Saturday, August 25, 2012

Using Dead People

When I first came across "Steve Jobs' Reincarnated As 'Divine Being' According To Thai Buddhist Sect" on HuffPo I laughed quite a bit. A few minutes afterwards, however, it sank in a bit more and I was not nearly as amused. Some people will probably believe this ridiculous crap. Even worse than that is that this group is probably going to use it to try to make money and gain notoriety. Generally, I find using dead people for selfish purposes despicable. If you can find a way to use the death of someone to benefit society as a whole I don't have too much of a problem with that. For instance, had Jobs gotten legitimate medical treatment when he was first diagnosed rather than pursue "alternative medicine" he would probably be alive today. Using his death to demonstrate the dangers of such pseudo-medicine is acceptable. Making up some bullshit story about Jobs' "afterlife" to line your own pockets or gain attention is fucking sick!

I'd also point pout that promoting or making use of someones work after their demise is different from using their death. What a person did or produced is generally far more important than the circumstances of their death.

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