John Kennedy Jr. died in a small plane crash, a common enough occurrence, one that usually rates a buried half-column when it happens to other people. Perhaps for once the print and broadcast media might exercise a sense of proportion in their coverage.
Nah, of course not. Silly me, what was I thinking?
Very well then. Cue the circus. Give us hundreds of breathless, fawning eulogies. Fill the pages and airwaves with puffery, and be sure to repeat everything at least 50 times–how would we fill the space otherwise?
Because this is the Kennedy family, trot out the creaking Camelot metaphor. Play to some people’s apparent need for royalty, and stretch some tenuous comparisons to Princess Diana past their breaking point. And don’t let’s forget to prattle on about the Kennedy “curse,” as if most large families never have accidents or deaths.
Bring it on, bring it all on–and get it over with.
