Michael Jackson's Death and Investigation

It has been over three months since legendary pop singer Michael Jackson died. Fans, family, friends and other celebrities are still trying to wrap their brains around it all. Jackson’s autopsy reports from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office are finally being revealed. While the official report has not been released, questions are slowly being answered. It was revealed that his personal physician Dr. Conrad Murray has been using powerful anaesthetic propofol to help the singer sleep. Although Jackson had been said to be in good health, he was found dead surrounded by a cocktail of deadly drugs.
While researching on this hot debated topic, I ran into a rather interesting blog by a man named David Bell. In a world dominated by social networking I didn’t find it odd that he too received a text message informing him of the pop star’s shocking death. As soon as I heard the news I felt the urge to log onto my computer and open up the explorer to see if it had actually been true. Like David, I found that every news web site had been consumed by the new hot topic. In David’s blog he continued to speak of Jackson’s death being of irrelevance. People watch the news most often to hear events about the war, debate over health care, weather and other important issues that serve as a greater impact to society. “Did Michael Jackson’s death have any effect on our taxes? Did it cause anyone to have to evacuate or even lose their homes,” were questions I found appealing to me. It had me thinking how much people are addicted and blindsided by celebrity gossip. The media twists celebrity stories around to make people accept it and want more. This sensational, yellow journalistic method of reproducing news herds people in like a pack of sheep. People become obsessed and addicted with the lives of celebrities. Obsessed watchdogs of celebrity news like Perez Hilton suck up the interest for other important worldwide events. People give themselves to their TVs, watching entertainment tonight, CNN, and fox news hoping to catch an update of Michael Jackson’s death, not whether or not we are bringing home a casualty from the war, or if a tsunami has hit a major city. Watching celebrity news is non-productive, time consuming and addictive just like a drug. I believe David when he says, “All other important issues are shoved to the back of the line in hopes of getting the next fix.” So when is our civilization going to wake up and realize what is more important?


References:Media’s focus on celebrities puts real news on backburner
October 8, 2009 by David Bell
<http://unlvrebelyell.com/2009/10/08/media%E2%80%99s-focus-on-celebrities-puts-real-news-on-backburner/>