Beam Me Up Scotty ...

... there's no intelligent life here.

I saw in my paper today that James Doohan (who played Scotty on Star Trek) and Gerry Thomas (the inventor of the TV dinner) died yesterday.

I'm sure their deaths are significant and sorrowful events for their respective families, but is their passing really news?

What does it say about our culture that we ignore the lives and contributions of so many others, but feel compelled to note and mourn the passing of a couple of people whose lives were defined by television?