I was at the Titanic exhibit today, and was slightly underwhelmed. I expected more from the exhibit, but I suppose the designers did what they could given the crazy space constraints around here. What struck me, however, was getting the boarding pass of a passenger who was actually aboard, and reading the person's life story in brief on the back.
Now, I wouldn't care about the John Smith who happened to be sitting right next to me on the metro, and really even if he told me a one liner about his life I just couldn't be arsed. Ordinarily, I believe a whole lot of people would agree with me. Yet, when it comes to a tragedy like the Titanic's sinking, suddenly everyone becomes a person of interest. I find it hypocritical. Just because we know the manner of a person's death doesn't make the person automatically interesting. In fact, it the voyeurism inherent in understanding a dead person's past that drives this sudden interest. By my definition, if you are only interested in a person after they're dead, it is a right fine example of hypocrisy.
Frankly, if a person proves to be uninteresting in life, I see little reason for their being interesting in death. Unfortunately, we seem to have set ourselves precedents for glorifying the dead, and strangely I seem to be relatively alone in seeing the irony of this. If we are to be interested in people, start while they're alive. Otherwise, let us not care at all.
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