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.
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There's three parts to my reply.
ReplyDeleteThe first is simple: People are idol-worshipers. Without Christ in the life, they cling to whatever gives their life meaning or whatever makes them feel good or gives them a sense of peace. I am not lying when I say that people borderline worshiped the man. Whatever social good the man did - cutting across color-barriers (and changing colors in the process) - he's still just a man like the rest of us. Now their idol is gone.
The second: Soldiers are ugly, and I don't mean their facial appearance. People look at a soldier and are reminded of the ugliness in the world; death, pain, destruction, suffering, war. No on WANTS to be reminded of the ugliness that Man's sin has caused, and because our society is such that it focuses on what is tangable and can be seen in front of them, our soldiers are unfortunately the tangable faces that people attack. So instead of facing reality, then run to what's flashy, pretty (Mr J being an exception to that part), charismatic, and what makes them feel good. Doesn't matter what terrible things he may or may not have done, he's a source of "feel good." Suddenly *pffffooo* that source is gone, unexpectedly and without warning.
Which leads me to...
Third: I believe Heath Ledger's Joker put it best:
"Nobody panics when the expected people get killed. Nobody panics when things go according to plan, even if the plan is horrifying. If I tell the press that tomorrow a gangbanger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics. Because it's all part of the plan. But when I say that one little old mayor will die, everybody loses their minds! Introduce a little anarchy, you upset the established order and everything becomes chaos."
People are morons like that.
I would honestly be fascinated to see what would happen if our soldiers suddenly stopped fighting to defend this country. What tune would all the pacifists, the hippies, the "progressive" movements, and the ignorant masses that spit at and boo our troops be singing if a foreign power invaded and took over? They'll be demanding to know where our troops went. They'll bitch and whine until the dirty work that keep the nation and her people enjoying their freedoms (what's left of them anyway)
I'm not saying that our government is perfect, nor am I saying that the government has only used our military as a tool of defense. What I'm saying is that they're following orders. You don't like what the military's being used for, then change who's using the tool.
I'm also saying that people are lost without Christ and without Him, their focus is all over the place.