I think this can sometimes be the case, but certainly not always. I think when the people in on 9/11 died in the towers, our whole country thought of that situation as the ultimate tragedy. I don’t think we, as U.S. citizens look upon that horrible event as a statistic, but maybe people in other countries, who were not directly affected might, indeed see it as simply a statistic.
In the case of Amy Winehouse, there are some that see her death as a tragedy, and others (myself more inclined) to think of her death as a statistic. Meaning another young person who was given immense talent who frittered it away.
I think sometimes it has to do with our perceptions of inevitablity. When a bunch of faceless troops in the Iraq war die, it seems like a statistic. When a particular troop from a particular town dies, it is a horrible tragedy to the townsfolk. When a celebrity dies, if the celebrity was loved and seemingly doing a good job, it’s a tragedy. When a young celebrity dies, one that lived wrecklessly who abused him or herself and didn’t appreciate their talent, it looks more like a statistic.
It also matters how the person died. John Lennon was murdered. He gets to be a martyr. Amy Winehouse most likely died from a drug overdose, so she gets to be a statistic.
Michael Jackson gets to be a martyr (even though I personally believe that he was up to no good with children and was involved with a lot of skeevy behavior)
John Belshi gets to be a statistic (young, overweight, druggy comics that have died).
Charlie Sheen is on his way to becoming a statistic.