Somehow, I can't bring myself to care.

In case you hadn't heard, the country (by which I mean the United States) is "in mourning". Because of Ronald Reagan's timely demise.

My reaction upon hearing the news (I first heard at work. I then repeatedly heard at work...) was, "Well. That must be hard on his wife." And it probably is. Because, you know, she knew him.

I didn't.

Neither, I'm venturing, did half (or more??) of the country's citizens that are supposedly "in mourning".

I'm not sad. I simply don't care, because the guy didn't affect my life. (Just as I did not affect his) This type of thing is one of the myriad of reasons of why I HATE the Fucking News. It tells people how they should feel. It attempts to build a tribal sense of life among 260 million people. And it doesn't work. Or, rather, it shouldn't work.
But oddly enough, for a lot of people, it does.

I haven't been to the WD tonight yet, but I'm sure that there is a post about Reagan's passing. And in it, I can safely say that there will be condolonces given from people who never met the guy. (I can also safely say that there will be people who will badmouth his presidency and/or the guy himself. Even though those people (most likely) never met him either.)
If there is such a post, I will not participate in it. Because his death doesn't have an impact on my life. I would like to ask anyone who does respond to such a post if Reagan's dying truly impacted their life.
I mean, seriously, if I hadn't gone to work today, I probably would never have known about his death at all. If someone dies and you don't hear about it - that's pretty much a litmus test for how much influence they have on you. There's no rational reason to get upset at the ending of their life.

Getting back to what I was saying about the news and the creation of the false sense of community through television - I experienced the same thing with Saddam Hussein's capture. My step-mother said to me that it was a great Xmas gift (it happened around December, if memory serves). I shrugged, because I disagreed. But that type of thinking is kinda scary, to me, at least. The capture of someone in Iraq ...actually anything that happens in Iraq has no direct impact on my life. None. I don't know anyone over there, nobody over there knows me.
I don't care if the Iraqi people have democracy, tyranny, or anarchy. I don't think it's anyone else's concern, but the Iraqis themselves, no?
I'm oversimplifying a bit, I know, but I hope that some of my message is getting across. If you unplugged the television and ignored the internet headlines, would 99% of the "news" that goes on in the world matter?

I realize that this post most likely makes me seem like a heartless bastard. And while that statement has a kernel of truth to it, that's missing the point. The point is that it would be nice if people cared more about the things that truly impact their lives and less about those that impact their television viewing schedules.