The death of... someone

I actually wrote this entry about 2 months ago. I typed it up and i thought... too soon. Now, i think it's fine. Enjoy.
Sidenote: i discovered that my blog now has 1 follower, that made my day. Enjoy the previously unreleased masterpiece.

---------------
Back to blogging after a long and unplanned hiatus.

Imagine my surprise when I got a text message today saying that the king of pop, the master of the moonwalk, the sultan of the skin change, was dead. Alas, after years of making music MJ is no longer with us. Then imagine my surprise to find out that he wasn't dead, just in a coma... only to find out that he was dead. Sheesh! HEADLINE NEWS? ... for me? not so much.

It's a sad thing to see any human being die, to see the flame of life extinguished. Especially in this case where the individual can be said to have died before his time (if 50 is still considered young that is). But honestly, is this news? Earlier this week I went into work only to be bombarded with ticker feeds alerting me to the death of Ed McMahon. To montages of McMahon and his long forgotten late show.. and i asked the same question... is this news?

Honestly, I can appreciate that in some regard, and to some people, these individuals have had a tremendous impact. In fact, MJ even wanted to Heal The World. Go MJ. McMahon? He brightened someone's day every sunday morning with that big over-sized check, that no bank would cash. But is this news? Twitter Feeds, Facebook Statuses, Text Messages.. the digital age thudding with the latest info.

Hey, whatever happened to the Swine Flu? AIDS? What about the War? You know, the wars we're fighting on two fronts? Injustice? Anything going on at the White House today? The destruction of a people in Africa? The recession that we may or may not be recovering from? Ehh i guess that all pales in comparison to these latest headlines. .. how many people die everyday? How many get coverage on CNN?