Actor Heath Ledger’s untimely death has provoked many different responses. Perhaps it’s the price of celebrity that one is either loved or hated, but both emotions have been on display since the tragic news.
According to the New York Times report,
Hundreds of fans, curiosity seekers and news crews gathered in front of Heath Ledger’s home
in SoHo on Tuesday night, spilling into the street as the police struggled to keep one lane open for traffic and roped off a sidewalk path to the door.
The noisy, restive crowd gathered quickly as word of Mr. Ledger’s death was transmitted via phone calls, text messages, blogs, radio, television and Web sites. People used their cellphones to call friends and send photographs from the scene outside the actor’s home. . .
A makeshift shrine was started by distraught fans, while others expressed only “a sick fascination with morbid stuff.” Larry King devoted his program to the memory of the actor, CNN aired a Brokeback Musical Tribute and Ellen DeGeneres gave an emotional tribute to Ledger at the end of her show.
On the other side, the religious whack jobs came out. The ever-gracious folks at GodHatesAmerica.com unleashed the opposite sentiment with the headline:
Heath Ledger is in Hell!
Heath Ledger chose to promote the vile sin of sodomy in defiance of God’s law. No one made him play a faggot cowboy in “Brokeback Mountain”. No one made him kiss another man, in a flagrant attempt to further desensitize not only americans but Bible-illiterate fools the world over to the filthy depravity that is faggotry. He chose to do that all on his own. He could have used that bully pulpit he has to promote the cause of God and truth instead. God has repaid him to his face for his filth. Thank God for His Justice. All who flaunt God’s law can expect the same. Amen.
I’m not sure who is more vile, the paparazzi who pine for autopsy photos or the supposed Christians who spew hatred in the name of Christ.
Nevertheless, there’s a middle ground to these extremes that is equally wanting. Take for instance this snippet from a Christian forum concerning the topic of Ledger’s death:
Men trafficking children for prostitution in Cambodia and Thailand. Children being drafted into the army in South America and Africa. Filthy rich financiers worshiping their money. Priests raping boys and girls raised to believe the clergy is beyond contempt.
Ghengis Kahn built mountains out of the skulls of the conquered. Hitler sent a race of people to the gas chamber. Pol Pot exterminates 2 million of his countrymen. Japanese officers order the gang rape of every woman in Nanking. Kim Jong Il imprisons families for 3 generations for speaking against the government.
Horrors in this world that would shatter our sanity to witness…
… and God takes time out of his busy day to kill an actor.
I’m so sick of seeing brothers and sisters make these kinds of posts as if God, righteousness, and judgement exist only within the withering bubble of Western pop culture.
Since Ledger’s passing, I’ve seen and heard similar sentiments expressed by other believers. Yes, they say, it’s a tragedy. But the media has inflated his worth. In reality, he’s just another soul, like us, who needs Christ. The world is facing far more important issues than the death of some aspiring Hollywood 
actor. Somehow, we’ve come to see this opinion as the balance between impassioned media-driven celebrity adoration and the chilling condemnations of the righteous right.
But to me, this sentiment smacks of cavalier indifference.
Yes, Heath Ledger was just another soul. Yes, the celebrity machine has inflated his “worth” and over-hyped his contributions to culture. Yes, there are many, many travesties, injustices and sufferings that demand our attention. But, for God’s sake, he is still precious to Jesus and his family needs our prayers and the Light and Grace of our Lord!
Eschewing celebrity should not mean indifference to celebrities, nor the tragic aftermath that stardom often wreaks. As for me, I’m praying for Heath Ledger’s family, and the celebrity circle who will, most assuredly, be forced to consider again their own fleeting mortalities.
“Eschewing celebrity should not mean indifference to celebrities, nor the tragic aftermath that stardom often wreaks. As for me, I’m praying for Heath Ledger’s family, and the celebrity circle who will, most assuredly, be forced to consider again their own fleeting mortalities.”
Wow…and amen, Mike.
I was heartbroken when I heard the news on NPR while driving the other night. Why? Because I knew Heath Ledger? No. In fact I haven’t seen any of the films he acted in. I was heartbroken because of the thought of what despair drove this man to take his life. I thought of all the other people right at that moment contemplating suicide and of how Satan salivates over the prospect. And I prayed for every despairing, suicidal soul. So sad. My father shot himself in the head when I was only 2. He couldn’t live with bipolar or the sad memories of his childhood- an impossible to please father who left, a depressed critical mother, poverty, and mental illness with no helpful drugs yet invented. Will I see him in heaven. Not sure. But I’m sad for Heath, for his family. It’s a hard, cold world and the church is partly responsible. Jesus, help us. Please.
Excellent post, Mike. I was moved to post on it, too.
Excellent point of view, if you ask me.
I was saddenned by his death, and then I thought, is it okay? I mean, hundreds die everyday.
I’m sad for those hundreds too.
But, yes, it’s okay to be sad for Heath Ledger and his family because as you said, he is precious to God.
I haven’t been keeping up with the news, but I know they were questioning accidental or suicide. If suicide, that makes me especially sad, to see someone get to the point in life where they no longer want life at all.
Mike, I’m a little confused.
What is your point about the snippet that begins:
“Men trafficking children for prostitution in Cambodia and Thailand. . . .
Dayle, the forum from which I clipped those comments involved Christians expressing sadness for Heath Ledger and appreciating his work. Then, this person dropped in with those comments. Apparently, they meant to balance the gushing of emotion and sensitivity with a sweeping retrospective about the “real” troubles of the world. My point in using that clip is to illustrate what I call the “indifferent middle,” wherein we elevate the ills of the world to minimize the value of human souls.
Amen. But God– thank God– is El Roi, the God who sees. He saw Hagar the handmaid crying in the desert and He sees every individual and doesn’t compare their heartache and pain, dismissing some because other’s is worse.
Thanks for clarifying, Mike.
My confusion came from the fact that I agree with him. Because, I had assumed he was rebuking the minority of nuts who might claim that Ledger has suffered the wrath of God for his Gay cowboy role, not trying to marginalize Heath’s death.
I think what you’re alluding to is a trait of human nature divorced from Christianity. I have heard many, after the death of a celebrity, say “My dad died last month and they didn’t broadcast it on the news.”
In other words, they’re saying: tragedies happen everyday, why do the rich and famous get special sympathy. I’ve heard people say “Why does Christopher Reeve get all this praise for having so much courage? At least he’s got the money and resources to get the best care. What about the paralyzed man who can’t afford good care? He deserves more sympathy than Reeve.”
Disclaimer: The last two paragraphs are observations made by the author and don’t necessarily reflect the opinions of dayle arceneaux or the staff of reflections.
I agree Mike. Ledger’s death is really sad. I think that the most aweful part about it is the fact that “People used their cellphones to call friends and send photographs from the scene outside the actor’s home” and the media is totally blowing up the story of his death all over the news. Why can’t he just be remembered for the good things he has done in his life, he is only human and humans make mistakes; unfortunetly, this mistake cost him his life. If his cause of death is suicidal I don’t agree that it was the right thing to do by Ledger at all no matter the situation. I just think that the media needs to let him rest in peace. It’s hard enough that he left behind his family, friends and his two- year old daughter who really care about him.