Can we finally let the Anna Nicole story die?

By: Wes Heinkel

Posted: 3/30/07

It's finally over. Anna Nicole Smith overdosed on prescription drugs. The media can literally stop beating the dead horse.

A stripper with a prosthetic chest married J. Howard Marshall, an 89-year-old billionaire oil tycoon for his integrity and good looks - yeah, right. After his death, she fought all the way to the Supreme Court to win his fortune.

Smith allegedly took Demerol and Methadone when her baby was eight months along in her womb, constantly juggled multiple men and was cursed by a naked ambition for fame plastered on supposedly respectable news outlets; CNN, MSNBC, FOX NEWS and Larry King made her wretched life undeservingly newsworthy.

What is the fascination with a person who is famous for being famous? It appears that our society, at an increasing rate, feeds on money, style, decadence and tragedy over substance, class, integrity and importance. Our society resembles a parasite in sucking up a story like Smith's. Unfortunately, we are worse than your average parasite because we don't need stories like these to survive and thrive as a tick or leech does. The reasons so many crave these stories remain unidentifiable; perhaps a demented mindset, a thirst for drama or bad taste - whatever it may be, it should not be our ultimate focus.

To be fair, it's not all our fault either. The media stories about lives like Smith's spiraling out of control rain down like manna from heaven, only we are not starving in the desert and we are surely not the Israelites. Our survival does not depend on these stories. Besides, stories like these are the reason for those tawdry celebrity tabloids you see next to the gum rack at convenience stores.

The news of her death was perhaps justifiable, but the non-stop coverage, up-to-the-minute special reports and shameless broadcasts that ensued were utterly sickening.

Honestly, when I saw photographs of the contents of her refrigerator the day she died, I felt sick to my stomach. Really, who cares? I even had one of those occurrences when you throw up in your mouth and swallow it - disgusting, I know. And it wasn't because of the Slim-Fast or yogurt scattered around her fridge, it was because of the realization that this is the state of our society.

Whether we created the mass media that prioritizes debauchery over worth or whether it created us is irrelevant. We are becoming one and the same. We are its host and it is ours, and we constantly feed off one another. Anna Nicole Smith is a reflection of that relationship between parasite and host, and, more importantly, a screwed-up society with progressively more misguided values.

However, there are many things we as a society can take from her death that the media would never dare tell. First, money will not always bring happiness; Anna Nicole is the poster child for this cliché. It's not about the next quick fix. She chased the money trail her whole life, while everything else fell apart or slowly withered away. Smith married her oil tycoon for his money - an inference I know - but let's be realistic. The point is you can watch her life come full-circle. She fought shamelessly for his money after his death.

Second, the relationships we cultivate in life should be meaningful ones based on character, integrity and common bonds with our fellow men. Where were Smith's friends, family or numerous boyfriends throughout her drug addictions and complete loss of self-respect? There was no one around to pull her up by the bootstraps - which is what true friends do.

Third, we have an example of a person with the finest clothes, the newest cars, all the material things our society craves - including fame and fortune - who more than likely never found any real happiness. All those things, well-said by Kansas, are "dust in the wind."

People like Smith should not be put on a pedestal or considered newsworthy by society or the media. If anything, she should be remembered as the prototype of how not to pursue goals and live a fulfilling life.