The Death of Prince and Folky ways of Thinking

The name of this thread is meant to bring together two ideas: the death of prince, which I feel surprisingly bothered by, and "folksy ways of thinking" - pre-scientific, pseudo-truths that people tell one another and their selves.

It pains me to say this, but Prince may have brought about his own death.

Prince, we know, loved his music and loved his fans. This is a beautiful thing and a beautiful feeling, but prince - like Michael Jackson - was willing to sacrifice his body for his music: to be there for fans who expected to see him. Caring more about them, and less about himself, he put his body - which was fighting off an apparently aggressive virus - through hell by wasting tons of calories performing in the active way he typically performs. Maybe this worked when he was 30. But for a 57 year old, this is downright careless.

This is a SERIOUS thing. Prince imagined he could do this without making himself sicker. Lots of people think this. It's idiotic and impossible: your body is an energy machine. Your immune system works optimally when you aren't moving, aren't singing, basically, when you are exerting yourself.

It absolutely pains me to think, makes me whine on the inside, that Prince just didn't put off his performance and concentrate on his health. He pushed himself to the literal brink of his body's window of functioning; double pneumonia is no joke; the body gets far less oxygen per breath and the immune system is exhausting all other bodily resources fighting off the virus.

When the mind thinks to itself "the music is everything", its "inspirational", we MUST remind ourselves and one another that this way of thinking is unreal; we are biological beings made up 100 trillion cells with about 200 different cell types. Singing is beautiful, but it takes energy. To think that you "can do it" and not suffer an energy debt is delusional. You make yourself sicker when you exert yourself when dealing with an infection.

I wish this way of thinking would become more normalized so that people do not become over-zealous with their ideas about things.

a reply to: Astrocyte

The case is seeming more and more similar to Michael Jackson's - MJ's also involed drugs , was Pop-star, had history as a sex symbol, was also very very charitable.

History does kind of repeat itself

R.I.P. Purple G

You make some good points, and I think I understand where you are coming from.

But... let's have some respect for the man. He hasn't even been dead for a day and we are already blaming him for bad choices that led to his demise? (The tone of your post isn't cruel, it's respectful. But the timing strikes me as a bit premature.) He likely did push himself very hard, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't do it exactly the same way given a second chance. He was driven, driven beyond what most of us can even comprehend - with creativity, brilliance, and obsessive dedication.

Autopsy is happening tomorrow. There may or may not be answers from it. But, I will say this: this man LIVED LIFE.

Corporations are making employees sacrifice all, by working as hard as Prince did. Most don't die at age 57, but their bodies are shot, and bank accounts empty.

I wonder if most people would choose to live an exciting, eventful, influencial, wealthy life and die at age 57, if they could?

Folky....

?

Really?

Like as in, "A candle burned at both ends produces a light twice as bright, but that lasts half as long"?

a reply to: FamCore

I always saw MJ and Prince as two artistic brothers.

a reply to: VegHead

Perhaps. It's an anger I felt, which, I acknowledge, is better received when shared with friends than on a forum board.

I regret that that effect was created, but I do hope you recognize it is an anger not at prince the person but on the sorts of ideas that compel people to do things that are bad long-term for their health, or for that matter, anytime we act in ways that don't pay attention to the system-like-properties of what were talking about.

It's just so radical. One decision, perhaps made sometime during the beginning of an illness. What compelled him to keep giving performances? When people are sick, the typical inclination is to want to sit down and sleep. Find a place to rest and shut your eyes. In fact, this is a genetically set bias in the psychological functioning of any organism, but we humans are unique. We can exist in opposition to what is actually good for our health. Whereas reflexive thought and feeling generally does what the body dictates (sit and rest) an inspired man like Prince, who's cultivated a deep love for his music as well as a deep care for his fans, had a belief (which he stated in past interviews) that the power of music was transcendental. He believed it, it seems - and quite arguably given his relationship with many intellectuals - this idea quite literally.

But its a myth!!! We are actually and in fact biomolecular systems that needs food and water to survive, healthy and stable relations to feel secure and have meaning, sleep to feel restored and rest when our body is being attacked by invisible parasitic organisms: music will not change the fact that a virus is currently propagating itself in your organism. On the contrary, your brain is an organ that sucks 25% of your body's metabolic energy: energy that NEEDS TO BE DEDICATED TO YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEMS (glandular) ATTACK on the virus.

Aye! The result is radically final. Prince, out of a habit, perhaps, took his beliefs way beyond what a typical 57 year old human body can handle. He died for a reason understandable to any scientist, doctor, or laymen interested in science.

It's because I appreciated him so much that I'm angry.