For the most part, I don’t shed any tears when famous people die. I consider it a personal philosophy. It’s not because I’m a heartless monster or because celebrities aren’t occasionally good, decent people. It’s because I didn’t know them. There are plenty of people in my life that I actually know, so I feel like my attention and sympathies should be focused on them.
But upon hearing the news last Friday that Adam Yauch (aka MCA of the Beastie Boys) passed away, it grabbed my attention a little more than the average celebrity death. Not just because he was a great rapper, musician and activist whose work I greatly admired, but because he died of cancer. And he was only 47.
Of course, dying of cancer hardly makes Mr. Yauch unique. According to the World Health Organization, cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for 13% (7.6 million) of deaths in 2008. I’m no mathematician, but that seems like a lot of people. So why don’t I feel like more is being done to combat this dreaded disease? Based on these rather large numbers, shouldn’t our country be doing more? Shouldn’t fighting cancer be one of our top priorities? And I don’t mean top priorities in terms of fighting diseases, I mean top priorities. Period.
I recently lamented the phony use of the word “war” as a political marketing ploy. (You know, “War on Women,” “War on Drugs,” “War on Christmas,” et al.) Where’s our “War on Cancer”? Where’s the great PR campaign that’s aimed at education, awareness, and fund raising? I know, the Susan G. Komen people are great. And because of their hard work a lot of money is raised and a lot of good things are being done, and once a year we get to see Major League ballplayers use pink bats. But shouldn’t there be a bigger, more comprehensive campaign that encompasses all cancers and truly represents the breadth of the disease?
The news media breaks out the 3-D graphics and sends Anderson Cooper halfway across the world in his vest every time there’s a minuscule chance of a bird flu epidemic, but when a disease kills roughly the population of Manhattan every year…? Nothing.
Why isn’t the government out front on this? How many trillions of dollars have we spent on the “War on Terror”? Don’t get me wrong, terrorists are a threat and all, but they don’t kill anywhere near the number of people cancer does. It’s not even close. Anecdotally, I’ve never personally known anyone who’s been killed by a terrorist. And I probably never will. But I’ve known plenty of people who have died of cancer. And I will know many more as the years go on.
There are many men and women out there fighting the good fight. Scientists are working hard to find a cure, activists are educating people about early detection, and so on. It just doesn’t seem to me like cancer is the priority it should be.
But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m just a little cranky because I feel like it’s only a matter of time before cancer starts claiming the lives of my friends. Or maybe it’s because MCA’s death means the end of the Beastie Boys and that the Insane Clown Posse is now the most accomplished white rap group on the planet.
Mr. Sunshine 