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The Untold Story of a Music Royalty's Tragic End

jjpryor.substack.com

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Re: The Untold Story of a Music Royalty's Tragic End

#2

Post by boomboomsubban »

This is a strangely written story. I don't get the point of hiding who the person is until the end, it's not like keeping them a secret changed how I felt about their tale.

spoiler, since that's how this article is written Do they think I'd go "oh, who cares about Elvis' grandson?" More likely people wouldn't know anything about his grandson and back out after the first line.

Re: The Untold Story of a Music Royalty's Tragic End

#3

Post by g051051 »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #2

This is a strangely written story. I don't get the point of hiding who the person is until the end, it's not like keeping them a secret changed how I felt about their tale. spoiler, since that's how this article is written Do they think I'd go "oh, who cares about Elvis' grandson?" More likely people wouldn't know anything about his grandson and back out after the first line.

I never liked the old Paul Harvey "Now you know...the rest of the story" thing either. And I don't see how it's a good fit for Hacker News, either.

Re: The Untold Story of a Music Royalty's Tragic End

#4

Post by robg »

The lack of purpose seems a current plague on humanity, especially with rates of suicide. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankyl got through to me. Now with kids of my own - I can only help so much, their lives will have to be from their own will to live.

Re: The Untold Story of a Music Royalty's Tragic End

#6

Post by OzzyB »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #2

This is a strangely written story. I don't get the point of hiding who the person is until the end, it's not like keeping them a secret changed how I felt about their tale. spoiler, since that's how this article is written Do they think I'd go "oh, who cares about Elvis' grandson?" More likely people wouldn't know anything about his grandson and back out after the first line.

That's exactly why it's written this way -- to devoid the reader of any prejudice and humanize this tragic story -- because it is tragic. If it was written "normally", like "Elvis' Grandson Ben killed himself, and here's why..." some people might hand wave it away as just another "poor little rich boy story". This is also probably one of the reasons for his suicide (IMO of course). I mean, he's Elvis' kid he couldn't possibly be unhappy, right?

As to whether or not this is appropriate for HN, I'm also not so sure... but I enjoyed reading it.

Re: The Untold Story of a Music Royalty's Tragic End

#7

Post by stephc_int13 »

This is a common pattern.

The issue is not really the pressure, even if the pressure itself can be extremely toxic over a long duration.

The problem is the lack of satisfaction from personal growth.

We're all built with an internal feedback loop, inherited from our complex evolutionary path, this feedback loop is mostly sensitive to change.

It is impossible to live a happy life without positive feedback into this loop.

It does not matter how rich, powerful or famous you are, all of that is quickly integrated to be "normal", we need constant improvement or at least fluctuations with some positive slope.

Hell is being born with everything and slowly losing status, friends, money and hope.

Re: The Untold Story of a Music Royalty's Tragic End

#9

Post by boomboomsubban »

OzzyB wrote: post #6
boomboomsubban wrote: post #2

This is a strangely written story. I don't get the point of hiding who the person is until the end, it's not like keeping them a secret changed how I felt about their tale. spoiler, since that's how this article is written Do they think I'd go "oh, who cares about Elvis' grandson?" More likely people wouldn't know anything about his grandson and back out after the first line.

That's exactly why it's written this way -- to devoid the reader of any prejudice and humanize this tragic story -- because it is tragic. If it was written "normally", like "Elvis' Grandson Ben killed himself, and here's why..." some people might hand wave it away as just another "poor little rich boy story". This is also probably one of the reasons for his suicide (IMO of course). I mean, he's Elvis' kid he couldn't…

The first sentence is

>The grandson of a legendary musician, Ben grew up in wealth and luxury.

If they're trying to avoid the "poor little rich boy story," they did a poor job.

I said nothing about it being unsuited for HN. I take issues with the story telling, not it being posted here.

Re: The Untold Story of a Music Royalty's Tragic End

#10

Post by throwbadubadu »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #2

This is a strangely written story. I don't get the point of hiding who the person is until the end, it's not like keeping them a secret changed how I felt about their tale. spoiler, since that's how this article is written Do they think I'd go "oh, who cares about Elvis' grandson?" More likely people wouldn't know anything about his grandson and back out after the first line.

I liked it actually, and also didn't know til then who it is about..
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