WYSIWYG I appreciate your response, but you don't seem to 'get it'. It was all the periodicals who WERE obsessed with Di's death that I had a problem with, and I am permitted to remember that little media feeding frenzy. I have to add that after starting this thread I talked it over with my brother and sister-in-law; they understood the attraction of Princess Di as a 'phenom' far better than me.

GUEST I enjoy your posts; as ever I prefer that visitors take on a monicker of some sort, even if only to identify themselves within the thread of the moment. You can still be anonymous and have a reference and everyone is happy.

Taking pleasure in the pain of others, plays an inevitable part of this phenomenon, but the NYT column by Rich captures the particularly bad flavor of our current crop of media harpies, Mel Gibson included. The incredible "Left Behind" series included.

-The Simpsons get the last word:

Homer: "Anyhow, Flanders is gonna fail, and that'll be so funny.

Lisa: "Dad that's schadnefreude

Homer: Schaden- what the?

Lisa: It's German. It means taking pleaure in the suffering of others.

Homer: Well, what's the opposite of schadnefreude?

Lisa: Sour Grapes!

Homer: Those Germans have a word for everything!