Entertainment Industry Putting Profits Over People: A call for help ignored.
September was Suicide Prevention Month. In a normal year, as a Life & Health Insurance Agent, caring for the insurance needs of people at every stage of the Life Cycle: Birth, Life & Death, I likely would have had much to say on the subject.
2017 hasn’t been a normal year with the Legislative efforts to “Repeal & Replace Obamacare” I have been extremely busy trying to keep the living alive, rather than rendering an opinion on those that have chosen to take their own life.
Yesterday, I opened my Email to find a message from a Record Label for the start of "Rocktober" that is still trying to capitalize on the untimely death of the lead singer of one of their acts. Many times it is said that an entertainer is worth more dead than alive, like for example Elvis Presley.
The public rushes to reminisce & reflect on the works of their idols by opening their wallets: causing a spike in sales & increased profits for Entertainment Industry Executives.
The Email was from Warner Brother Records. The Band was Linkin Park.
The latest tragic & preventable death in the Entertainment Industry was announced on July 20th, a young man gone too soon by his own hand: death by suicide. Chester Bennington, the 41-year-old lead singer of hardcore alternative rock band Linkin Park was found hanging in his California home.
The immediate first impression I had of this tragic news was – “well, there goes another victim of the Entertainment Industry.”
How could his Record Label, his Producers, his Agents & those closest to him not notice that Chester Bennington was anINCREDIBLY SICK YOUNG MAN who needed a doctor, NOT A MICROPHONE?
“One Step Closer,” the band’s debut single was a cry for help from the very beginning. How did the Entertainment Industry answer that call?
By enabling & indulging in the very obvious Mental Illness of a young man ill-equipped to handle the pressure of Fame, Fortune, Lifestyle of Success & the TORTURE OF HAVING TO LISTEN TO HIS OWN MUSIC, these Entertainment Execs are complicit in his death by putting their corporate profits over his well-being.
Clearly not wanting to “censor his right to Freedom of Expression” these people failed to recognize a kid who was crying for help.
I am all for the 1st Amendment that gives Americans the Right to Freedom of Expression, but the case of Chester Bennington illustrates the ramifications of putting profits over people. They had to have heard his song lyrics, why did nobody stop him years ago & get him the help he very clearly needed?
Although very obviously no fan of his excessively loud “music,” (I’m not sure that the noise he spewed across the airwaves even qualifies as music) I am saddened by his tragic & untimely death. You never want to hear of a young person dying before their time.
He leaves behind his wife & six children whose lives were shattered by his success.
The ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY is actually at fault & to blame for the death of Chester Bennington. Rather than hearing his cry for help – right from the get go – they put their profits over the life of this young man & instead of getting him a DOCTOR, they gave him a MICROPHONE.
Beyond the tragic circumstances of his death what DEEPLY CONCERNS me even more was the 9-hour tribute the next day, listening to him being characterized as “the Voice of a Generation.”
I actually view his music as BRAIN POISON – poisoning the minds of other vulnerable youth who may identify with his sickness – his extreme Mental Illness - & ultimately feel that their lives aren’t worth living & follow their “idol” to the grave.
Millennials have been subjected to the brain poison of Linkin Park for more than a decade: an entire generation of young people who may think suicide is the only way out of their despair. Only time will tell if we see a spike in the number of suicide deaths attributed to listening to heavy metal music.
The “Voice of a Generation” moniker should be saved for people that truly fit that bill in positive messages that make this world a better place for all of us – The Elton Johns & John Lennons & Helen Ready’s of our world.
(I realize I am aging myself with the Helen Ready reference to the 1970’s Champion of the Women’s Rights Movement – “…I am Woman, hear me roar…in numbers too big to ignore.”)
People like these fit the bill of “the Voice of a Generation.”
Also yesterday, we got the tragic news of the tragedy at a Country Music Festival in Las Vegas.
Don’t know anything about the mindset of the shooter, but does anyone think that maybe – just maybe – the Entertainment Industry might be complicit in this too?
Know this: Suicidal people are not necessarily HOMICIDAL - the Las Vegas Shooter was both.
The Entertainment Industry needs to think about the world they are creating.
If anyone is second guessing the well-being of a loved one, know that there is help:
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Call 1-800-273-8255
Available 24 hours everyday
