Society's Priorities

Just once I'd like to see the mainstream media get their priorities straight. Yes, you can see it coming already, this one's going to be a rant people. It's the big news that everyone has been talking about for two weeks now: Michael Jackson died.

Big deal.

Granted, the man was a music legend and was known to contribute to quite a few charities, but he was also a very strange individual. Not only had he said on multiple occasions that he enjoyed sharing a bed with young teenage boys, he refused to give up the practice saying it was one of the most loving things you could do for a person. He had plastic surgeries that, pardon my being blunt, made him look like a walking freak-show. His career was pretty much over, and he had mountains of debt to pay off. He was 50 years old and died of either natural causes, or a drug overdose.

According to a Yahoo! News article, on July 6th ABC, CBS and NBC spent 20 times more time talking about Jackson than they did the 7 US soldiers who gave their lives in Afghanistan. They gave 20 times more attention to a creepy, self-possessed possible child molester who died than they did 7 American heroes who gave their lives to protect the people of that nation. Where are your priorities people?

It's not even just this one time; news about soldiers almost always takes a backseat to everything else and it drives me insane. The Jackson memorial service was a huge extravaganza with dozens of big-name celebrities. It aired on 19 networks and drew over 31 million viewers. Congress even held a moment of silence for him.

Where's the moment of silence for the soldiers? Does the fact that soldiers die more often than celebrities make their deaths any less meaningful? If the media is going to shower that much praise and respect upon a man with such obvious and appalling flaws while they practically pass soldiers off as statistics they had better start getting their priorities straight. I'm disgusted.

Readers, tell me who you think deserves the kind of memorial service Jackson got: a washed-up, self-absorbed child molester or an American hero who died to protect innocent lives?

My opinion in short: Michael Jackson died. Get over it and go thank a soldier.