Diana mania

The mindboggling media coverage and unprecedented outpouring of public grief over the death of Princess Diana is not only grotesque but will provide behavioral sociologists with a new bone to gnaw on.

Irrespective of the true cause of her accidental death -- be it celebrity chasing paparazzi out to make a living or the car passengers' inexplicable inability to prevent an allegedly inebriated driver from entering a tunnel at a suicidal speed -- the fact remains that we are essentially dealing with a case of media induced mass hysteria.

Having gorged themselves ad nauseum on her marital problems and emotional instability, the media reversed course and managed to transform a seriously troubled and fragile Princess into a latter day St Theresa of Avila.

The good Princess undoubtedly deserved a lot of sympathy.

The ensuing media orchestrated mourning frenzy however -- ranging from flags at half mast to eulogies from Heads of States, public minutes of silence to TV announcers conveniently dressed in black for effect, not to mention seas of tears and mountains of flowers -- not only eclipsed the death and rather dignified funeral arrangements of the more deserving Mother Teresa but represents a final insult to the memory of the Princess.

Untold millions of slaughtered innocents must be turning in their unmarked graves all over Cambodia, Somalia, Bosnia or Rwanda and wonder what the world has come to.

JOE L. SPARTZ

Jakarta