A Night of Confusion and Confoundment
Last night the world of entertainment lost another star. Tom Petty died from a massive heart attack and the reporting world went nuts!
He’s dead, he isn’t dead went on like a virtual tennis match and Twitter, of course, went ballistic.
12 hours ago (8:30pm UK time) TMZ reported
TMZVerified account @TMZ 12h12 hours ago
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BREAKING Tom Petty Rushed To Hospital In Full Cardiac Arrest
Then this:
‘Tom Petty Died Twice in One Day Because He’s F**king Tom Petty’
This report, though, has to have been one of the earlier ones to go up:
Source
POSTED ON OCTOBER 2, 2017 AT 4:19PM EDT
I saw one Twitter post saying something along the lines of ‘Dead, not dead, Tom Petty to play at his own benefit concert.’
At the end of the day, however, not even Tom Petty was so ‘Rockstar’ that he could survive such a cataclysmic event as a massive heart attack.
The sphere of entertainment has lost another Rock God and the world mourns.
I’ve written this post as a follow-up to my original one because of the utter confusion last night.
Sad to report the news, delighted that I was wrong and hoping for a full recovery for a musician that has been prolific throughout my formative years, and devastated to find the reports were right, if unconfirmed when some of them went out.
I know how easy it is to make and proliferate fake news and because I’ve been on the wrong end of hoaxes and such before, I’ve tried to check more than one or two sources before posting.
I don’t like apologising, (who does? LOL) but if I’m wrong, I do admit it and do my best to set the record straight.
Last night I posted a video of one of my favourite Tom Petty tracks – yes, it was done as a fast reaction to the news I’d just seen, but I did check the more reputable sources – Rolling Stone, which I thought was one of the better reporters of actual news received this response.
@rollingstone my dad is not dead yet but your fucking magazine is ⚡️⚡️⚡️your slime😵 has been pieces of tabloid dog shit. You put the worst artists on your covers do zero research. How dare you report that my father has died just to get press because your articles and photos are so dated. I will fucking shit down your throat and your family's . Try not being a trump vibe. This is my father not a celebrity. An artist and human being. Fuck u
Source
(9 hours ago – around the same time I posted my blog)
I do wish I was proven to be wrong and that Tom Petty was alive and recovering.
Also yesterday, the horrifying reports of the Las Vegas shooting went out. I stood in front of the television and looked on in utter horror – a similar feeling of abject disbelief as when I watched the planes crashing into the Twin Towers many years ago.
I didn’t report on that and I couldn’t have told you why until now.
I saw those reports of shooting those innocent people and it hurt my heart. I was upset, tears pricking my eyes and my heart did that sinking sensation thing. That was not a report I wanted to post on here, that was murder and vile.
Tom Petty dying is a tragic event and my heart goes out to his family in mourning right now. His death hits us in a different place, it hits us in our childhood, it hits in our memories of where we were the summer that Free Fallin was playing EVERYWHERE. Tom Petty’s death gives us a chance to smile at the memories we’ve shared with him and The Heartbreakers. And while we would love that to not be true and wish his family peace and send condolences in their time of mourning, he wasn’t mown down by a gunman as he was standing watching a concert in Las Vegas.
Why did I report Tom Petty’s death and not the Las Vegas shootings?
Because one is sad but a fact of life and the other is mass-murder.
Nice article, shows the impact of social media from a different side. We used to wait for the news to be confirmed, but now it doesn't matter, news is news
Thank you. You're right, I think this could be the new method of delivering gossip - doesn't matter if it's true or not, let's talk about it anyway.
Sometimes I think life is a dungeon; a sad place.
I am crazy about the last two lines of your article. It's a bleeding fact. Love it!
Thank you.
This is what Steemit.com has done to me. I'm dissecting my writing even as I'm writing! It's a brilliant thing and I didn't even know I could do it :)
world of entertainment losing many stars now, what is not happening?
I think the problem is, we're all getting older and the icons of our youth, being a little older than us to start with, are starting to approach their retirement.
Ozzy and the Black Sabbath crew are still going on their tours, but they're slowing down, others are dying - Rick Parfitt from Status Quo, David Bowie, (I could go on) - we're losing them hand-over-fist but if I look around closer to home, there are friends from school that are also dying. It's a fact of life but we don't have to like it :(
hello, @michelle.gent
The music is in mourning, that in peace you rest good man.
Beautiful, thoughtful, insightful. Thank you.
Thank you.
this is a tragic event but not something that may be really relevant or resonating with the younger generation.
my minute of silence is for those who will remember him fondly together with all american girls...
My minute of silence will also be for the victims of the Las Vegas murder, also mentioned in this post :(
http://www.tompetty.com/
Yeah, and he was just talking about getting off the road for good to spend more time with his family. Man, that sucks. A really great music-maker and entertainer. RIP
Such a shame. We always think we have more time...
It's unbelievable how fast news moves on the Internet, and how many people become confused from it. I blasted Tom Petty all day today. RIP
Yep... well-worth a blast, for sure.
I have to agree with the,(I guess family member), rant about Rolling Stone magazine, they are nothing any more than the new daily rag mag. I agree with you not reporting on the Las Vegas Shooting, mass murder should not be supported or idolized. Tom Petty was an Idol of many, he came to a tragic and sudden end as he was preparing to enter into a new phase of his life, we will miss him, but it is his little grandchildren that will miss out on him the most, those he was preparing his new life for, to spend more time with his family, children and grandchildren. My heart goes out to the little ones who will never get a chance to know their grandad.
Yep. It really is so sad.
Our own granddaughter was a tiny baby when my husband had a heart attack. It would have been a tragic loss if he hadn't survived - Not sure who was looking out for him that day...