A couple weeks ago I wrote how I questioned people’s priorities in the aftermath of Michael Jackson’s death. I’ve wondered about these priories more in the days since June 25 as the stories keep coming out about his final days of rehearsal, the circus around setting up the memorial service, who is getting his kids and so on.
Today on CBS This Morning, Martha Gillis spoke of what June 25 means to her. It was the day her nephew, 1st Lt. Brian Bradshaw, was killed by an IED in Afghanistan. As the nation was on Michael Jackson watch, Bradshaw’s story, along with so many others, was shoved off TV news, newspapers and websites.
CBS was just as guilty as other media outlets of focusing on a story that should have been covered differently and in perspective of the other events of the world that day. Perhaps CBS is trying, even in a small way, to refocus the nation a bit.
I heard Paula Poundstone on NPR (Wait, Wait, don’t tell me) mention that she thought it was strange that all these years MJ has been investigated, talked about, joked about and laughed at, but as soon as he dies, the whole world goes into mourning… I agree with her. Where is the uproar when any one of countless soldiers dies in a war in the middle east?