Not Another Heath Ledger Tribute

Another young talented celebrity with everything to live for has died, and while the results aren't in, every indication is that he died at his own hand. Maybe it was suicide, maybe an accident. The Internet and airwaves of television and radio are mourning the loss of Heath Ledger. I expect this young guys untimely and tragic demise will occupy many hours of discourse in the weeks to come. There will be tributes and interviews, talk and speculation, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

In the meantime back here in the real world , real tragedies will continue to effect the less famous and garner little if any attention and certainly nothing on the scale of Heath Ledgers death.

A young girl is shot and killed while waiting in line at a drive through . Some moron decided to shoot her at random, no motive no reason. That is really a tragedy. But it wont garner much more than a quick blip on the radar. Young inner city kids will continue to die pointless deaths, some long battered woman , somewhere will die at the hands of an abusive husband or boyfriend. Defenseless children will be abused and murdered at the hands of the persons responsible for their care. Sure these things will make the news, maybe, but they wont garner the attention or draw the mass mourning across the Internet like the death of a single actor who was found face down and surrounded by sleeping pills.

Don't get me wrong, anytime a young person dies it is a tragic thing, but somewhere along the way we have become a culture that places a higher value on the lives of spoiled over privileged celebrities, who most of us will never see in person, let alone speak to , all the while ignoring or discounting the tragedies that happen here in the real world. Lets face it, we really get tired of all the gloomy real world tragedy that happens on a daily basis. Who wants to listen to the news anchor report another 3 marines being killed in the middle east, when we can salivate over the latest stand off at Britney Spears mansion, or see which Hollywood party girl forgot to wear panties when she left the house.

It seems to me the real tragedy is the misplaced empathy we have for those we have the least in common with, while virtually ignoring the genuine tragedy that touches the lives of people we may well have brushed shoulders with in our daily lives.