I'd agree that the title is disrespectful, and it's not likely that I would start a thread with such a title myself. Certainly, the title is provocative, but I think it might provoke some good discussion of our attitudes and ways of speaking about death. Otherwise, it will just be another worthless tabloid obituary.

The thread title is an interesting test of societal taboos. Many of our past taboos have disappeared in our "enlightened" age, but most of us are still very uneasy when speaking of death, and get downright nervous when there's even a hint of humor in connection with it. If anything, our death taboos have become more rigid in the current time. Look at obituary threads at Mudcat, and observe how reluctant some people are to even use the word "died" - "passed" seems to be the currently favored word. "The old man kicked the bucket" is nowadays possibly more unacceptable than "motherfucker."

Disrespectful or not, I still hold to my opinion that Anna Nicole Smith was a self-made caricature. The stories of her life were just too preposterous, to the point where it seemed she scripted her life for the tabloids - especially the whole saga of her marriage to the dying nonagenarian billionaire. It IS certainly a shame when a life is lived out in the tabloids instead of in reality, but such was the case with Anna Nicole Smith - which wasn't her real name. She was born Vickie Lynn Hogan in Houston on Nov. 28, 1967. Perhaps Vickie Lynn was a real person, but Anna Nicole wasn't. Vickie Lynn, however, wouldn't warrant any notice in the news at all.

Thus ends the sad life of Anna Nicole Smith. May her next life be happier.

-Joe Offer-