Grieving 2.0
The recent passing of the King of Pop brought about an interesting phenomenon on the web. Within hours it seemed that almost everyone who regularly updates their facebook status had changed it to something like: “OMG, RIP Michael Jackson.” While most of us are too young to have been truly devoted MJ fans, it seems striking that facebook has become a platform for public displays of grief (however genuine they may be). Maybe this instance was appropriate, in a way, since he was such a public figure, it’s only right that people should display their feelings upon his passing in such a public manner. However, a tragic event occurred this week that also drew the facebook response. A fellow graduate student in the Geology dept passed away enroute from Kazakhstan earlier this week due to a preexisting medical condition. We learned of these events this morning by noticing a trend in the facebook statuses of other students and even professors in Geology, as well as wall posts on the aforementioned student’s page. It just seems strange to me to post such private sentiments on a public forum for a friend/colleague. Maybe it’s just as strange to blog about it.
