publicity stunt, it is so ill-conceived and poorly executed, that it displays a fairly serious detachment from reality. and if it wasn't and his actions were suicidal, it shows a similar level of unwellness. I feel sorry for terrell owens. But I always have. The whole event reminds me a little of "Network" and"Rollerball." I guess it is just the public death of public figures aspect.
# posted by 8yearoldsdude @ 1:35 PM 
