Peter Jennings Dies at 67

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[color=darkviolet]I'm not really sure what to say. I was sitting here listening to the tv in the background and this guy comes on to say that Peter Jennings has died from Lung Cancer.

You can probably go on ABC.com to find out more. I just figured I'd tell everyone since I seem to be the one mentioning who has died.[/color]

[Petie]

[font=Verdana][color=blue]I had no idea. This just happened tonight? I really don't know what to say... Though I guess it's pretty hard to respond to this quickly seeing as I wasn't really expecting it.[/color][/font]

[Stuart]

[FONT=Trebuchet MS][COLOR=#FF3366]"Aug. 7 ? ABC News Anchor Peter Jennings died today at his home in New York City. He was 67. On April 5, Jennings announced he had been diagnosed with lung cancer." [B]- ABC News[/B]

You can read the complete article [URL=http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=1015438]here[/URL] at ABCnews.com[/COLOR][/FONT]

[Ryan]

Wow, definetly wasn't expecting that, especially considering he didn't announce that he had lung cancer that long ago. Wow.

[luna.P]

Man, this is actually pretty hard on me. I mean I've grown up watching Peter Jennings on the tv give all the news and stuff. To no longer see him on the tv is going to be very odd.
I just hope all the stupid tabloids don't make a big lie or something about him. I mean, the guy earned alot of respect during his lifetime. I know that's never stopped them before but we can hope.

[Mitch]

At first, I didn't know who this guy was, but then I saw other peoples' posts, and I see it's some news anchor.

He died? So what? People die each day, and I'm sure there's some people that've died today that have met more unfairer deaths. 67 years isn't a bad timeage out of your life at all.

I guess this is what happens when you don't watch TV like every other American does for about 4 or so hours of their day. Well, I'm glad I don't watch TV.

[Ryan]

He was a news anchor on ABC for a number of years, Mitch. Just mentioning...

[Killer7]

[quote]He died? So what? People die each day, and I'm sure there's some people that've died today that have met more unfairer deaths. 67 years isn't a bad timeage out of your life at all.

I guess this is what happens when you don't watch TV like every other American does for about 4 or so hours of their day. Well, I'm glad I don't watch TV.[/quote]

That is one of the most ignorant things I have ever heard. Seriously, grow up man. People want to mourn because they remember him, and when he was a newscaster he was a great one. Instead of letting them respectfully say something you have to chip in your two cents and try and be "cool".

[Chaos]

So, because he was a newscaster...we must respect him? I fail to see the point there. And Mitch is entitled to his opinion, and at least he was honest about it. And he is right; people die all the time, and going quietly at your home isn't all that bad. Sure, he will be missed by friends and family, but just because he had a position on TV doesn't mean we need to celebrate him.

More on to the point, I read about this around midnight when I saw it on AOL's HomePage. Can't say I really paid too much attention. I basically went "Oh, he died, eh? Sucks." and logged into Guild Wars.

Sure, he was a respectable man, and some people probably idolize him, and he'll be missed...but you know what? It doesn't go much further than that for me. Had he done something more other than report news, I might be a little more inclined to read deeper into it, but that's as simple as it is. Hell, people are more worried about the Discoverer's day-long delay than Jennings.

[Retribution]

[QUOTE=Chaos]So, because he was a newscaster...we must respect him? I fail to see the point there. And Mitch is entitled to his opinion, and at least he was honest about it. And he is right; people die all the time, and going quietly at your home isn't all that bad. Sure, he will be missed by friends and family, but just because he had a position on TV doesn't mean we need to celebrate him.

More on to the point, I read about this around midnight when I saw it on AOL's HomePage. Can't say I really paid too much attention. I basically went "Oh, he died, eh? Sucks." and logged into Guild Wars.

