Mourning the loss...of someone we never met?

I like US Weekly and People just like the next girl.  I love when I see a new issue on the magazine rack at the gym.  It's perfect reading for the elliptical - doesn't require too much brainpower and there are lots of pictures.  That being said, I'm usually relatively current on my celeb gossip and am easily entertained by the drama.  However, one thing I have never understood is the tendency to revere celebrities in death and fixate so deeply on mourning their contributions to society and the associated loss.  Some examples that come to mind - Anna Nicole Smith (ok, maybe she didn't really contribute to society other than in I-feel-sorry-for-you ways), Heath Ledger, Amy Winehouse, and most recently, Whitney Houston.

I can't tell you how many media outlets had tributes to Whitney Houston over the weekend.  Even my local, hometown news station had an entire web page dedicated to her.  It's just overkill and something that I cannot rationalize, intellectually speaking. 

Whitney certainly was a music fixture in my early life.  I remember my Mom playing her tapes when we were out and about in her Volvo station wagon back in the late 80s/early 90s.  I think we even had some of her CDs when tapes went out of fashion.  I danced to "Queen of the Night" in our camp talent show.  I always liked her music and her smile was amazing.

So while I enjoyed her music, I was perplexed by the coverage this weekend and early this week.  I never met Whitney.  I found her entertaining, but no more or less so than the next actor, writer, producer or singer.  For society as a whole to mourn her death with such vigor and fervor seems strange to me.  Why don't we mourn everyone in that same way?  In death, our family members don't make front page news for weeks on end, but their relative impact on us is undoubtedly stronger and much more relevant in our daily lives.  In my mind, the contributions of those closest to us should be the focal points in our lives.

As I've worked through the words to describe my sentiments on celebrity deaths, I continue to be confused.  Maybe you're not supposed to apply intellect to life and death...