Pull yourselves together

I came in to work this morning and couldn't avoid all the coverage of Katy French's death in the Irish media. Obviously it's very tragic and her family must be going through hell but is it any more or less tragic than the death of Kevin Doyle in Waterford last week? He died in what appears to be similar circumstances and a friend of his is still fighting for his life in hospital but nobody seems too concerned about them.

Now, I'm not completely naive - I understand that she's a celebrity and the papers have an audience that demands celebrity news as opposed to grim news from Waterford. The papers behavior at time like this is one thing, but I really can't believe some of the comments that have been posted on the Independent's website under their main report.. Who on earth is writing this stuff? Katy French was an Irish model - I've no idea if she was a good one or not. I don't know how these things are decided. She got a lot of coverage in the Sunday Independent for most of the year and I've seen her on various tv shows but I don't know much more about her than that. A lot of the things that have been written here this morning are by people who didn't know much about her either. It hasn't stopped them though..

Here's some of the comments. I've lifted them directly from the site:

I can't believe the news....Katy was such and inspiration to many...

I didn't know this lady but a huge loss to Ireland...

She was our princess-we each owned a little bit of her. That beautiful smile and warm personality will be greatly missed and never forgotten...

Ireland has lost today,a very special person, a beautiful icon of such grace and charm...

R.I.P Katy, a light went out in Dublin last night..

The world is certainly a poorer place without her.

You will be greatly missed by the whole country..

The whole Irish nation is in mourning at the loss of this beautiful young girl. She touched us all deep in our hearts and even those who did not know her are in sadness today...

There is billion's of stars shining in the sky but there is one thats shining bright Katy and thats you...

Seriously, isn't there something wrong with us if we're talking about this girl's death as some kind of national tragedy? Where did this need to mourn come from? Did it all start with Princess Diana's death? Obviously the media need to take some responsibility for the way these things are reported but those comments have been posted by regular punters that are reading the same news reports that you and I are .. 'an inspiration to many... our princess... a beautiful icon...the brightest star in the sky...' What's wrong with these people? What possesses them to write this stuff?

Perhaps people feel this way because of the way she died. If she died suddenly I don't think people would have reacted that way they have. We had 5 full days of coverage with very little fresh news. As a result there's been lots of speculation and lots of people playing catch-up on who she is and what she's done. In my office on Monday very few people had heard of her or knew who she was. Four days later and it's like we've been following her life and exploits for years. Without being disrespectful, it's almost been like the ultimate celebrity reality show. Now that it's over, people feel the need to add their little summary. It was the same when George Best died. That story lived for so long in the news at the time that the momentum carried on after his death to the point that he practically had a state funeral.

Am I being a bit harsh? I don't mean to speak ill of the dead here. On the other hand, I do mean to speak ill of the living. How do these people deal with real problems close to home? How will they deal with a death in their own family? In the end I think that her family and friends must be in a terrible state this week. The same can be said for Kevin Doyle's. But the grief is theirs. Trying to make it ours as well is just distasteful..