America's Death Culture

I've noticed this trend emerging in multiple spheres of existence.  Different types of people are seeking to normalize, glamorize, or demonize death.  These iterations have various repercussions, and it's interesting to see how they all play together.

The universal division I've seen is between celebration and acceptance vs lingering and extended mourning.

Skulls reminiscent of día de los muertes have become pop culture icons, showing up on all sorts of items ranging from booty shorts to stationary to corporate logos.  This normalization of human fatality is a kind of acceptance--everybody dies and it's not horrible or mysterious.

This acceptance of this has shown to be empowering to people.  Accepting the inevitable and having realistic expectations has allowed people to embrace life more--their own and their descendents.  In a growing trend of "death dinners," families are coming together and discussing death seriously.  Many have found the experience relieving--looming and ethereal mortality has been made real and becomes a dealt with instead of vaguely though about.

On the other hand, I was struck at the morbidity of many of our national holidays.  News reports on September 11th are excessively haunting.  There seems to be a fear of moving on.  Instead of focusing on how we've grown as a nation and on the good that has come from this terrible event, we replay in all the vivid glory the traumatic crashes.  It is important to remember the tragedy, but it shouldn't be paraded so grotesquely.  We're torturing ourselves and promoting fear.

This fear of death yet acceptance of it creates recklessness; it births the idea of protecting life at the cost of life. I'm scared about the state of the world right now.  War with Syria is a threat, and many Americans are feeling defensive, which translates into offensive bombing and invasive military action.

As the death culture grows, it's being torn in multiple directions.  Every aspect has an influence on the way we interact with the world.  It will be interesting to see how it develops us as individuals and as a nation.