Kayla Johnston | Contributing Writer
The death of fashion designer and style icon Oscar de la Renta last week left fashion lovers everywhere shocked and saddened. After hearing the news, my roommate let out a loud gasp, followed by, “WHAT?! OSCAR DE LA RENTA IS DEAD!”
The 82-year-old died Monday, Oct. 20 in his Connecticut home. While he is best-known for his designer gowns fit for first ladies and celebrities alike, what is it that makes him so worthy of our condolences? Or should I say, any more worthy than the thousands of other men, women and children dying around the world at any given moment?
I am cons
tantly asking myself, as a lover of pop culture and someone very guilty of this phenomenon, what is it about the celebrity culture our society idolizes that makes us so much more upset when someone dies we don’t know but who happens to be famous than when someone dies we don’t know but who doesn’t have opportunities for fame?
With the Ebola crisis increasing and school shootings occurring on a regular basis, why do we feel death so much more deeply when a just-as-far-removed celebrity passes than when an orphan or diseased child dies?
As Americans, we are so involved in our own world that it is hard for us, me included, to see the impact of death outside our own borders. Celebrities have become a part of our everyday lives. We read about their marriages in magazines, receive Twitter updates about their chosen baby names daily and see their dumb comedy films because we are loyal fans. Friends, even. Adoration for celebrities is American. It’s a very present part of our world.
Those dying from disease or at the hands of sick and hurting people simply aren’t so present to us. We don’t connect emotionally with the children orphaned by HIV/AIDS or the men and women everywhere dying from it. We don’t know the ins and outs of the lives and relationships of the students dying in schools across the world.
Maybe all it takes is paying more attention to the world around us. Read the news, look at the pictures and force yourself to be exposed to the world outside Jennifer Lawrence’s nude photos or Blake Lively’s baby bump.
If we all took the time to see the world around us as part of our world, not just “the outside,” maybe we would find ourselves caring more about the issues they face.