Long story short: Actor Jared Padalecki (Supernatural) tweets that the death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman on account of heroin overdose is stupid and insinuates that it shouldn’t really be classified as a tragedy because it did it unto himself. Twitter sheep explode at Padalecki and make him have to defend himself.
I am not a fan of Philip Seymour Hoffman, nor will I bother to pretend like I was, and/or that he was the greatest actor ever. Frankly, I think the vast majority of outlets and who are bemoaning his untimely demise could say similarly too, but in order to sound relevant and in-the-know, it’s necessary to stretch the truth just a little bit. He’s been in movies that I’ve enjoyed sure, but seeing Philip Seymour Hoffman’s name on a starring list has never compelled me to need to see something at all. I heard about the news of his death prior to the Super Bowl and frankly didn’t care, because in the grand spectrum of my little world, the existence of Philip Seymour Hoffman is completely inconsequential.
Naturally, it’s unavoidable that it will eventually be talked about on Facebook, and I had to put up with people suddenly starting to show interest in PSH, with the occasional strawman slam on sports because I have so few sports fans friends on social media, and I naturally got annoyed by the incessant chatter.
When the details came out and it turned out that PSH died due to overdosing on heroin, it was pretty much decided for me right then and there that this was no longer a tragedy, but another sad instance of some unfortunate soul succumbing to weakness. The only times I’ll ever feel remorse for someone succumbing to an addiction is if I feel that there was something that I personally could have been able to do to try and stop them. As for people I don’t know, much less Hollywood celebrities, I simply cannot feel remorse.
As for Jared Padalecki’s tweets, I agree with him 100%. PSH dying from a heroin overdose is stupid and sad, but it sure as shit is not a tragedy. I 100% agree in the sentiment that real tragedies are disease, genocide, natural disasters and varying other things that harm innocents. The death of someone is a sad thing, but the circumstances behind this particular one are not tragic, they are stupid, avoidable, and preventable.
The people blasting Padalecki for speaking truth, I have little choice but to believe that they’re nothing but misguided sheep that really need to read up on the definitions of tragedy. They don’t have to like the fact that he’s saying that PSH’s death was stupid, but they could be slightly more intelligent and try to think about the facts before they make knee-jerk reactionary rebuttals that make them look dumb or piling on, but then again such is the inherent nature of internet “discussion.”
On a slightly related topic, I refuse to succumb to modern standards and accept the concept of addiction as being a disease. Addiction is a weakness, and just because there are such an overwhelming percentage of people who are weak does not necessarily mean that it should by default be considered a disease. Cancer and AIDS are diseases. Chlamydia, herpes and hepatitis are diseases.
Obesity is not a disease. Addiction is not a disease. They are common afflictions associated with the weak. Strong people can overcome obesity and strong people can overcome addiction. They fall into such situations by being weak, but that’s what’s great about being human beings, we can become strong at anything we want to essentially, and once strong, weaknesses can be conquered.
Philip Seymour Hoffman was not afflicted with any particular disease. He just really really liked the euphoria that taking heroin gave him because his life as a Hollywood actor was clearly difficult, but was simply too weak to overcome his dependency on the drug and in the end, the drugs won. There may be tragedy for his surviving family members that now have to live without a PSH in their lives moving forward, but there is absolutely nothing tragic about the circumstances in how this death occurred.
