The sudden death of longtime on-again, off-again girlfriend of Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Kim Porter, has shocked the entertainment world. She was only 47 years old. The stunning model was the mother of 3 of Combs’ children, and her eldest son is the son of R&B singer Al B. Sure. Although this is truly an unfortunate loss, this untimely death is exposing another reoccurring problem: It’s through some of these celebrity deaths that we also get to see how clueless and detached from reality the masses are when it comes to obtaining and sharing information. Many were quick to insist she died of pneumonia when no one actually reported that as fact. Porter’s official cause of death is still to be determined pending the results of the autopsy. From a journalistic perspective, things like this must be called out. When people habitually do this in instances of no deeper issue or foul play, they will still do it when there is. And that’s why it’s a problem that needs to be checked.
Porter’s premature death shows us once again that the masses rarely know what they are talking about and are quick to repeat what they hear on social media. According to CNN, TMZ, People magazine, and pretty much all major publications, her cause of death has not been announced and they make it very clear that baffled medical examiners do not yet know how she died. However, media outlets implied that it may be due to complications with the flu, and they also reported that “sources” claimed she had been dealing with pneumonia. However, no medical examiner or publication has yet reported that Kim Porter died due to pneumonia. Regardless, people still took to social media to say that she did.
Why is this important? For starters, it’s simply a very bad societal habit in which the powers that be manifest their grip on media and people’s unwavering subservience to unsubstantiated information. No, I’m not suggesting some sort of conspiracy, because of course, I don’t know that. However, in many other instances, yes, there were issues with what was being reported. When it came to the deaths of Micheal Jackson, Whitney Houston, Prince, Chester Bennington, Chris Cornell, Mac Miller, and many others to name a few, there were many unexplained questions amiss but the vast majority accepted half-truths, deflection, and explanations for explanations like children. People have become too accustomed to lazy reporting and drawing made-up-mind conclusions based solely on implications without factual information. With Kim Porter, many have read the news blogs and immediately came away saying, “Pneumonia!”, but critical thinkers with a journalistic mind read the same articles and came away knowing, “cause of death still unknown”.
Here’s another reason why being responsible with reported information is important; this happens to be a part of an epidemic of premature deaths, predominantly African Americans, dying young due to heart conditions. ‘True Blood’ actor Nelsan Ellis (39), 2 Live Crew rapper, Fresh Kid Ice (53), A Tribe Called Quest rapper Phife (45), Natalie Cole’s son, Robert Adam Yancy (39) and several others have passed before the age of 60 due to heart failure or heart complications. Carrie Fisher (60), George Micheal (53), James Gandolfini (51) are a few more adding to the realization that heart-related problems is one of the number 1 killers in the country today. In addition to processed meat consumption, there are many possible reasons why that we never discuss because our media doesn’t put a spotlight on it. Regardless, when we make a habit of lazily passing along incorrect information, or allow ourselves to become easily satiated by very minimal information, we never connect the right dots and we allow bigger issues to remain undiscussed.
At any rate, until further notice, the real update in regards to Kim Porter’s cause of death is still forthcoming pending the results of the autopsy. It has not yet been confirmed to be the flu, pneumonia, the measles, or whooping cough. It could be pneumonia afterall. However, no one knows yet until we hear what the examiners confirm.
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