Hello all. I'm taking to the keyboard today because of something that occurred last night that I knew was coming, but wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it. Now that it's happened, I'm just a little bit disgusted, and I'm sure I'll piss a couple of people off, but as far as caring about that, that ship has sailed a long time ago.
From when it first started airing, I was a big fan of "Glee". As someone with a musical background, I found it to be pretty entertaining, if not completely realistic. OK, not at ALL realistic, but that's another topic for another time. There are a few main characters on the show that constantly get jammed down our throats, one of which was a kid named Finn Hudson.
Finn Hudson was played by actor Cory Monteith. Earlier this year, Cory Monteith died from what medical examiners ruled an "accidental overdose" and a "toxic combination of alcohol and heroin".
Let me state right now that a "dose" is something that is prescribed by a doctor for a medication. Therefore, by that logic, unless some doctor actually prescribed the heroin to him, any usage of a drug without a valid prescription is technically an "overdose". Heroin isn't legal under any circumstances, so he abused an illegal drug, mixed it with alcohol (which is legal, and he was of age so I don't have a problem with that) and it cost him his life.
Ever since it happened, the sympathy for this guy has been all over the place. "Glee" actually ran a tribute episode to him last night, basically treating Finn Hudson as the real-life Cory Monteith. However, on the show, they never mentioned how Finn Hudson died. If they didn't want it to be drug-induced, that's fine - that really wasn't part of his character anyway. He was an athlete on the show, they could have had him have some type of aneurysm or heart issue like athletes sometimes have. You know what they had as cause of death? Neither do I. The most syrupy, sugary line of the night came from the character of Kurt Hummel, who was Finn's step-brother on the show when he said "Who cares how he died? I care about how he lived." That might not be the exact line - I'm paraphrasing a bit, but either way, what a disservice to a show that tries to always teach some kind of moral message.
It does matter how he died. Cory Monteith died because he used illegal drugs. This is worth glorifying? This is something that we should be celebrating? I don't care if he was the real-life boyfriend of the cringe-inducing Lea Michelle, who if I never hear sing again would be just fine with me.
We do this all the time. We glorify bad behavior. Charlie Sheen was idolized while he was the crazy drug addicted "#winning" guy. Kanye West calls himself Yeezus because he thinks he's God, gets Kim Kardashian pregnant, beats up paparazzi, and people still love him, even though the sounds coming from the bathroom during my worst battles of both diarrhea and constipation are better than anything he can muster.
The bottom line is we give famous people a pass for things that if we saw some random person on the street doing, we'd vilify them for it. Not me. I call it as I see it. If you don't like it, it doesn't bother me. I will not apologize for calling this kind of crap out.
As for Cory Monteith's death, it isn't tragic. It's his own doing. If anyone wants sympathy about it, look in the dictionary between "sh*t" and "syphilis". You'll find it there. You won't find it here.
Comments are welcomed and encouraged. I expect to be blasted by at least one person, but if anyone else wants to blast, fire away. Just don't complain if you kick the hornet's nest and end up getting stung.
