My bro-in-law works for the USPO, and says the same thing Don!

I agree with some of the things that West, et al are saying about the recreational grieving thing. I disagree, dianavan, that the Princess Di thing was genuine. I think it is the first time we saw it on a such a large scale throughout the Anglo world, is all. I thought the JFK Jr thing wasn't genuine, but pretty sick in a prurient, voyeuristic sort of way.

These are examples of a phony sort of grief that is a mile wide and an inch deep, but one that allows someone participating in it to vicariously become part of the communal drama.

I don't consider them to be the same as genuine communal grief, like with the Kennedy assassination, or 9/11, or the Madrid bombings, that sort of thing. Even though there are plenty of sickos who make money, become notoriously attached to the story, or otherwise and get social cache out of attaching themselves to it.

I view it the way I view a fairly common phenomenon among adolescents when someone dies, and they narcissistically try to interject themselves into the grieving and mourning ritual drama by claiming to have been good friends, or somehow attached to the deceased, when they really weren't.

I'm pretty cynical about this Reagan grief though. As Bobert pointed out in another thread, the networks ought to start billing the RNC and Bush/Cheney campaign for the coverage, which is looking like a week long Republican campaign commercial.