We see it all the time. Some famed person dies and all of a sudden it becomes a top story all over the world. This time, most recently, it’s Australian born and grown Hollywood actor Heath Ledger, whom was found dead in his apartment in New York City.

But what really makes us care? Why do we care if some actor of whom the vast majority would never get to meet personally dies? I personally, don’t.

Obviously the first answer any mourner would relate to is the various films he starred in and the great performance he had playing the roles. Most people would agree this would be an adequate answer. I say, hardly adequate.

I can envision you scoffing as you progress on. “Some no-name blogger is trying to belittle somebody who’s had far greater success than he will ever have…LOL.”

Though really, how would you know? The definition of success is different for every person; some like our deceased ‘friend’ Heath Ledger would be fame and wealth whilst others may simply define success as working in a moderately financially successful career.

It seems that our society is driven by things that have a great impact on large masses of people. You want your death to be one of the top stories for over a week, then go right ahead and do something big. Even infamy can lead to such publicity.

Not that that many would care. That’s right. There are over 6.6 billion people on this planet today. Of those 6.6 billion, I can assure you that at the absolute MOST 6 billion (and I’m being very generous here) have never heard of Heath Ledger before and couldn’t damn care if he met an unfortunate early end alone in his apartment in NYC. Get him off the news, the public don’t care.

As to his distraught family, get over it. Don’t go crying in public about it - we’ve all had to deal with deaths completely unknown to anyone outside friends and family and we cope fine. There are so many other people that deserve our attention and sympathy - how about those children in war-torn countries, who have their parents and family ripped away from them and orphaned? Do we devote whole segments of broadcasting time to tell the world about how they died? Didn’t think so.

If you found this post offended you, too bad. Leave a comment and flame me, I’ll be happy to read it and respond.