History doesn't remember celebrities

I was born within three months of Michael Jackson and have enjoyed (most of) his music. But I never felt ‘linked’ to him in any way and to be honest his death didn’t strike me as the biggest surprise of the week. In fact, if anything, there’s a certain inevitability about Michael Jackson dying ‘young’ at age 50 – I guess that many of us in his position would have reverted to medication at a much earlier age to cope with the pressure his particular breed of celebrity status brought.
But Michael’s death isn’t the point; it’s the media coverage that’s got me. The Daily Record managed to devote 20 pages to Jacko on the Saturday following his death and goodness knows how but they somehow contrived to include his picture on the sports pages as well. In sharp contrast, the death of a young woman in Iran at the hands of a sniper’s bullet achieved much less media coverage. For me, and I’m sure for many others, this was the most significant piece of news that week. I’m certain that in 500 years from now the name of Neda Agha Soltani will be connected with a greater impact on the future of our planet than Michael Jackson.
I don’t have any problem with Michael Jackson or most (genuine) celebrities. It’s the media that hacks me off. Some of them, not all of them, just drag out the same old hackneyed lies for a whole year. Some of them, not all of them, are pricks.