The death of Michael Jackson is tragic. New reports of his emaciated, narcotized body are heart wrenching. A very talented, although tormented, soul has been striped of his dignity and all that he fought to hide is revealed. Even so, the world is celebrating the King of Pop as if he were indeed nobility.
I took the liberty of participating in one of the many "polls" on a website yesterday. The pollster asked which album was your favorite Michael Jackson album and it listed a few. The last option was "I'm not a fan of Michael Jackson". I found that statement interesting. Although I respected the man as an artist, Michael's music has never been in my library of songs. So I opted for the last statement and clicked to see the results. I was surprised to see 74% of the pollers had said the same thing. It seems there may not be as many fans out there as the media would have us to believe. At least not in the United States.
So now Michael is dead but the media adoration is not. He is a international hero once again. And we are honoring a young man that chose a life of drug abuse and atypical behavior. A role model for our youth? I would hope not. But it never ceases to amaze me how our media instructs us to behold those that should be criticized. We have seen it many times before. Paris Hilton's rise to fame after her porn video is another prime example. Movie goers are delighting in the new Transformers movie and early predictions are that it will hit the $400 million mark soon. But, if you had listen to the critics you would have never wasted your money. Could the bad reviews be because of a swipe at President Obama in the movie?
My father said to me as a young girl, "Believe nothing you hear and half you see". And that is where we are with the media and their chosen ones. We must teach our children to not only be aware of events in our country and the world, but to use discernment and discretion with every story. A tall order when so many of our adults are duped and haven't a clue.