Sure, he was a respectable man, and some people probably idolize him, and he'll be missed...but you know what? It doesn't go much further than that for me. Had he done something more other than report news, I might be a little more inclined to read deeper into it, but that's as simple as it is. Hell, people are more worried about the Discoverer's day-long delay than Jennings.[/QUOTE]
[SIZE=1]Yeah, I had the same reaction as you, Chaos. I looked on MSN.com (homepage), saw he died, and immediately went to OB. I'm not really phased by his death at all.

However, I do respect him, and you kind of get accustomed to newscasters. Now that he's gone, I'm going to have to put up with some noob. Heh. Not that I watch the news that often.[/SIZE]

[Killer7]

I didn't mind that much either when he died. It is just the fact that instead of saying "oh thats too bad" he had to say "why should I care". It is about having respect for your elders who put thier neck on the line to get the news.

[Mitch]

Like Chaos has already said, I don't have to respect someone just because they were a news anchor. I'm entitled to feel what I want to about this guy's death. So suck it up and live with it.

"The death of one is a tragedy, but the death of a million is just a statistic." - Stalin.

[Ryan]

[size=1][color=navy]Nowhere have I read anyone say "because he was a news anchor, that you must respect him" so I have no clue where Chaos and Mitch came up with that statement.[/size][/color]

[vegeta rocker]

Peter Jennings was a great news anchor; i used to watch him all the time.

Sure people die everyday, but those people aren't him. I am sad that he has died, his death makes me think of Jerry Orbach. He was greatly missed as Jennings will be.

[Sara]

[color=#6699cc]Yeah, people die all the time. But people who watch his news broadcasts grew very accustomed to him, and probably felt oddly close to him. The guy was with ABC for forty years. There are millions of people who feel some sort of connection there.

I haven't watched the news for years and years, but I remember thinking when I was small that he reminded me of... sort of a grandfatherly character. Kindly, interesting, reliable. That impression never left, and I doubt I watched thhe news [i]that[/i] often as a kid.

Just a piece of Americana, I guess.

...I know I was brokenhearted when Fred Rogers died.[/color]

[Mitch]

I don't get brokenhearted nor sad when someone dies.

I live knowing that, somewhere out there, someone's dying. Giving those last breaths, and their life's leaving them.

I live knowing death is always among us.

I'm just glad everyone lived as long as they get to. That's all.

We should be happy someone lived rather than sad they died.

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[QUOTE=Mitch]I don't get brokenhearted nor sad when someone dies.

I live knowing that, somewhere out there, someone's dying. Giving those last breaths, and their life's leaving them.

I live knowing death is always among us.

I'm just glad everyone lived as long as they get to. That's all.

We should be happy someone lived rather than sad they died.[/QUOTE]

[color=darkviolet]While I agree with your last statement I think that your first post along with Chaos' were a bit too... hard on some people. Have some respect for the dead.

That said I didn't even know he was sick until last night. I feel bad for his family it's hard to lose someone.[/color]

[Roxie Faye]

[color=#9933ff]I agree with CHW, Mitch. Very well said, CHW.

I was shocked that Peter Jennings had died. I mean, I knew he had lung cancer, but I didn't expect him to die so suddenly. He was one of my favourite newscasters. I'll be thinking about him this week. :( [/color]

[Chaos]

[quote name='Ryan][size=1][color=navy]Nowhere have I read anyone say "because he was a news anchor, that you must respect him" so I have no clue where Chaos and Mitch came up with that statement.[/size'][/color][/quote]


[quote name='Killer7']People want to mourn because they remember him, and when he was a newscaster he was a great one.[/quote]


That's basically it there. The problem with this line is that Killer7 mentions him being a newscaster...and that's it. No accounts of meritous acts, no stories of brash heroism, or even of mild civility. Just a news reporter.


ChibiHorsewoman, I'll assume you were talking to Mitch about respecting the dead since he was the overall subject of your post, because otherwise I'd have to point out that I...well, DIDN'T say anything to tarnish his memory. Unless you count making a point and expressing an almost mild indifference to the subject disrespectful.

