When I heard about Anna Nicole Smith's untimely passing last night my impulse was to post something, but I didn't. This was for two reasons. The first being I wasn't quite sure what to make of it all and secondly, I saw that Izzy had beaten me to the Shvitz and furthermore, had reiterated my immediate reaction to the news: disappointment with the press. I fueled this fire by watching the Extra correspondents feed on this story and bearing witness to the worst kind of exploitative spectacle. Although, inarguably the media's lowest low was Entertainment Tonight's exclusive interview with Anna Nicole Smith from the Bahamas back in October when the poor woman was so drugged up that she couldn't separate her upper and bottom lip and she kept slurring her words.
So what is it with a "blond bombshell" on the verge that whets our appetites so?
I'm not saying Anna Nicole wasn't an attention-starved oddity and didn't at times relish the media frenzy, but she was never a darling of the media. I always had the impression that the relationship between Anna Nicole and the press was similar to the relationship between the special needs children at my elementary school that got picked on and the bullies that did the picking on.There was something so cruel and unjust about the way the press handled her, that I couldn't stomach it. I feel a similar way now.
Anna Nicole isn't special needs. I realize that. I know I posted yesterday on how little compassion I had for Britney Spears and the circumstances here aren't all that dissimilar. Izzy even made the correlation between Spears and Smith in her post. Maybe it was observing Smith's tightrope act for just a little too long after the circus had left town that humanized her for me. Whatever the case, her death is something that needs to be respected and dignified as we would any other person. Translation: Let's cool it a bit on the death video talk.