Less talented individuals have always ridden the coattails of famous people to make money. They are permitted to do so because the very foundation of pop culture is the worship of famous people (no matter how they got famous), and they can always find a market for whatever they are selling. Society's need to idolize and worship celebrities has sunken to new lows; people are becoming famous because they are the widows of dead celebrities.

Yoko Ono recently took out a full-page ad in The New York Times to ask that the anniversary of John Lennon's death, December 8, be marked as a day of world healing. While the message is in fact a positive one, you can't help but wonder who she is addressing and why. Is she addressing her late husband's fans? Or has she done something that would warrant her own fan base? Either way, why is her media attention streaming from Lennon's fame and not her artwork? And why is she encouraging it with a full-page ad?

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Last year, Cynthia Lennon, Lennon's first wife whom he divorced in 1968, published yet another book about him. Even though they had a tumultuous marriage and a messy divorce, she wrote a book (her second to date) that includes pictures and an introduction from their son Julian. Ask yourself: do you think she's going to turn away the money she receives from this book because she's just using it as a way to share some long-lost memories with Lennon's fans? Or do you think she'll keep it because she is cashing in on his name?

Love her or hate her, Courtney Love had her own band. So why, whenever she appears in the news, is she mentioned as Kurt Cobain's widow? Is it because she insists on profiting off her better half's name? Is it her book Dirty Blond (with pictures and inside scoop on Cobain) and the fact that she sold 25% of her share of Nirvana's publishing rights? If, every time she gets strapped for cash, she mentions her late husband and receives bucks, of course she'll do it again and again.

Consumers are allowing these women and other people like them to ride the coattails of the dead; they are aiding and abetting them by buying into it. They are supporting these people by handing over hard-earned cash. Every time you buy a book about Tupac Shakur, you're not supporting him or his music; you're supporting the person who wrote the book and is using his name to make money.

By celebrating the dead, and those who knew them, society's need to idolize people has become a morbid fixation. Rewarding these parasites is sort of like buying a junkie a fix. They need money and you give it to them, no questions asked. This not only lines their pockets, but also helps them reach that celebrity status that they could not earn on their own.

They found that they aren't talented enough to grab your attention on their own, so they are now using the dead to do it. Who would have signed Lisa Marie Presley if she hadn't been the daughter of Elvis Presley? The guy who is forever on tabloid covers, and until recently was the number one top-earning dead celebrity according to Forbes.

The only way to stop this morbid obsession is to stop encouraging it. Stop tuning in and giving shows like The E! Hollywood True Story higher ratings when they air the episodes featuring the deceased. Society needs to go back to celebrating the people who have actually earned celebration, and not the people who are cashing in on their names.

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Copyright 2006 Metropolitan Community College