Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
That's a very interesting observation. There may be some truth to this. Along with the social class cues, I can see the example for "Lower class" (and to make it clear- that's talking about socioeconomics, not their worth as a person) also applying for rural people versus the middle and upper class examples applying to suburban and urban cultures.
You see it play out in the Rural south similarly to how i said it. Rural life has a socioeconomic caste system as much or more than anywhere else...after All, someone has to own all the land, and the bank, McDonalds, etc...In the rural Midwest its a bit more muted because everyone is largely Northern European and either Catholic or Lutheran, two groups without much fragmentation.
Newspapers don't write obituaries, the family does, usually with the help of a template from the funeral home. The obituary contains whatever the family wants to include, and nothing else.
I understand that nowadays obituaries are paid for by the surviving family so there is one reason.
But since doing some genealogical research I find it extremely informational to read newspaper obituaries and learn more about how people died. Not always possible to find death certificates. One of my great-greats near relatives committed suicide due to severe poor health and possible depression and the 1930's newspaper write-up was very specific about how and what occurred. No family member ever mentioned it.
I wonder if I can specify that my obit be honest about my death. I would have nothing to hide at that point.
Recently a local obit was very specific and I could tell the spouse and the deceased meant it that way. She died because (as they thought) a RX prescribed to the deceased caused "black spots to appear on her legs" and shortly thereafter infection which caused her death. That was very eye-opening and she was doing a public service for many others.
Maybe my Catholic upbringing makes me accept death more matter-of-factly.
When it's a person in the public eye we get a lot more information about their death if it is unexpected, lately it has been suicide.
I am not a morbid person, normal in curiosity but not too nosy.
I don't know enough about the history of obituaries to comment on what used to be reported. Most of the time now when an obituary chooses to be diplomatic in its terms on how someone died it's for personal reasons. Not contrversial or political from my perspective.
Newspapers don't write obituaries, the family does, usually with the help of a template from the funeral home. The obituary contains whatever the family wants to include, and nothing else.
I saw one not long ago that mentioned how much "Joe" liked to smoke his Newport cigarettes, which contributed directly to his death. The obituary was fairly lengthy and obviously written by people who loved the decedent and wanted to tell of his good qualities, but they threw that part in.
I am also curious and wish sometimes they'd say what the person died from, especially if they were not of an old age, but as someone else already said, I know it's really none of my business.
Newspapers don't write obituaries, the family does, usually with the help of a template from the funeral home. The obituary contains whatever the family wants to include, and nothing else.
And I'm sure many who read these obituaries laugh their heads off, or shake their fists into the air at all the window dressing. I particularly laugh at: Wilma will now be joining her beloved husband in Heaven! Been awhile, and he probably hitched up with a better companion in Heaven, and when Wilma arrives: Wilma! I want to introduce you to my new wife!
I enjoy reading obituaries from an astrological standpoint, get the birthdate and look up their astrological placements and see if they lived up to their potential. Super-ambitious Capricorns seem to have the longest obituaries, with all their numerous achievements in life.
I'm not a big obituary guy, at least not yet, but I don't recall seeing anything like "John Smith succumbed to throat cancer on Sunday...".
I agree. It has never been, during my 60yrs + lifetime that detailed medical information is included in a public newspaper obit. Mostly obits are a chance to say nice things, give a brief glimpse of deceased accomplishments, of relatives and such who will miss this person. I do not think I've seen many that include detailed medical information.
I think it is general knowledge what happened if you are close to the family.....but not publicized. This IMO is as it should be. It is not my business what a stranger died from.
OP As far as your comments about celebrities and your generalization about suicides .....you are talking about newspaper articles, news programs etc....not their obits. Two very different things.
Status:
"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 5 days ago)
35,615 posts, read 17,948,343 times
Reputation: 50641
Quote:
Originally Posted by Annie53
The fact remains, if your 28 year old son, for example, died of a heart condition and you don't feel cause of death should be published, IMO, the least you could do for your son's reputation is list his death as "natural causes" rather than having some people think he must have died of a drug overdose, suicide, etc., because of his age.
Like it or not, human nature being what it is, some people will assume he must have died of a drug overdose, will spread that around as fact and the next thing you know, some long lost friends who hear it will think he did, in fact, die of a drug overdose.
If that doesn't bother you, don't say anything at all about the cause of death, no skin off my nose.
The thing is, young people don't die of "natural causes". That's something elderly people die from, and it's a grouping of factors, such as heart disease, diabetes and complications from the flu. Basically means, "nothing to see here" that needs further investigation, it's understood that's the cycle of life.
I talked to a coroner who never listed "natural causes" for someone under the age of 65.
Often if someone is young I'll just google their social media and figure it out, because I'm nosier than anyone I know. And usually you can figure it out that way.
I think public sensitivity is a factor. We aren't the hardened realists that Americans were decades ago. Some of us are, but not enough of us.
On top of that the quality of news media has fallen into a deep and disturbing low for a long time now, along with the general attention span.
What does the news media have to do with it? Families write and submit obituaries of their loved ones. I imagine that most who don't state a cause of death don't feel a need to share it with strangers. If you know the deceased, you'll likely find out through family or the grapevine.
Cause of death is generally not information that the public has a 'need to know'. Newspapers charge a fee to publish anything more than a very brief death notice.
And no, saying that ________Rx caused a person's death is not a public service. That's a libel lawsuit waiting to happen.
Some families, like mine, report cause of death to raise awareness. In my dad's case, Alzheimers, but IMHO strangers did not need to know that.
Cause of death is generally not information that the public has a 'need to know'. Newspapers charge a fee to publish anything more than a very brief death notice..
Nor do they need to know a recap of the person's life, but this is quite commonly offered in our local paper's obituaries.
I'm in agreement with those who've said obits have never been in the habit of stating cause of death, which has always been a bit frustrating to me.
"Hey, I know that person. What happened to them?" Isn't this a normal thought when seeing an obituary? You read, you don't learn.
So, I've told my family to be sure and list the cause of my demise. If it's "John Doe died from falling off the toilet and a subsequent brain hemorrhage" so be it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
