Wow, is what I thought when I read the headline 'Amy Winehouse Found Dead'. I'm not sure why since I think most of us saw it coming. Maybe I was surprised because I had become used to Amy being the butt of jokes in the media. And when someone is considered a joke they are dehumanized. So despite the fact that the writing was on the wall with regard to Amy's untimely death most people, myself included, didn't really process how serious her drug problems were. That even after seeing the evidence of her problem as recently as a few weeks ago when video of Amy performing under the influence showed up in the media. Again, there wasn't much sympathy just more jokes.
So if there is a lesson in this I think it might be that we should not allow the media to dehumanize us simply for a jokes sake. Amy was a deeply troubled person. That's how she should have been viewed. Not as a joke. Had she been then maybe the outside pressure would have helped her to get the help she needed.
In the end she may have begun to see herself through the lens of her celebrity. If so imagine how sad it must have been for her to feel like a joke. And if that was the case then this is a tragedy that we all may have had a small part in by consuming but not pushing back against that kind of media.
7 comments:
Yeah, she was a living trainwreck. I loved her though. This saddens me because I thought that one day she would straighten up and get back on track and be the true star she was meant to be. Like Michael Jackson used to sang... gone to soon. May she get some peace now.
Rest in Peace Amy Winehouse.
I always believed there was something else wrong with her.
The times when I saw her being interviewed and sober, her mannerisms and behavior led me to
believe she had a some form of mental illness and thus she self medicated. This is the case with many addicts.
The record industry is a ravenous machine they'll prop anybody up, irregardless of the consecuences just to make money.
Look at the Britney Spears case. Bi polar, is on all sorts of meds that make a little more than a zombie out of her, and they're still propping her up and putting her on tour.
She's supposedly coming to P.R.in the near future as part of a tour :0
Hey Val!!!
Amy's death is sad however it was inevitable. People that followed her career closely had a feeling that her movie would end this way.
It was reported that she entered rehab a few months ago and she seemed to have been doing well. I was pulling for her.
Addiction is a monster. It is hard for us so-called strong folk to imagine the hell that she was going through.
Some people find it hard to stop smoking cigarettes, imagine trying to stop smoking crack or shooting heroin.
Sadly, the vultures will try to glamourize and trivialize her death for profit.
Like Daij said: "May she get some peace now."
So sad...
I liked Amy but her life just seemed to get sidetracked somewhere along the way.
@Daij
I hoped that she would work everything out too. And she is gone way too soon.
@Desertflower
Yep, unfortunately a lot of people who suffer from mental illness self-medicate. I think the stigma of mental illness is still so strong that many don't want to admit they're suffering.
@Jason
Yeah, crack is a hard addiction to break. And that's def one of the drugs Amy was using.
I heard she had been in rehab too. So sad but you are right about the vultures.
@UBJ
Terribly sidetracked.
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