And the man announced four months ago he had lung cancer, so I think his family knew [i]something[/i] might happen. I mean, he was getting on in his years and was diagnosed with a deadly problem. It was a matter of time. Sure, no matter how much you know about when a person will die, you still mourn them...but to assume they just blindly went along with life like nothing was wrong is just pure gullibility.

[Mitch]

The guy's death was also self-inflicted. Smoking is like suicide for those who are afraid to pull the trigger of a gun. Sure, he quit smoking 20 years ago, but lung cancer is lung cancer. I don't see how else you get lung cancer, other than by smoking. This makes his death even less saddening and even more pointless to mourn.

I have nothing against this guy, but I just don't see the big deal. He's dead. So get over it. You may have liked him, but it's not that surprising he's dead.

He was a smoker. It caught up with him.

What I might say is hard, but this is who I am.

1,000 soldiers have died in Iraq. Mourn that instead.

Millions of jews were killed in the holocaust. It was terrible.

Mourn that instead.

There's things more terrible and sinister to be sad about than the death of one man.

Yet, the death of one is a tragedy. The death of a million, of a thousand. . .it doesn't even matter.

I respect the dead because they lived, not beause they're dead.

I hate how people die each day, yet their deaths don't even matter unless they were some celebrity or were some prominent figure. It's such BS. I think everyone should be remembered. . .I think we should spend our whole lives sifting through the lives the dead left behind. Then we'd realize everyone is great in some way.

If you walk into a cemetary, there's so many forgotten names. So many forgotten people.

The greatest travesty is that the dead don't stay alive: that we don't remember everyone when they were alive, but instead we dwell on the fact that they're gone. The greatest travesty is all these people that've died that I never knew, that I never felt, that I never touched. . .What's terrible is you have to be famous to be known, that you've got to be prominent for people to care about what your life was, who you were, what you did.

[Brasil]

[quote name='Mitch']What I might say is hard, but this is who I am.[/quote]
Mitch, I think it's something other than "just who you are."

Because quite frankly, I don't see how anyone can minimize the kind of life Jennings lived, or minimize people's sorrow over his passing, if they actually knew anything about the guy or weren't so concerned with seeming unfeeling because they believed it to be somehow better than actually showing emotion every once in a while.

Read up on Jennings' life, Mitch. If that doesn't move you the slightest bit...you're closing yourself off out of misguided stupidity. No offense.

[Mitch]

As I said, I have nothing against the guy, and I'll certainly read up on his life. I'm just tired of people only caring when celebrities die, or well-known people die.

Everyone's led a life that's moving in some way or another.

I'm stoic. This is how I am. Deal with it.

And also, to sound like a complete parrot, I don't see what there's to mourn. I'm just glad he lived. I'm glad you're living. I'm glad I'm living. I'm glad anyone or anything is living.

I'm not sad something died.

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[QUOTE=Siren]Mitch, I think it's something other than "just who you are."

Because quite frankly, I don't see how anyone can minimize the kind of life Jennings lived, or minimize people's sorrow over his passing, if they actually knew anything about the guy or weren't so concerned with seeming unfeeling because they believed it to be somehow better than actually showing emotion every once in a while.

Read up on Jennings' life, Mitch. If that doesn't move you the slightest bit...you're closing yourself off out of misguided stupidity. No offense.[/QUOTE]

[color=darkviolet]And in other news tonight, the world comes to a screeching halt when Chibi Horsewoman agrees with Siren, more at eleven.

[/color]

[Semjaza]

I'm not understanding this. If you don't care about the guy, why come into a thread about him? Sure, people die everyday, but the attitude in here trivializes the deaths of [i]every one[/i] not just this man. The fact that so many people are familiar with this man is why this is getting attention. He accomplished a lot of things in his life that were at national attention and although most of them were dealing with journalism, that doesn't mean they weren't impressive. He's just a newscaster? Well that guy over there is just a writer. That guy over there is just a painter. That guy over there just cleans toilets. I don't know how you can trivialize this man without trivializing everyone else. People know him because of these things. Just because you don't keep up with mainstream news doesn't mean everyone else should be put in a situation as though they relied on TV like an IV.

