Earlier
this week People Magazine
posted a well written obituary of Kirk Douglas. It was
the kind of tribute that you would expect to read when a Hollywood legend
passes away. The only problem is that Kirk Douglas is still alive. I wonder if
John Cleese had anything to do with the decision to declare someone dead before
they stop breathing. Maybe Eric Idle?
While
uncommon, unfortunately this is not the first time that
such an error has been made especially in the celebrity sphere. While there was
a concerted effort to curb such leaps made in the wake of the Reagan assassination
attempt, in an era of the 24 hour news cycle and the ever presence of social
media, these kinds of things will almost certainly become more common as time
passes. This leaves us asking the question of who is going to be the next
person to read about their own demise.
While
disturbing in many regards, there can be some good to come from such an
egregious error. Mark Twain is the most famous example of the good humor that
can come about when one is forced to face their inevitable fate a little
earlier than nature or reality has intended. Although, in this instance, no
actual obituary was published word spread and Twain eventually found himself on
the receiving end of his own departure. Specifically, he is quoted as saying, "The report of my death was an exaggeration."
On
the other side of things, some are forced to come to terms with their legacy no
matter how good or, as in the case of Alfred Nobel, bad. When it was thought
that the inventor of dynamite had departed this world for the next, a French writer
did not hold back in his obituary titled “Le marchand de la mort est mort” ("The
merchant of death is dead") etching into the mind of the millionaire
that he “became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster
than ever before.”
It
was this obituary that made Nobel reconsider his life and his legacy. It was
because of the premature reporting that he took his considerable fortune and
created the Nobel Prize. A bit of misinformation and the world was changed in
an instant changing the historical perspective of what many considered a
controversial person in his own time.
For
now, despite recent rumors and false obituaries, Kirk Douglas, Macaulay Culkin,
and numerous other public figure of varying stature as still alive. But, with
the inevitable increase of such instances bound to take hold in social media,
it makes you think about the changes that could possibly occur as a result of
this increased penchant to find the breaking news before anyone else. The
question for everyone is, what would your obituary say if you were thought to
be dead?
