Why does this happen?

People want their money and fame to rub off on themselves. They might be insincere. I don’t always mourn the loss of a video game character, but am frustrated when one dies. I had designs on that game character, and not necessarily true morning. People might think It is required to pretend to mourn, and the poor person is mourned the same when all BS is eliminated.

Many, if not “most”, people who earn and maintain fame and fortune over a lifetime have achieved that through good works of various kinds, productive exchange, display of talent or other means that make people admire them. Are you seriously questioning why humans would grieve more for a person who had, displayed and used that kind of talent or other good works than for a nameless prostitute or drug addict?

It does distress me somewhat – for the societal values on display – when someone with those kinds of gifts throws it away on drugs or other dissipated living, and we collectively grieve more for that person than for, say, a genuinely heroic person who loses his or her life actually saving others. But that’s also a function of our idiotic fixation on “celebrity” as a valuable attribute of a person’s life.

CWotus- Did you really just say nameless prostitute or drug addict?
These are human beings.
Not everyone grows up in a good home with every opportunity.
We all like to think that we are successful because we are somehow better people, but in reality that “nameless” prostitute or drug addict could very easily have been you or I if we had just been born into a different situation.

Okay … I could have phrased that better. Your point is valid that all humans deserve their dignity, @Pineapplebush, and their name and a claim on whatever feeling their families and friends have for them. So “nameless” wasn’t a good choice of adjectives to describe a person who is unknown to me. On the other hand, no one has to apologize for not personally caring about a person who is completely unknown to oneself, either. Compassion can only spread so thin.

When I read this question, the person that I think of as an example of the famous person who dies is Prince, since he just died a few days ago. So in my mind, it’s “Why is Prince so revered upon the occasion of his death while hardly anyone sheds a tear for a prostitute or drug addict?”

My answer is that someone famous like Prince has touched many millions of people with his music. People enjoyed his music, his performances, his celebrity. People found him a sex symbol. People admired his singing, his incredible instrument playing ability, his performances, his clothing and style. He donated much money to charities in Harlem but did not want to receive credit for that. Someone famous like Prince can perform or even just show up at a fundraiser and the event immediately raises way more funds than it would without him as guest. If he were to do something like donate an autographed guitar for a charity, thousands of dollars might be raised off of those donations. He was known for helping out people in his community and doing good deeds. Many, many people also profit from the work of a celebrity like Prince. Managers, agents, costume designers, stylists, set designers, accountants, photographers, musicians, the list goes on. Members of the public may remember his kindness if they met him in the neighborhood or after a concert or event.

Contrast that with a drug addict or prostitute. Not that the drug addict or prostitute is deserving of dignity and respect but the circle of people they knew and helped will almost certainly be way smaller than the circle of people who someone like Prince knew and helped.

Jca- I guess I just see it differently.
I don’t see celebrities as amazing people, just people who were in the right place at the right time.
You can find kind hearted, generous, humble, talented people in any walk of life they just don’t get any camera time, but they do exist.
Some have suffered through more abuse and hardship in life than we could even imagine, but have no fans worshipping them or money to give away.
There’s heroes all around us, but we focus completely on celebrities. It’s just strange to me.
I have nothing against Prince and I have as much respect for him as any other human being.

Please don’t assume that everyone in this world will mourn for famous and rich people, most people don’t care if these people have no impact on their lives. There are reasons why many mourn for these people, perhaps they were philanthropist with their fortune or have done something useful to the society. I believe people don’t mourn for the fortune or fame but the merit and those who caused it that didn’t exist anymore to cause another merit.

As for those needy people, some people do possess capability to feel sad when that happen, and other people don’t care at all since, perhaps, they don’t even know these people and the fact that they have their own worries which are basically more important that worrying about others that have no impact on their lives.

@Pineapplebush: I know there are “heroes all around us” but you specified drug addicts and prostitutes. We can’t mourn every person we’ve never met who’s died. We might mourn the passing of a celebrity or musical artist (for example Prince) because they’ve touched us in some way (as I described above). Celebs are not always amazing people, they’re often people who were in the right place in the right time, as you say. However, if they end up doing incredible things with their fame and fortune, then that’s a bonus. You are right, there are kindhearted, generous people in all walks of life and they don’t get any camera time. There are heroes all around us, as you state, but we can’t mourn the passing of every single person in the world that we’ve never met.

It isn’t up to you to say who has had a good life. Some homeless people are homeless by choice and don’t think they have a pitiful existence. Yes, they may be nuts but they are happy. Not all people with sufficient livelihoods can say that. If you are referring to artists, they touch people through their work, so many people feel affected when they die….........not a hard concept to grasp.

Jca- I think that’s what’s wrong with our society.
Celebrities are headline news and we run week-long stories about their lives and career so even the people who weren’t fans are exposed to this person’s legacy and in some cases these celebrities become even more famous when they die because of our fixation with their passing.
Meanwhile a homeless person is found frozen to death in the street or a prostitute is found murdered and we don’t as a society care enough to even investigate further and discover who these people were, what kind of life they had and how they ended up where they did.
I don’t think we really even want to find out the truth about the world we live in, it’s too scary, tragic and sad to comprehend. We would rather change the channel and see what some celebrity is up to.
We live in fantasy is my point.

It is a way for his fans to give back for all the years of hard work entertaining the public at large.
It is a demonstration of appreciation, a thank you.