The lack of strong public health and remote options robbed the rest of us of David Lynch’s last years.
NPR – David Lynch, who directed off-kilter classics, dies at 78 January 16, 20252:07 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered By Kyle Norris Director David Lynch has died. His sinister, surreal vision of America made him a leading counterculture auteur in the 1980s and 1990s, with movies such as Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart and Mulholland Drive, as well as the groundbreaking television series he co-created with Mark Frost, Twin Peaks. Lynch’s family shared the news of his death on Thursday in a Facebook post. He announced in 2024 he would no longer leave his home after a diagnosis of emphysema from a lifetime of smoking, and concerns about catching COVID-19.
Being an ex-smoker puts people at higher risk for and with covid.
David Lynch says he is not retiring after revealing he is too ill to direct films in person – The Twin Peaks creator says he has emphysema caused by smoking and cannot leave the house because of the risk of Covid Andrew Pulver Tue 6 Aug 2024 03.38 EDT In an interview with Sight and Sound magazine, Lynch said: “I’ve gotten emphysema from smoking for so long, and so I’m homebound whether I like it or not. I can’t go out. And I can only walk a short distance before I’m out of oxygen.” He added: “Because of Covid, it would be very bad for me to get sick, even with a cold. So I would probably be directing from my home … I wouldn’t like that so much. I like to be amongst the thing and get ideas there. But I would try to do [a film] remotely, if it comes to it.” After his comments provoked a strong response from fans, the 78-year-old issued a follow-up statement on X to clarify he would not stop working. “I have now quit smoking for over two years,” he wrote.
Stigma is what makes people think ex-smokers or people with other high risk conditions deserve to be sequestered or suffer or should be ranked in deservingness of help, respect, or consideration.. It’s called stigma. Stigma is also what leads to people not wanting to discuss covid, or to look the other way on public health considerations. Stigma is also likely behind a lot of hostility around the pandemic, including covid contrarianism and covid denial – manifested as anti-mask and anti-vax fixations.
We’d be better off confronting the stigma than letting it drive people apart, whether by precautionary isolation or by death. (People are also still dying of covid and covid complications.)