Have you ever been really saddened by the passing of someone you never personally knew?

[gempompadour]

I'm not really sad when old celebrities pass away as they've had the chance to live (hopefully) full and happy lives, and them dying is kind of expected but sad. It's young people who die that affects me. Like Anton Yelchin who was crushed by his own car or that youtube singer Christina Grimmie who was shot by a stalker as she was trying to give him a hug. Both in their twenties, just getting succesfull and suddenly everything is taken away from them - by other people or freak accidents. It's the unexpectedness and unfairness that gets me.

[KhanSpring]

I get upset when I see young people pass away but it also sometimes pushes me to continue my life, because I have a chance to contunue it, while they don't.

[Dane_Sherbet]

Find out their favorite foods and eat em to flex on their ghosts.

[CarltonIsaac]

All the Celebrities and Starry Names are nothing compared to the thousands of little children dying every year of starvation, poverty, disease and negligence.

A prayer of Thanks for the life of privilege we have. Amen.

[frgmnt]

I got pretty damn sad when Dolores O'Riordan died. She was in her 50s iirc - way too young to go. The Cranberries was my first serious favourite band and I loved their music a lot as a teen, still like some of it.
For me she was the first musician whose work I loved (or used to love) who died - never expected it to happen so soon.

[ar-ninetysix]

Hmmm.. I get what you're saying, but like the comparison doesn't really work imo. I do agree that it's a privilege to be able to care that much about people on TV or in music, or social media, or just wherever they're famous. But it is different, you know? There's a whole parasocial dynamic attached to the celebrities that just isn't there with the children you mentioned. That's why this situation tends to stand out more than just caring about (and sorry for the wording, idk how else to put it) people you don't know. But it's a good thing we can care about people on both sides of the spectrum, so there's that

[AmandaJ-art]

Of course! RIP Chadwick Boseman. His death has hit me the hardest so far. The actors really grown on you after you've watched so many Marvel movies.

[Pony_wearing_a_hat]

Oh, absolutely. I got really into this one band (I won't say which one for privacy reasons) and I knew they weren't active anymore, they hadn't released anything for almost ten years. But then I found out that one of the main singers and one of the musicians died in a pretty messed up shooting. This happened eight years before I even knew who these people were, but it still hit me hard. The fact that the final song on their final album is a big last goodbye performed by the singer who died didn't help, that song is way sadder now.

[CarltonIsaac]

There's a whole parasocial dynamic attached to the celebrities that just isn't there with the children you mentioned.

Indeed. It is easier to ignore that which does not personally affect one.

However, the sight of an unknown starving child with a vulture hovering over her saddens me more than the demise a beloved celebrity who has had a full life of fame and fortune (yes, deserved of all the hard work they put in).

[Caro]

I think I’ve cried over almost any mass tragedy tbh but on an individual level... well, I used to kind of mock the idea of mourning celebrities you have no interpersonal relationship with but after Anthony Bourdain died I cried for a really long time. I had friends who felt the same exact way and a big group of them went on a big food tour to all the spots in the city he went to when he visited but I just could NOT do it because I couldn’t even eat.

And this one feels a little more embarrassing but I had just started watching the Japanese reality tv show Terrace House over quarantine and I was really in love with this one girl who was on there because I felt like I KNEW her and she was sooo genuine and sweet. I even started following her on Instagram which was crazy for me because I do not really follow any social figures or celebrities and then a few months ago she committed suicide and honestly even thinking about her now has made my eyes water.

[Dane_Sherbet]

Dude, why are you trying to make us feel bad about not doing more or feeling more for starving children in America?

I'm sad when I hear about an artist dying because they'll never make anything again. I'm sad for myself because I'll never be able to meet them now. I'll never be able to thank them for a book or a movie that touched my heart and made me the person I now am. Every time it happens it's like losing another hero without getting the chance to say goodbye.

Who are you to say that my feelings are not valid?

[Alexandritea]

My heart was torn to pieces when I heard about the passing of Chester Bennington.
He, and the music/lyrics of Linkin Park was my greatest inspiration, and I've listened to them for as long as I can remember.

[matthewschofield]

Yes! When Steve Irwin - The Crocodile Hunter - died I was surprised by how much it affected me. I think the fact that he had become such a great advocate for wildlife and nature, and an unofficial goodwill ambassador for Australia (where I grew up) - he was a truly decent human being, a good dad... When he first came into the public eye he was seen as a bit of a goof, but that was just his natural enthusiasm and joy in what he did coming through. He actually became something of a national hero in Australia. It was so sudden and shocking when he died. Gone too soon.

[CodeMonkeyArts]

Robin Williams....Carrie Fischer...CHADWICK BOSEMAN!!!!

Robin Williams broke me though. I went on a massive Robin Williams binge marathon...and cried during Jumanji and Aladdin. ohhh my heart...

[nathanKmcwilliams]

Not really...I don't get emotionally connected to celebrities like that at all. Even the musicians that I like, Dio, Vinnie Paul, Warrel Dane.
I didn't know them, and my reaction is usually "oh...that's sad." And then I go about my day.

Call me cold hearted but I just don't connect like that.

[Dane_Sherbet]

How about people that you personally knew?

[nathanKmcwilliams]

Depends on how well I knew them. Like one of my uncles passed and I felt sad, but didn't feel strong emotions. I didn't have much of a relationship with him though.

If they're closer then yeah I get upset. But I also get over it quickly. I process grief pretty fast.

[liamnaughton7]

I feel this, to an extent.
Personally, I don't relate the feeling of someone I didn't personally know passing to someone with whom I had a relationship with (either passing or working)
It's less "grief" more "bummed"
I wasn't bereft when David Bowie passed but I did feel his absence somewhat.
It was not just his work that helped me and lifted me through troubled days in the curious ways inconsequential things often do, it was his philosophy toward his work and pursuit of his own artistic pleasure that really reached me.
It just made the world a tiny iota darker and duller.

The lights aren't out but you notice when that one lamp you like is gone.