Heroin deaths are on the rise all over the country, and now that Phillip Seymour Hoffman has become a high profile victim of heroin overdose, it's now on the minds of everyone.
The stupid question of why it takes the death of a white celebrity to bring this issue to the fore, is really a question that answers itself. It's because the famous person in question is white, and not some minority, makes this somehow more of a tragedy than the drug deaths of inner city blacks and latinos.
It really does get the attention of the media, and tounges wag at the sad fate of an elite actor/celebrity addict. It even gets the attention of the NYPD, they've got four people under arrest so far, that they believe were somehow involved in Hoffman's demise. That was real quick. I don't remember such a fuss made when Whitney Houston died in her bathtub with a host of illegal drugs in her system. I guess we were all waiting for that to happen, didn't seem like such a surprise. Houston was, of course, not white.
It turns out, Hoffman was a known addict, at least to his friends and family. Exiled from his family because of his drug use, he expired with the needle dangling from his arm, alone in a super expensive apartment unaffordable to any non-wealthy addict. I suppose that makes these situations more sympathetic, as Hoffman paid for his addiction with his own hard earned cash, not the spoils of crime, like most poor addicts.
Is self destruction any more poetic if no crimes are committed on the way?
The stupid question of why it takes the death of a white celebrity to bring this issue to the fore, is really a question that answers itself. It's because the famous person in question is white, and not some minority, makes this somehow more of a tragedy than the drug deaths of inner city blacks and latinos.
It really does get the attention of the media, and tounges wag at the sad fate of an elite actor/celebrity addict. It even gets the attention of the NYPD, they've got four people under arrest so far, that they believe were somehow involved in Hoffman's demise. That was real quick. I don't remember such a fuss made when Whitney Houston died in her bathtub with a host of illegal drugs in her system. I guess we were all waiting for that to happen, didn't seem like such a surprise. Houston was, of course, not white.
It turns out, Hoffman was a known addict, at least to his friends and family. Exiled from his family because of his drug use, he expired with the needle dangling from his arm, alone in a super expensive apartment unaffordable to any non-wealthy addict. I suppose that makes these situations more sympathetic, as Hoffman paid for his addiction with his own hard earned cash, not the spoils of crime, like most poor addicts.
Is self destruction any more poetic if no crimes are committed on the way?
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