What makes for a tragedy?

i would think thats not far wrong.
btw welcome to a2k

Was Oedipus aware of this?

tragedy is expectations confounded by life.

Tragedy is subjective;

The Columbia; a devastating example of a general tragedy for humanity!

Not enough change in your pocket for a pack of "smokes"; an individual tragedy (the tragedy not being the one s/he thinks it is!)

I do understand what you are getting at, you. (Your nom de net makes for some interesting sentences. Hey, you!) I think that tragedies happen everyday, every hour, every minute. National tragedies happen when there is some reason for a whole nation to be personally invested. Now, how do they become "personally invested"? A lot of ways -- maybe they wanted to be an astronaut when they grew up, or remember the Challenger explosion, or saw the picture of the empty helmet on the front page of the New York Times.

I do think media coverage is a big part of it -- as you get to know more details, it becomes that much more sad. And there are no dearth of sad stories, it's a matter of what the media chooses to cover exhaustively. (That is not saying I think the media should have refrained from covering the Columbia tragedy.)

Another aspect of making something a national tragedy, though, is that I think people enjoy having a reason to come together. To put aside partisan politics disagreements and say, sincerely, "How sad." To feel that we have more commonalities than we have differences.

That's exactly what I was getting at. I heard people talking about how great a tragedy it was and it got me thinking. I know cases of more than 7 people killed in a car accident but few were moved by that tragedy. Sometimes I think that if the media covers a story enough it will become a tragedy. When celebrities die it's tragedy. It makes me think that fame is the most important factor.

'Your nom de net makes for some interesting sentences.'

That's why I chose it. :-P

Theatrically speaking, tragedy demands a fatal flaw on the part of the protagonist, usually a flaw that the hero is unaware of and always a flaw that brings about his downfall.

Some would suggest that the Columbia is a tragedy. A dramaturg would suggest that somewhere within the myriad stories that led to the disaster there lie several tragedies, each with its own hero, each hero with his or her own fatal flaw. And few will ever make it to the spotlight.

Spotlight on the hero.
The hero among the unreason.

I think along the lines of King. A tragedy, so I was taught, had to do with the incapacity to achieve positive goals, because of some unforeseen uncontrollable action or force, like a tragic flaw.
"You" raises an interesting factor of our times; whether or not the media considers it tragic; sort of like, "if we don't hear the tree fall in the woods, did it fall?"... and we live at a time "..if the media doesn't say it's tragic; is it tragic?.."
I guess I might suggest our emotive perception plays a hand; as a culture we tend to respond and not THINK, it's often hard to look at objective numbers. For example, more people die as a direct / indirect result of poverty (hunger/disease) world wide, and yet I have not seen a cable news anchor address this, but a plane crash or missing person, however tagic, gets the spotlight.

It seems now that the tragedy of the Columbia
was the fact that even knowing that damage had been done to the protective tiles, the only possible move was to return, since no repairs were possible in space, the descent was an forced experiment with "tragic" results.

Welcome to a2k, 'you.'
A tragedy is no less tragic just because it didn't receive coverage by the media. The families of those killed in a car crash are just as grief stricken as the families of the crew of the Columbia.

Death comes to us all, in one form or another, if not today, then tomorrow. Only humans, in their constant search for evidence that they are somehow more essential than all other forms of life, would subscribe a term like "tragedy" to something so natural as death.

Tragedy is the reality of life and comedy is when every one sings at the end.

Oedipus Rex...

Inability to learn from past mistakes and consistent refusal to even admit making these mistakes.

Tragedy:
1. An event resulting in great loss and misfortune

2. Drama in which the protagonist is overcome by some superior force or circumstance; excites terror or pity.

Fame has little to do with individual tragedy, but only how wide spread, it is felt. If Aunt Hilda's little pooch gets run over by a careless, speeding drunk, it is tragic and her loss is deeply felt by her loved ones. If the new stations pick up the story, and millions hear about it, her loss and misfortune is spread and felt, that much farther.

Said Mel Brooks (the 2000-year-old man): "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die." Neither is strictly accurate in the classical sense, however... In that sense, the function of tragedy probably had much to do with organizing and codifying greif that everyone carries, get rid of it (catharsis), and move on. In ancient Greece, each playwright submitted three tragedies (usually a trilogy) and a comedy to the festival. The comedy was performed last. Comedy wiped the nasty taste of leftover grief out of the spectator's mouths.

Now, we don't write many great tragedies, but are constantly inundated with information. For whatever reason, the news media seem to have made it their job to do tragedy for us (and elected officials the comedy).




Or maybe not. I needs my coffee.

love the parallel between the trgedians..news media // and the comedians...elected officials. you're on to something patio dog

..that ad space still open?

Tragedy is Dubya being appointed president. If it weren't tragedy, it would be comedy.