Are you tired of hearing about Anna Nichole Smith? I was long before her death. But the tabloid shows have been trying to follow every conceivable angle and the mainstream media has been doing a good job of following every bizarre turn in this unbelievably trashy story.

Is it news? Yes and no.

It’s news in that it’s a current event. It’s news because there are a lot of people who are genuinely interested in such stories and want to know more. From her diehard fans — and how she had any confounds me — to even casual observers, many have become wrapped up in the strife that was her existence.

But it’s not news when compared to what’s important in the world. If you didn’t know Smith personally, you aren’t likely to be deeply affected by her untimely passing. (If you are, then you should think about talking to someone.)

This kind of story, or non-story, depending on your point of view, leads to those tired, old questions about why the media allows itself to be so wrapped up in it when there are so many more important stories out there.

Lots of people like to ask those questions. But very few want to hear the answer. The answer is, of course, what I’ve already given you: that there are so many people who have allowed themselves to become so enamored with Smith that they operate as if they can’t live without knowing what’s happening next.

Don’t believe me? Fine. I’ll prove it to you. Consider the most recent edition of Parade magazine, that insert that helps fatten up your Sunday paper each week. Right inside the front cover is a regular feature called Walter Scott’s Personality Parade. Unless you’ve never read the paper, you surely know that it’s one of those gossip columns where people write in with largely inane questions and then wait until the weekend hoping that their question is the one that Walter Scott picks. (Of course, Walter Scott himself died years ago, but that hasn’t stopped them from continuing the column.)

This week, someone asked about Barbaro, the famed race horse who fractured a leg during a heartbreaking race. The column reported what was once true: that after surgery and careful treatement, he was in stable condition. Unfortunately for Parade, that is no longer true: Barbaro was put down on January 29th when another infection struck the former champion.

To anyone who actually takes a moment to think about it, what must have happened is clear: the column had been written in advance, and while the staff was off searching for the answers to future editions of ridiculous questions, the horse was euthanised and no one realized that the question about its condition was still waiting for publication. A simple mistake. Embarrassing? Certainly. But not unimaginable. And surely not intentional, because, really, why would they possibly want to do such a thing deliberately? They have only their credibility to lose and nothing to gain.

Yet have a look at the reaction of people who got riled up about the column. The responses indicate that some people were “shocked,” “surprised,” and “saddened.” Then there’s that all-important word: “offended.”

Yes. People actually signed on to let the world know that an outdated health report on a race horse offended them.

How, exactly, does one allow himself to be offended by a simple mistake?

I’m an animal lover. Sometimes, I like animals much more than some people I know. I was saddened when news broke that Barbaro had died. But if I had read this edition of Personality Parade, I can imagine myself chuckling at their obvious oversight, or even feeling bad for whoever was going to get it on Monday morning. I would have been surprised to see the mistake, but “shocked” would be a little strong. I don’t know how I could be “offended” by something like this.

What should offend these people is that with more and more of our soldiers dying every day in Iraq, our country bitterly divided over every political issue you can think of, poverty, crime, AIDS, genocide, and myriad other problems, they would actually waste time by becoming offended at what essentially could only be a misprint. (And I bet every one of them will make a point to read the same column next Sunday!)

Yet it’s people like this, who seem to be unable to focus on the “real” news of the day, that tell the media to ignore those boring old economic and political stories in favor of celebrity news.

There are far more important things to worry about…and far more important things to get “offended” by.