Iconic Star Wars Actress Carrie Fisher Dies at 60 (people.com) 456
Carrie Fisher, the actress, author and screenwriter who brought a rare combination of nerve, grit and hopefulness to her most indelible role, as Princess Leia in the "Star Wars" film franchise, died on Tuesday morning at the age of 60. From a report: "It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother Carrie Fisher passed away at 8:55 this morning," reads the statement. Fisher was flying from London to Los Angeles on Friday, Dec. 23, when she went into cardiac arrest. Paramedics removed her from the flight and rushed her to a nearby hospital, where she was treated for a heart attack. She later died in the hospital. The daughter of renowned entertainers Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Fisher was brought up in the sometimes tumultuous world of film, theater and television. Escaping Hollywood in 1973, the star enrolled in the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, where she spent over a year studying acting. Just two years later, though, the bright lights of Hollywood drew her back, and Fisher made her film debut in the Warren Beatty-led Shampoo. Her role in Star Wars would follow in 1977 -- and she detailed the experience, including her on-set affair with costar Harrison Ford, in her latest memoir, The Princess Diarist. She was only 19 when the first installment of the beloved sci-fi franchise was filmed. Fisher's fans, family, and colleagues have paid their tribute to the actress The Guardian has published an intense tribute to Fisher in an article titled "The loss of Carrie Fisher is felt by all who love Hollywood, warmth and wit".
From BBC's obituary of Fisher: She was a self-confessed bookworm as a child reading poetry and classical literature. Her high school education was disrupted by the lure of the stage when she appeared in the musical Irene alongside her mother, and she never graduated. She moved to London where she enrolled in the Central School of Speech and Drama before returning to the US and attending the Sarah Lawrence arts college near New York. Having managed to kick drugs and alcohol, she was rushed to hospital in 1985 after accidentally taking an overdose of sleeping pills and prescription drugs. The episode formed the basis for her first novel, the semi-autobiographical Postcards from the Edge, in which she satirised her own dependence on drugs and the sometimes difficult relationship she had with her mother. Three years later Fisher adapted it into a screenplay, and it was made into a film starring Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, and Dennis Quaid. Fisher -- who had bipolar disorder -- also wrote and frequently talked in public about her years of drug addiction and mental illness. Carrie Fisher's fame as an actress rested on just one role, but it was a role in one of the best known and most successful film franchises in cinema history. She was remarkably frank about the personal difficulties she had fought and overcome. "There's a part of me that gets surprised when people think I am brave to talk about what I've gone through," she once said. "I was brave to last through it." The world is poorer without you, Fisher. Rest in peace.
From BBC's obituary of Fisher: She was a self-confessed bookworm as a child reading poetry and classical literature. Her high school education was disrupted by the lure of the stage when she appeared in the musical Irene alongside her mother, and she never graduated. She moved to London where she enrolled in the Central School of Speech and Drama before returning to the US and attending the Sarah Lawrence arts college near New York. Having managed to kick drugs and alcohol, she was rushed to hospital in 1985 after accidentally taking an overdose of sleeping pills and prescription drugs. The episode formed the basis for her first novel, the semi-autobiographical Postcards from the Edge, in which she satirised her own dependence on drugs and the sometimes difficult relationship she had with her mother. Three years later Fisher adapted it into a screenplay, and it was made into a film starring Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, and Dennis Quaid. Fisher -- who had bipolar disorder -- also wrote and frequently talked in public about her years of drug addiction and mental illness. Carrie Fisher's fame as an actress rested on just one role, but it was a role in one of the best known and most successful film franchises in cinema history. She was remarkably frank about the personal difficulties she had fought and overcome. "There's a part of me that gets surprised when people think I am brave to talk about what I've gone through," she once said. "I was brave to last through it." The world is poorer without you, Fisher. Rest in peace.
Disturbance in the force (Score:5, Insightful)
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that was so nov, 8th
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Re: Disturbance in the force (Score:2)
According to TFS, she had both a heart attack AND a cardiac arrest, so indeed it sounds pretty horrible.
Re: Disturbance in the force (Score:5, Informative)
TFS is wrong. She drowned in moonlight, strangled by her own bra.
source - https://www.goodreads.com/work... [goodreads.com]
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Found the kid in the thread.
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LOL, the rubber and glue defence.
Priceless.
Re:Disturbance in the force (Score:5, Insightful)
She will always be with us... as long as we have CGI
Look- I'm wary of coming across as overly self-righteous here, which isn't the intent. However, this isn't the first comment I've read whose first response was along the lines of "It's okay, we have CGI" or "I hope they digitised here before she died".
