I don't care about Anna Nicole Smith.

I'm sorry. It had to be said. And no, I'm not going to take it back.

I turned on the news a few days ago to find out what was happening in the world. As I flipped through the channels, all I could find was news about Anna Nicole Smith. CNN, NBC and even FOX were covering the story. To my surprise, even Hannity and Colmes were talking about Anna Nicole. I watched for several horrific minutes as Sean Hannity interviewed Anna Nicole's interior decorator and flamboyantly homosexual friend Bobby Trendy. Believe me, the awkwardness of the interview was extremely amusing, but it didn't detract from my annoyance of not being able to find any real news.

I wanted to scream. Anna Nicole was everywhere. When I heard one newscaster say, "she is like our Princess Diana," I almost snapped.

Now, don't get me wrong. Any person's untimely passing is a tragic event, and to the friends and family of the late Anna Nicole Smith, I extend my deepest condolences. However, the excessive amount of media attention focusing on the death of this C-list celebrity — or any celebrity for that matter — is absolutely ridiculous.

The recent death of Anna Nicole is a prime example of much ado about nothing. It boggles my mind how such a non-event could incessantly make it into our top news headlines for weeks. It makes me wonder how the whole idea of celebrity has evolved to reach this pathetic point in the first place.

Celebrities are just ordinary people with interesting, publicized jobs. I've even seen a few in my time and, with the exception of saying "hey" to Dave Matthews when I see him shopping at Whole Foods, I tend to leave them alone. I don't have time to waste caring about what they're wearing, what they're buying or who they're sleeping with. The pursuit of this type of trivial knowledge is wasted energy.

The idea of celebrity itself has actually been around for thousands of years, but it exploded into the phenomenon it is today within the last century. The idea of a superstar was born with early vaudeville acts around the turn of the century, and was further developed as Hollywood was established.

Other large factors that encouraged American celebrity stalking were the economic and social tensions our country faced in the 1930s and 1940s. When times were hard, people flocked to the movies to temporarily forget about their problems. People saw the same celebrities on the screen every week, and they began to feel a connection to them. Fixating on these celebrities was a form of escapism that would take their mind off of the harsh realities of their lives.

Some would argue that a desire to escape the difficulties of daily life is still why we fixate on celebrity news, such as the death of Anna Nicole Smith. I would argue that it is actually because celebrity news sells and media outlets are aware of the fact, so they try to shove celebrity non-events down out throats every chance they get.

Another argument as to why the media is focused so heavily on Anna Nicole Smith is because it was a slow news week. After all, the only other top story in the news was the extremely bizarre case of the astronaut and her diaper.

The idea of a slow news week, however, is one that I just don't buy. What about some of the seriously important things that are happening abroad right now? Recent remarks by Vladimir Putin have created political tensions between the United States and Russia that are reminiscent of the Cold War, North Korea may flex their nuclear muscles at any moment, and millions of innocent people are dying in Sudan from a horrific genocide. Wait, I feel like I'm forgetting something else ... oh right, we're at war.

If you think I'm exaggerating, use a search engine to look up "Darfur genocide," and then search for the term "Anna Nicole Smith dies." The Darfur search will turn up less than 1.5 million hits, while Anna Nicole's death will produce over 20 million.

Americans seem oblivious to the fact that they are surrounded by opportunities for meaningful news on issues of environmental health, immigration, and education, just to name a few.

Even the UW had its share of big news these past few weeks. The Gates Foundation is planning on donating over $100 million to the UW for a public health center that would place the UW, and Seattle, at the top of the national list for medical research and treatment.

Call me crazy, but to me, a huge donation like that is infinitely more newsworthy than the drug-related death of an ex-Playboy model. Maybe it would be different if Anna Nicole had donated $100 million to charity herself, but to the best of my knowledge, she didn't do much charity work. (And no, helping people lose weight with TrimSpa is not considered charity work in my book.)

While I am saddened to hear about the untimely death of a young woman, I am even more dismayed to see how our nation's television media has reacted to this event, ignoring most other news stories to focus solely on this celebrity tragedy that in no way affects any of our lives.

Rest in peace, Anna Nicole. But from now on, please stay off of my TV.

Reach Sara Wilson at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.