From the Shotgun, of all places:
I was watching the CBC National last night and saw the coverage of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie leaving a Toronto International Film Festival event (TIFF) this week. Several women actually tried to grab Pitt. ...Pitt and Jolie could not go to any further TIFF events and had to leave Toronto the next day. Now, that is a shame. Why do the fans and the tabloid media continue to behave this way—particularly knowing what it did to Princess Diana?
Just for the record, the postmortem blood-alcohol level of Henri Paul, the driver of the fatal Mercedes, was estimated at .173% or greater (on the basis of three separate tests); he also had antidepressants in his bloodstream.
Comments (11)
I guess the rationalisation is "you'd be a depressed alcoholic too, if you had people taking pictures of somebody else near you all day".
Or, possibly, it's just insane.
Posted by Lord Bob | September 15, 2007 5:46 PM
Posted on September 15, 2007 17:46
Makes you wonder if Princess Di's driver had his drinks spiked since:
Alcohol is incompatible with many of the drugs used to treat depression. It can intensify the sedative effects of some antidepressants. Chronic alcohol consumption can increase the availability of some antidepressants while decreasing the availability of others. Tyramine, a substance found in beer and wine, can interact with MAOIs potentially causing a dangerous rise in blood pressure.
Posted by Dan | September 17, 2007 9:18 AM
Posted on September 17, 2007 09:18
Makes you wonder if Princess Di's driver had his drinks spiked
Right, because people never combine incompatible drugs against medical advice, especially not alcohol and antidepressants.
Posted by Colby Cosh | September 17, 2007 10:01 AM
Posted on September 17, 2007 10:01
And I guess no one would have paid attention to the fact that the driver who escorted them to the car on video camera was just a shade under unconcious at .135.
Posted by Dan | September 17, 2007 10:29 AM
Posted on September 17, 2007 10:29
Sorry, .173
Posted by Dan | September 17, 2007 10:30 AM
Posted on September 17, 2007 10:30
"You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity" - Robert A. Heinlein
Posted by George Skinner | September 17, 2007 10:32 AM
Posted on September 17, 2007 10:32
.173% is well short of unconsciousness for most people.
Posted by Colby Cosh | September 17, 2007 10:33 AM
Posted on September 17, 2007 10:33
I resent the stupidity George, but I know how it feels to use a great quote I have been saving for a while. Insults never further an argument and I wonder why you needed to resort to using one. I usually never give this s!*t any credence either, but reading the original post led me to some further reading out of boredom. Sometimes I can't resist a good yarn true or not, something that a reader of Heinlein should understand. Unless of course you just found the quote somewhere...
Here are the sites I looked at just in case you guys have a case of the bores as well:
http://www.geocities.com/princess_diana_not_dwi/diana5.html
http://www.shout.net/~bigred/Diana.html
I admit some of it is dubious at best.
Posted by Dan | September 17, 2007 10:47 AM
Posted on September 17, 2007 10:47
I don't think the Heinlein quote was meant as an insult, Dan. Interweb commenting might not be a good idea if that's your idea of a personal attack.
Posted by Matt Moore | September 17, 2007 12:00 PM
Posted on September 17, 2007 12:00
That wasn't an insult, Dan. The upshot of that quote is that it's a mistake to assume that something resulted from malign intent or machinations when it could alternately be explained by typical human stupidity. In this case, the stupidity can be summarized as drunk driver + excessive speed + passengers not wearing seatbelts = dead passengers.
Posted by George Skinner | September 17, 2007 5:58 PM
Posted on September 17, 2007 17:58
I guess you can call me stupid now and I won't complain!
Posted by Dan | September 18, 2007 11:37 AM
Posted on September 18, 2007 11:37