I mean, seriously? Carrie Fisher- the real-life human being- has died. I'm assuming the people saying this are more into Star Wars than I am, and I'd have thought they'd at least feel something for the passing of Carrie Fisher as an actual human being in her own right rather than simply the means to reproduce Leia.
Please don't take this as a criticism of people whose primary interest in Fisher was as Leia- that's understandable; it's a major film series, and that was her best-known role. And I suspect the majority of Star Wars fans didn't respond like this... I just find the few that did a little inappropriate.
RIP To The Toughest Princess Ever (Score:5, Interesting)
As Leia, she was a blaster-toting Rebel leader. Off screen, she battled with mental illness and came forward about it - enabling many other people to feel like they were not alone. She was the toughest Princess ever. RIP Carrie.
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as do millions of people who just STFU and carry on with life.
And they are the ones she helped, the ones who didn't realize it was a normal illness that can be treated and recovered from. The ones who would have suffered in silence forever without people like her talking openly about mental health.
Of course some people just deal with their anger by ranting on internet forums.
Re:RIP To The Toughest Princess Ever (Score:5, Insightful)
as do millions of people who just STFU and carry on with life.
And then there's the million people/year that do something else [suicide.org] about it? Given the choices, I think I'd prefer as many people of stature as possible come forward, talk about their issues, help others, etc. Seems a little better than the alternative, doesn't it?
Prick
Sorry to hear of her passing (Score:4, Insightful)
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> All the Star Wars movies were "just cash-grabs"
The first one wasn't. George Lucas and the studio were both pretty convinced it would flop. Lucas made it because he always wanted to do a Flash Gordon style space opera, and was flush from the success of American Graffiti so he got his way.
Was very sad to hear this. (Score:2)
I had a boyhood crush on her in the days of the original trilogy. We lost a lot of celebrities this year, but the cast of the first three have always been special to me.
May she rest in peace.
I know... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: I know... (Score:2, Interesting)
Holy shit. For someone who doesn't care about the death of a person that others may have loved, you sure are vocal about trying to get others to hate on her as well.
Who shoved a lightsaber so far up your ass this morning?
Re: I know... (Score:4, Insightful)
it's not a matter of hate, it's a matter of being realistic about a 1-hit actress.
When someone dies and people are mourning the loss, what sort of person makes it his mission to shout "eh, she wasn't all that! Overrated!"
Someone a bit fucked up in the head.
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Go fuck yourself you fucking whiny little tool.
She was more than Leia (Score:5, Insightful)
She was a very complex person, and before people start beating her up because she "let herself go" (which, by the way, she readily admitted)... You weren't her, you didn't have her problems and her life. Could she have done things differently? Of course. But, it is what it is. An early death is generally the price paid for drug abuse and not taking care of yourself.
She was witty A.F. and an excellent writer. I was 13 when I saw her for the first time on the silver screen. And *wow*. Over the years, I've appreciated what she has done - which is why people that knew her loved her deeply. Leia was just the start.
The original Star Wars three were a good team (Score:2, Interesting)
I think the part the original three actors played in Star Wars is underappreciated. Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, and Mark Hamill each played their parts well, and could fix up George Lucas' bad dialogue. It turns out that adult Mark Hamill is naturally a villain. Maybe George Lucas should have made sequels with the original cast instead of the prequels. Have Luke turn to the dark side, and kill Han Solo.
To the credit of the Force Awakens, Finn, and the woman also seem to have good chemistry and personality
Re:She was more than Leia (Score:5, Insightful)
There's as fine line between living your life connected to other people and living your life to please other people. If someone else "lets themselves go" it's none of our damn business, but when we we lose someone due their impaired health it is still sad, and a reminder to take better care of ourselves.
This is what I taught my kids: everything good you experience through your body; everything you hope to accomplish in life is accomplished through your body. Even if you live by the keyboard your brain is supported by your body and deeply affected by your physical health.
So don't judge others for their appearance or health, but be firm and compassionate with yourself. Live the longest and healthiest life you can manage.
Re:She was more than Leia (Score:4, Funny)
I'm sure due to your positive influence, your children will become highly successful prostitutes/gigolos...
(Sorry, but I just had to... You set-up the joke so very well.)
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"worst problems", like grammar?
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"Worst" is not a typo of "worse". The "t" is not next to the "e". Only stupid people confuse worst with worse.
