Heath Ledger’s “Dirty Laundry”

Posted by Elaine Furst Categories: Movies, Editorials,

The death of Heath Ledger last week seemed to bring out the worst in our fellow “journalists”.

After watching the TV coverage of Heath Ledger‘s passing, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Don Henley’s song, “Dirty Laundry”. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, “Dirty Laundry” is Henley’s commentary on the decline of journalism and how the people who cover the news are really just failed actors and news coverage is all about finding the “dirtiest” story about someone and running with it whether it’s true or not. (Henley wrote the song fifteen years ago.)  The lyrics that particularly came to mind in light of Ledger’s passing are:

“Dirty little secrets, dirty little lies
We got our dirty little fingers in everybody’s pie
Love to cut you down to size, we love dirty laundry”

The three “journalists” that appeared to be most guilty of this were:

Nancy Grace. On her show, Grace called on a number of “professionals” (i.e mental health “experts”) who prattled on about Ledger’s “alleged” state of mind at the time of his death and what the meaning of all those pills scattered around his body “probably” meant. I didn’t really pay too close attention to what they were saying until the term “bipolar disorder” came up.  I then did what hopefully any sane, sensitive person would do. I changed the channel and put on QVC. (If I want to watch schlock, I’ll buy it from QVC.)

Click to continue reading Heath Ledger’s “Dirty Laundry”

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