Is it fair that not everyone gets national coverage when they die? Sure. However, most people who do pass away aren't known in a national way. That doesn't mean those close to them don't care. It doesn't mean they're not remembered. The only reason people like Jennings appear on here is because of the way the media works. It wouldn't make sense for every death to appear on OB. I cared when Hunter S. Thompson died. Did I know him? No. Did that make his death more important than anyone else that year? No. If you want to see people remembered every day go look in the obituaries. I'd go to funerals of people at cemetaries that take place every day. The fact that this man worked hard to reach a status in society where he was easily recognizable is not a reason to fault him or question the importance of life or death. Death is meaningful no matter who it happens to and again, this is largely bringing up a question of this man's "value"... which I think is kind of disgusting. It's being twisted into the idea that "talking about this man when he was alive" is more valuable, which is fine, but not when it's at the expense of basically insulting the importance of his death.

Isn't it insanely obvious that the only reason this man has reached a situation where his death is nationally reported is [i]because of what he did when he was alive?[/i] To come in here and act as if it is wrong to discuss and focus on this man's death and instead on what people do when they're living is nonsensical. They're related at their core in this situation. Maybe people into jouralism look up to him? Maybe people respect his character on the air? It's very easy to get corrupted in a situation like that. Jennings was one of the three major, major newscasters and that gives him a LOT of pull in things. He knew a lot of people.

Faulting this man for his own death is ridiculous and callous. We know more about smoking troubles now than we ever did before. Are we going to get mad at people who smoked during pregnancy in the 70s because no one knew any better at the time? Certainly people knew it wasn't particularly healthy, but it wasn't a widespread concern back then, particularly with the way cigarette companies kept everything quiet.

Go make another thread on the question of how important death is to you. Why it has to be dragged down in here I have no idea. If you're going to do it to this guy, you might as well do it to everyone. If I make a thread about my grandpa dying I sure as hell don't want to see someone posting "oh well, people die", but this attitude sure lends itself to that situation. Why make exceptions for anyone? This isn't a faceless person just because he happened to be on the television.

[Brasil]

[quote name='Mitch']As I said, I have nothing against the guy, and I'll certainly read up on his life. I'm just tired of people only caring when celebrities die, or well-known people die.[/quote]
Your first mistake is treating all "celebrities" alike. Sara mentioned Mr. Rogers in this thread, and I think Mr. Rogers is a pretty good example of a so-called "celebrity" who shouldn't be treated in the manner one would treat any of the random Britney Spears clones. It's the same thing with Peter Jennings. Jennings was a guy who was out there doing things. He wasn't just a news anchor. But you're immediately lumping him in with those who truly are mindless performing monkeys.

[quote]Everyone's led a life that's moving in some way or another.

I'm stoic. This is how I am. Deal with it.

And also, to sound like a complete parrot, I don't see what there's to mourn. I'm just glad he lived. I'm glad you're living. I'm glad I'm living. I'm glad anyone or anything is living.

I'm not sad something died.[/QUOTE]
Stoic? I'm sure that's the word I'd use, too. I'm not trying to get on your case here, but...come on, man. Who are you trying to fool here? lol. You make comments like "watch 4 hours of TV a day"? Is this really the kinds of things a "stoic" would say?

Fact of the matter is, you wouldn't have had to watch TV 4 hours a day to get to know Peter Jennings, or even just to know who he was. World News Tonight. Twice. That's two hours in one week. That's it. And yet in order to know who he is...you think someone must be a slave to the TV?

Yeah...I don't think you're really "stoic." You want to call yourself that, fine, but a stoic by definition doesn't have that tinge of anti-society we see coming from you.