Unnecessary Opinions on Tragedies - Kind of a Rant

I just saw an article a German magazine posted on facebook that said that Angela Merkel’s mother has been in an accident. I’m not going to say I’m deeply concerned or anything, I don’t know Mrs. Merkel or her mother personally.

What made me want to write this, though, is something that has bothered me before: the comment section.

It’s not even the people writing the really TERRIBLE stuff like “Great, I wish her the worst“. Those people are probably trolls or just really really bitter, you can’t help those.

What bothers me is the amout of people saying things like “If that happened to MY mother nobody would write an article“ or “What about the average working mother with sick parents? Nobody cares about me, only those rich politicians“.

First of all, is it really that great when something terrible happens to you and the whole internet suddenly talks about it? Wouldn’t it be much easier to deal with it privately, without strangers stating their opinions? I bet a lot of famous people would wish for that in situations like these.

(Also, why do so many people seem to believe politicians don’t work for their money? But that is another topic and I won’t discuss it any further.)

And of course it’s not just politicians. I remember the same comments when Michael Schuhmacher had his skiing accident. „If non-famous people have accidents no one cares!“
It’s that easy: When something bad happens to you (which I wish upon nobody) everyone to whom you’re important will care. And famous people are just important to a larger crowd, even if just superficially. Who the hell would buy a magazine that depicts every single skiing accident that happens?! Certainly not me, but even that is beside the point.

The point is – NEWSFLASH – famous people are people. They suffer when something bad happens to them or their loved ones, just like you do. Fame or money don’t protect you from that. The only difference is that their tragedy will be all over the media which gives people the impression they are entitled to state their opinion on it. And some of those opinions are so childish and self-righteous I can’t believe it.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t like Angela Merkel’s politics, you are entitled to your opinion on that, but there is a time and place for everything. What would you think if someone came up to you at your mother’s funeral and said “I think you’re terrible at your job so I really think you deserved to lose your mother“. Because that would be exactly the same thing. 
You don’t have to care about Michael Schuhmacher or anyone else in the media but what would you think if your brother had had a terrible accident and was in a coma and you and the whole family would gather around his bed, and then a stranger came up to you and said “Why don’t you gather around MY brother’s bed?! He has had an accident, too!“?
You would probably be really offended in both cases because you would only want to mourn in peace, favourably without any strangers watching every step you take and giving their opinion on it.

Famous people get famous for something they do – may it be sports, music, politics, whatever. Once they’re famous, magazines don’t ask them for permission before publishing articles about them. In most cases, they don’t ask for it. The magazines, however, make money with those stories because a lot of people are interested in them. If you’re not, just don’t read them. It’s that easy. Don’t subscribe to celebrety gossip magazines if you’re not interested in celebreties.

And if any tragedy should ever happen to you – which I don’t hope – you will be thankful for the privacy you have.

I just wanted to get this off my chest because – as I said – it has bothered me before and now the same thing came up again and it keeps happening. It’s as if people just don’t realize that those “famous“ people have feelings just like them. So many people just see their money and think their lives are so much easier than theirs, so it must be okay to be happy when something bad happens to them. Let me tell you, it’s not. I don’t mean be preachy but it’s just not.

But what do you think? As always, I’d love to read some opinions!

Until then, stay save. xx