I agree with you that the level of media attention is excessive, and that GBs death is no more tragic than anyone who is loved and dies leaving their friends and family behind. However, alcoholism is now widely recognised as a disease, and is seriously addictive, so yes, I feel pity for someone who dies as a result of this insidious substance, just as I would for someone who is addicted to nicotine and dies of lung cancer. I don't think that people voluntarily choose alcoholism, or to die of any of the number of slow and painful alcohol related illnesses. I'm not trying to excuse the despicable behaviour you mention such as drink driving and slapping people around, rather I see them as awful side effects of the addiction. My brother-in-law died from alcohol related illness at 32 years of age, leaving behind my sister and their two children. He was an addict of the most desperate kind, and no treatment ever succeeded at breaking his fatal habit.