I don't understand this... (Score:5, Insightful)
Did that many celebrities really die? (Score:2)
I saw one article today saying 47 famous celebrities died this year, and they included people I had never heard of like Greg Lake, AA Gill, Rick Parfitt, etc. That doesn't seem like that many people to me. If you assume the average celebrity lives 50 years after initial stardom, it would only take 2500 total celebrities for 50 of them to die each year. I would bet there are at least a few thousand people in the world we would consider celebrities.
Re:Did that many celebrities really die? (Score:5, Informative)
I crunched the numbers (before the Carrie Fisher news hit) using http://fiftiesweb.com/dead/dead-people-2016/ as my guide. 2016 has killed the most celebrities (140 when you add in Ricky Harris, Carrie Fisher, and Richard Adams) than any year since 2000 (the earliest year that site had listings for). It was 40% more than the next closest year, 2005.
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I crunched the numbers (before the Carrie Fisher news hit) using http://fiftiesweb.com/dead/dea... [fiftiesweb.com] as my guide. 2016 has killed the most celebrities (140 when you add in Ricky Harris, Carrie Fisher, and Richard Adams) than any year since 2000 (the earliest year that site had listings for). It was 40% more than the next closest year, 2005.
The baby boomers are now in their 60s and 70s. The thing that gets me is the overwhelming emotion seems to be surprise, as if never in history before have actors ever died of old age and natural causes.
There's going to be a big uptick in deaths the next decade or so, then quiets down until maybe the 2050s or 2060s. Then that generation will be upset that all of the great people of the millennial generation (which is another boom, bigger than that baby boomers actually) died in the same year of 2056 or whate
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I'm going to interpret this on the generous side, in as much as you're not attempting to insult people's feelings.
That said, we humans have a funny way of generating our identity. We look to other humans for inspiration and sometimes for more. There's nothing wrong with this, save for when your choice is revealed to be problematic for the kind of life you wish to live. Celebrities are common targets as they're easy for parents to point to, easy to find on your own, and easy to market. The same can be said o
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This year we lost Bowie and E&L (P is holding on for now), not to mention Lemmy out of Motorhead.
I wouldn't really put him in the same league, not even with Rick Parfitt who now has all eternity to learn another chord...
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Thinking back, on the upside, 2016 also took Fidel Castro and Jack T. Chick from us at long last. I thought there were a few other "evil" celebrities as well that bit the dust, but I can't name any at the moment. Thought Fred Phelps was one of them, but looks like he went to nonexistence way back in 2014. Perhaps we can get lucky and his shitty diet will cause Kim Jong Un to complete the 2016 evil triad within the next 3 1/2 days.
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Considering the bile he spread toward anyone that did not follow his specific ultra fundie mythology, and that many of my generation, who were forced to go to church in our formative years were exposed to his works early on and were led to believe his garbage because you do not question any "church authority" ever... Yeah, the universe is a little brighter with him rotting in his grave.
Don't get me wrong. I never went around actively wishing him to die, but I did feel a sense of peace upon news of his pas
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Fuck, I must have been as drunk as he was!
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I mean really, does it matter that George Michael died for example?
Dr, Boyce Watkins talked about that on his YouTube channel where 745 people are murdered in Chicago but everyone else is falling apart over the death of George Michael.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22YwHQ_ZlgE [youtube.com]
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People are disconnected from reality. I mean really, does it matter that George Michael died for example? The guy hasn't had a hit in 30 years. He was a mediocre pop star in the 1980s. Yet everyone slobbers over him calling him a great "R&B" singer. Give it a rest people.
I'm not a George Michaels fan; but anyone who has two Grammy's and an album with four #1 Hits on it, no matter how long ago, is not rightly classed as "mediocre", sorry.
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Pop music's only purpose is to separate middle schoolers from their allowances.
Middle schoolers are very easily led.
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Pay the funeral home enough, and they might make you a souvenir of it.
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Wait a second; People actually watch award shows? I've always just assumed they fabricated ratings for themselves.
She wrote her own obit: (Score:5, Informative)
"She drowned in moonlight, strangled by her own bra."
Obligatory yoda... (Score:5, Insightful)
May the force be with all of you, and with her (Score:2)
.
(The single period to mark a passing may not be a thing here but it once was, on metafilter)
Equalizer (Score:2)
Re:Equalizer (Score:5, Insightful)
Now Star Wars fans get to experience what Star Trek fans have been feeling for decades... Your favorite performers in your favorite roles are mortal. Sure, your character might get a Genesis resurrection, or turn into a Force Ghost, but eventually, the actors die. Then the copyright holders get to screw with your favorite memories by remaking your favorite films with completely different actors. It's worse than Life Day.
