Another Celebrity has killed himself with drugs. Many say he was a good actor. Lots of talent. That this is a terrible loss.
Yet I’ve got no sympathy for this.
He was making millions of dollars for a few days worth of work. He had everything the American Dream could ever offer. A List, as they say. Yet he chose to do drugs… because he was unhappy because his life felt hollow and meaningless.
Why is that?
Probably because it was hollow and meaningless. He chose a more selfish path… of indulgence and self gratification. He didn’t do what he could have done… make a difference in the world. I’m sorry… playing make belive in front of a camera isn’t making a difference. He’s not helping people.
He’s not being a part of things… and thats why he was unhappy. He knew it and that’s why he was found with a needle in his arm. He was running away from life… being selfish. It’s the most pathetic end. And I have no sympathy for it.
I will add that he is addicted to one of the dumbest drugs to be addicted to, He was about the same age as me, so I’m pretty sure that he was bombarded with how bad heroine is while in school. That crap can rewire your brain so that you will always crave it. Yet, he chose to do it anyways. He had repeatedly been in rehab.
I will say that part of his problem was probably from not cutting everyone involved with drugs out of his life. I know people who have been through rehab, and they all agree that staying away from people doing drugs is one of the keys to staying clean.
Heroin has no more (or less) ability to create a permanent addiction than alcohol or tobacco. It’s certainly dangerous, but that can be said of any drug – it’s actually safer than Tylenol, in terms of the ratio of an overdose to an effective dose.
Any drug is dangerous, when abused. Heroin is not in any way special.
Well, according to folk singer Mary Gauthier, who has struggled with addiction herself, Hoffman was clean for 23 years before relapsing a couple of years ago, possibly during frictions with his girlfriend/mother of his children that led to them breaking up:
23 years sober, relapsed, and dead in less than a year. Addiction truly sucks. RIP Phillip Seymour Hoffman. You brought the world great beauty.
People deal with despair in different ways, not all of them positive. Hoffman *sounds* like one who had his demons under control, for a good number of years. It only takes one moment of weakness to let them back out of their prison to screw with your life again. There but for the grace of God, goes the old saying; it might be trite and cold, but it’s true.
“There but for the grace of God…” sounds sympathetic but can not apply where person makes a choice and faces the consequences. That first time he took a hit he was of sound mind and if he was drunk and his “friends” gave him the hit, well, he chose his friends. What is said about doing stupid things in stupid places with stupid people? So, sympathy for friends & family, but sin often catches up.
Most Americans choose to do drugs. They just vary in which drugs they choose.
One of the things that stopped me reading Spider Robinson was his pushing the idea “What kind of horrible world have we made that creative people have to drug themselves to get through the day?” Which is bullshit. Far too many people doing what they like, and SUCCEEDING, and then wiping themselves out with drugs for me to believe that shit.
My question in response was “What the hell is wrong with some creative people that even when doing well in what they love, they still destroy themselves with this garbage?”
Ogre nailed it Lack of meaning. Narcissitic tendencies, No attachment to a life of meaning or principles. Easy Money
I don’t understand why celebrities get a pass when they do/are doing drugs. If it was any of us “little people” we’d be thrown in jail for doing drugs…but if your famous then it’s “you poor person” like they are taking medicine for an ailment or something. Rarely do any celebs get thrown in jail for drug crimes, and yes it’s still against the law to do drugs.
Yeah I cant feel bad for him. If you have tgat kind of money you can hire a staff to moiter you while you use to ensure safety. Or just not be a junkie and dont do drugs in the first place. I know a pretty wild concept that if your a grown man you act like one.
A junkie died. It’s what they do.
The only reason he was nice to his relatives, instead of stealing from them, was because he had a very high income.
Screw him.
I guess I should hate to admit this but I don’t know who this guy is and never heard of him until he died.
I don’t follow a lot of the pampered celeb’s, but I do get a kick out of the articles that show them with out make up. man some of these women are ugly with out it.
Who died? Never heard of this clown. So some left coast idiot offs himself.
Another Darwin Award.
“And so decrease the surplus population…”
He made a fabulous living constantly pretending to be somebody other than himself, and FOOLING other people into believing that the projected persona was legit. Hahaha, suckers, it’s all retail sales of another stripe. *Sales* Mass-media dramatic acting is a kind of hyper-celebrity based on pseudo creativity that’s not on the same level as painting or music – or even dance. Or what those things have become in the 21st Century. Conflated with a worship of “Celebrity” that has damning ironic tendencies for the mentally average shlub with a good jaw-line or physique. After many years working in theater I’m not at all surprised about the heroin because for some actors certain drugs really do help to improve the projection of “otherness” and “edginess” they desperately need and seek to impress-with – the “edginess” that is often a part of making the sale, as it were.
Each of us makes a conscious decision, each and every day, how we want to live our lives. Any individual that has no “meaning” (in their own eyes) to their lives will most likely choose some form of escape. Said escape may be booze or drugs (cigarettes ARE a drug delivery system).
While he hear about those “in recovery” with all of their self induced problems, it is simply their being exposed to the same problems that the rest of us are living with. The only question is if that individual has the desire to learn to cope with their “problems”. Those who do not . . will . . find a way to shorten the process.
In general, most who shorten the process would have done society, in general, a favor had they accomplished their quest sooner.
Ogre, you nailed it ! Best commentary you have ever written. He was a selfish sob. He cared more about getting high than his children. I have no sympathy for him. I had a brother who died from drugs and i am still pissed off at him. They affect not just themselves but everyone around them. What ever happened to free will and choices. Now these morons will call it a disease. Sorry its not cancer is a disease. Getting high is not. And he had millions to check into rehab. A great actor but a slob of a human being. Not his children will pay a price all their lives.
Best piece you have ever written
Can I disagree with you without making you mader? I really mean this with all the love in the world for the Ogre and the shooting community, but sometime we need to dress down our own.
Frankly I’m disturbed by the lack of humility and empathy on display on this comment thread. You all sound like those anti-gunner who talk about “30 rounds in a half second.” You hate something you clearly don’t understand.
Seriously, you are letting your bitter emotions cloud any objective understanding of the issue, and presenting crass and unearned opinions based on arrogance, elitism, and emotional reactionism.
Please, read “In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction,” by Dr. Bagor Mate. Actually understand the subject before you offer an opinion, especially one so rooted in contempt for your fellow man.
There is a reason addicts exists, and there is a reason that even famous wealthy people with charmed lives cannot escape the prisons of addiction. How else could you explain drugs like Krokodil, which quite literally destroy the flesh to the bone? These people cannot stop, because addiction is a symptom of a much more complex problem.
Try learning something about the neurological and psychological conditions that result in addiction. You’ll uncover the hidden horrors that you are trying to evade by being so callously dismissive.
Would you be so cruel to someone with PTSD? Because there is a lot of the same brain chemistry going on in the minds of addicts.
Gentlemen, we are better than this. We need to look past our baser nature and be brave enough to have compassion for the wounded among us.
I disagree with you. But I do respect your opinion.