Cashing in on a killer’s 15 minutes of fame

What do you bet that, if Lovelle Mixon had died while in prison for the rape he committed against a 12 year old, or had been shot by another gang member (or while robbing a house), or had OD’d on his drug of choice, his funeral turn-out would have numbered in the double digits?  Heck, I doubt anyone but immediate family would have attended.

But become famous and you get fans.  Thus, it should come as no surprise to us that almost 500 people attended Mixon’s funeral.  I’m going to extend to the funeral attendees the courtesy of assuming that they were not present to send the message that they approve of the fact that he was a mass murderer of police officers.  However, I’m also not going to assume that they were there because they loved Mixon.  He was a thug, pure and simple, and people like that may engender fear, and a weird, fear-driven respect, but not love.

Which leaves “fame by association” as the only possible reason for this kind of turnout at the funeral of a stone-cold killer.  At the end of the day, these people wanted to be able to boast that they were there — at Lovelle Mixon’s funeral.  It’s disgusting, but in a crowded, anonymous world, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised at the number of people who crave some form of recognition, even if it comes through associating themselves with the lowest of the low.