It gets worse. Hopefully Disney dosent own the rights to her likeness of we will see her appear in every subsequent film jar jar binks style. In the future, favorite stars will actually be immortal.
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I so look forward to the day that actors can be replaced by CGI. I'm tired of seeing the Jim Carrys, Will Smiths, et al. of the world. One of the reasons I prefer Indi films.
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It gets worse. Hopefully Disney dosent own the rights to her likeness of we will see her appear in every subsequent film jar jar binks style. In the future, favorite stars will actually be immortal.
Tarkin in Rogue One indicates that the future is now.
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Not to mention a certain closing scene ... that is somehow all the more poignantly sweet now.
Blues Brothers (Score:5, Informative)
I liked her best in The Blues Brothers.
Vera Rubin (Score:2, Insightful)
So what's next? (Score:2)
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Re:So what's next? (Score:5, Interesting)
In Monaco perhaps. Rich American women marrying into European royalty is hardly anything new. Likely a few female members of nobility have come over here and become Naturalized Citizens too. But we don't recognize such titles here in the USA.
Carrie Fisher was different in that WE gave her that title.
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Meh. I'll give you perhaps a half credit for that one. My main problem with Buttercup is that she tried to talk with an accent, as did her costar (not very American at all), and her character basically existed as the movie's McGuffin to be rescued. In other words, she was a fairly generic European romantic "princess". That was a European princess, invented by some Americans.
Princess Leia swore, punched people, shot people, turned wrenches, led a rebellion, etc. That's how we do it.
One user on Twitter I
2 days after another star princess also died (Score:4, Informative)
On Christmas day (Isaac Newton's birthday), one of the people who studied galaxies far, far away and the dark side of matter passed away. Vera Rubin [wikipedia.org]
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I just want to raise a one finger salute and shout out a heart felt "FUCK YOU" to the year 2016.
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Lemmy died a year ago tomorrow so if we treat him as the first then tonight's New Years Eve.
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Lemmy was the first, the last, the everything.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
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Help us Baby New Year. You're our only hope.
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Fuckoff racist.
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Calling out a racist doesnt make it bigotry. Bigotry is unreasonable and irrational prejudice. Disliking racists is rational, just like disliking rapists and murderers.
She died days ago (Score:4, Interesting)
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i thought everyone from your generation was dead already, this for the young 50ish crowd.
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what has reason to do with popularity?
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I'm pretty sure this had a bit to do with it too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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Re:The Character, Princess Leia, Is Iconic (Score:4, Interesting)
What movie has she even been in that was iconic?
Tomb Raider
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Re:The Character, Princess Leia, Is Iconic (Score:5, Informative)
Most people can instantly recognize a picture of Princess Leia. Far fewer could recognize a photo of Lara Croft, and even fewer would recognize Mrs Smith.
The main reason that Carrie had little success beyond Star Wars is because she was too busy snorting cocaine up her nose, and she has openly acknowledged the negative effect of drugs on both her health and career.
In 1977 I fell in love with Princess Leia, and there is still a warm place in my heart whenever I think of her. Carrie, wherever you are out there among the stars, may the force be with you.
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Weren't you the guy who was so awesome at it they fired you?
I was a video game tester from 1997 to 2004. Yes, my boss tried to fire me because I was so awesome. When he got promoted into management and made a big deal out of the fact that I got a 2% raise, I informed him that it was nothing as I had gotten a 50% raise in my first year. It pissed him off that I made more money than him for five years. Somehow he got this misinformed idea that being the manager meant he was the best tester in the department. He wasn't. He was very good at lying about his numbers
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Gia the movie with 18 year old Angelina stark raving naked...
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Do yourself a favor, fast forward to the stark raving naked part. The rest is just awful.
The main character was, IRL, apparently just a queen bitch, who's _only_ redeeming quality was that she was pretty. They tried, but the unlikeable junkie cunt part came through in the movie. When she dies of AIDs I suspect 99% of the audience was thinking: "Good, I hope she suffered, a lot.' Which, I suspect was not the director's intent.
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I think he's getting her mixed up with Alanis Morissette.
Re:The Character, Princess Leia, Is Iconic (Score:5, Informative)
Being a star in the biggest movie franchise of the 20th century doesnt make you iconic? A generation or two worth of children grew up running around outside pretending to be characters from the movies and playing with the action figures. Shoot, the combined cultural impact of all of Angelina Jolie's movies doesnt even come close to the first star wars movie.
I don't think so (Score:4, Insightful)
The woman was literally a 1-hit wonder
You only need one thing to be iconic.
never went on to do anything else that was worthy of note.
