Commentary?
Nathyn Gibson
Issue date: 6/29/09 Section: Opinion
So, my first day on the job and Nathyn Gibson, our beloved Editor-in-Chief said to me "You're being too lazy; write something in 500 words or less! And Go!" I was simply hired to be the guy who puts this paper into a pretty little package once a week - not to write - but, let's spitball here for a minute and see what sticks!
Hold on, let me check the word count.
Ok, I still need 427 words.
Michael Jackson. (Apparently, my spellchecker said that is a sentence; who knew?) Yes, he was a great entertainer… in the eighties. And, yes, unfortunately he didn't make it to his eighties, but the outpouring of grief and anguish is too much for this re-faux-ter (that's a pun on the term "reporter," for those of you keeping score at home).
It doesn't seem warranted or justified. Granted, he was a human being and he was famous, but unless you actually knew him (and not in the colloquial way of "knowing" either - but chances of that are slim as well), it is simply not justified to be talking to a news reporter with tears streaming down your face while you are hyperventilating about how much you are going to miss the "King of Pop." While we're on the subject I'd normally say how much this particular moniker irked me, but anytime someone shows that they're on fire for Pepsi to that degree, I'll let it slide.
There are far too many other people who die every day that deserve your adulation over a popular singer. Just the week before, the inventor of that vibrating mattress you find in seedy motels died from a brain hemorrhage, most likely caused by sleeping on one of those beds for too long, but that is beside the point. The point is that people who touch your lives directly on a more consistent basis die every day and hardly anyone raises an eyebrow or sheds a tear at that loss. At the moment, I'm bawling my eyes out over the loss of Joseph "Magic Fingers" Houghtaling.
That last statement was a joke.
I understand it is a sad event when anyone passes away, but it seems to me a bit disturbing and one step below obsession when people react this way to the passing of a celebrity. However, has everyone suddenly forgotten about the last 15 years of this man's life? I heard once it doesn't matter how you start your life, but rather how you end it that is important, and while I don't necessarily believe every single charge against Michael Jackson, some of it is bound to be true. On the day he dies, everyone forgets about the child molestation allegations, the plastic surgery and that time he hung his son like a yo-yo from a balcony. Let's not forget all the crotch-grabbing over the years.
Yeah. Let's mourn this guy's passing like he was a close, personal friend.
Hold on, let me check the word count.
Ok, I still need 427 words.
Michael Jackson. (Apparently, my spellchecker said that is a sentence; who knew?) Yes, he was a great entertainer… in the eighties. And, yes, unfortunately he didn't make it to his eighties, but the outpouring of grief and anguish is too much for this re-faux-ter (that's a pun on the term "reporter," for those of you keeping score at home).
It doesn't seem warranted or justified. Granted, he was a human being and he was famous, but unless you actually knew him (and not in the colloquial way of "knowing" either - but chances of that are slim as well), it is simply not justified to be talking to a news reporter with tears streaming down your face while you are hyperventilating about how much you are going to miss the "King of Pop." While we're on the subject I'd normally say how much this particular moniker irked me, but anytime someone shows that they're on fire for Pepsi to that degree, I'll let it slide.
There are far too many other people who die every day that deserve your adulation over a popular singer. Just the week before, the inventor of that vibrating mattress you find in seedy motels died from a brain hemorrhage, most likely caused by sleeping on one of those beds for too long, but that is beside the point. The point is that people who touch your lives directly on a more consistent basis die every day and hardly anyone raises an eyebrow or sheds a tear at that loss. At the moment, I'm bawling my eyes out over the loss of Joseph "Magic Fingers" Houghtaling.
That last statement was a joke.
I understand it is a sad event when anyone passes away, but it seems to me a bit disturbing and one step below obsession when people react this way to the passing of a celebrity. However, has everyone suddenly forgotten about the last 15 years of this man's life? I heard once it doesn't matter how you start your life, but rather how you end it that is important, and while I don't necessarily believe every single charge against Michael Jackson, some of it is bound to be true. On the day he dies, everyone forgets about the child molestation allegations, the plastic surgery and that time he hung his son like a yo-yo from a balcony. Let's not forget all the crotch-grabbing over the years.
Yeah. Let's mourn this guy's passing like he was a close, personal friend.
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