When the one thing is big enough, none of that matters.
Any number of actresses could have played the part
Like who exactly? Who would have been as perfect in that role as Carrie Fisher was?
Yes she was in the right place at the right time, but it's also true that she was the RIGHT PERSON in the right place at the right time. Any other actress would have mangled the part. Her actual person including her background growing up was perfect for that role in a way I'm not sure anyone else was.
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Any other actress would have mangled the part.
I'm sorry, but no. There are plenty of actresses who could have done as fine a job as Carrie Fisher did, and in each of the alternate universes where one of them got the part, you're thinking of Fisher as one of the also-rans would would have "mangled" the role. The fact that other actresses could have done well does not in any way lessen the fact that she did an excellent job, so let's not dehumanize the lady by putting her up on a pedestal that she probably wouldn'
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well put.
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Generally your post is spot-on, but this?
Or maybe, just maybe the trend continues and the *whole* post is spot-on...
There are plenty of actresses who could have done as fine a job as Carrie Fisher did
That all sounds great but I notice you didn't put up any names.
Again, who exactly?
Remember they would have had to triangulate between Lucas, the script, and the other actors...
You make it sound like it was easy to do what she did in Star Wars when frankly if you read much about the shooting of Star Wars seems r
Those names are ridiculous (Score:3)
Sissy Spacek, Cindy Williams, Glenn Close, Jessica Lange, Meryl Streep, Sigourney Weaver, Cybill Shepherd, Anjelica Huston, Kim Basinger, Kathleen Turner.
BWA HA HA HAH AHAHAH!
Most of them are 7-10 years older for one thing. Of the ones that aren't, they are totally different types and simply were nowhere near as fiery as Carrie was.
Everyone of these names are better actresses
I don't think you quite understand. Carrie Fisher was not really a great actress. She was a perfect Princess Leia.
All of those name
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It depends on a lot. Carrie Fisher carried off an incredulous vibe in critical parts that .. transformed the story and our interpretation of the characters, I think? Who's to know how much of that was written-in, how much was directed, how much was her interpretation, how much was her talent, and how much was her chemistry with the rest of the cast.
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says the AC?
Organized crime is bad for you (Score:5, Insightful)
High velocity lead is bad for you too. Legalizing drugs takes organized crime out of the equation, and reduces the incentives to run around murdering people for large amounts of cash, drugs, and turf. People will always do dangerous drugs, why not just legalize them so that people who don't want anything to do with drugs can walk down the street without getting shot?
Banning drugs is just providing price supports for organized crime. If you are pro-drug laws, you are pro-Organized crime, it is as simple as that.
Re:Organized crime is bad for you (Score:5, Insightful)
Where are the mobs, gangs and cartels based around running cigarettes and alcohol...oh wait there aren't any.
Prohibition alone makes a bad liar out of you. Why are you even attempting to fuck this chicken?
Re:Drugs are bad for you (Score:5, Insightful)
"marijuana users will lead to early onset dementia, and low IQs."
Any studies showing a connection?... I'll wait...
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"marijuana users will lead to early onset dementia, and low IQs."
Any studies showing a connection?... I'll wait...
Here you go [breitbart.com].
Oh, you wanted a real source?
Re:Drugs are bad for you (Score:5, Insightful)
Sweetheart, the motive for banning the drugs was to turn drug users into criminals, not to help anyone.
She was who she was because of what she did (Score:2)
Yes coke (the powder) is bad for you. But she also would not have been the person she was without it. I don't know that she would have changed anything, even knowing she would die early...
Do you really want to continue to try and eliminate drugs, and have a world with no more Carrie Fishers?
Find your own monastery, I say.
Re:Drugs are bad for you (Score:4, Insightful)
I wonder if a generation of marijuana users will lead to early onset dementia, and low IQs.
We just had an election for President of the United States that pitted Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump, so here's your answer: it's more than just one generation that got addled.
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It also made her immortal; I would trade being a movie star for 4 decades for the last 2 decades of my old age.
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It's just symbolic, like Col. Potter's toast in the MASH episode, A War for All Seasons.
"Here's to the New Year; may she be a damned sight better than the old one."
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None of us actually believe that 2016 is some sort of malignant entity. We just identify patterns and make a narrative to help deal with the negative things that happen.
Unlike others who really do believe in talking burning bushes, crackers turning into human flesh and horses flying to heaven. And are willing to kill others to "prove" it. Or use it as an excuse to abuse children, mistreat women.
Happy Holidays!