What Really Matters

I'm sorry that Michael Jackson died Thursday. He was a talented, innovative entertainer, an icon of my generation. His bizarre behavior and lifestyle may have tarnished him in his later years, but his musical legacy will last for generations to come.
All that said...what the HELL is wrong with this country's media?? Ever since the news broke on Thursday, there has been nonstop coverage of every miniscule tidbit the "reporters" can dig up. The first night it was all repetition and speculation. They scrounge up people who may have known Jackson well--or hardly at all--and interview them; they put together panels of "experts" who basically say nothing but like to hear themselves talk; they draw parallels between this death and Anna Nicole Smith, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe...and it goes on and on. The only person who's probably happy about the unending coverage is the governor of South Carolina, whose disappearance and extramarital affair was the big story of the day before. Now he's no longer on the front page for his bad behavior.
I have a suggestion. Why doesn't the media devote a whole day of coverage to each of our troops that are lost in Iraq and Afghanistan? Why don't we learn about the childhoods, families, accomplishments, dreams, and sacrifices of these heroic people who are actually doing something for the well-being and protection of the U.S.?? "Knowing " each of these warriors would make them real to all of us, not just the families who lost them. They wouldn't be an abstract statistic, easy to be forgotten or ignored as we go about our lives. It might make more people want to do something for the troops still over there and for their families here--or make us work harder to bring them all home as soon as possible.
Do the networks think there's not enough interest in this topic? Is it too much of a downer? Are we such simpletons that we can only perk up our ears when a celebrity name is mentioned?
I hope we care more than that. The media should care; it's the military that has maintained their freedom of speech all these years to broadcast some of the dreck they consider news.
Here's some news you may not have heard about. 1st Lt. Brian N. Bradshaw, 24, also died June 25th, in Kheyl, Afghanistan of wounds suffered when an IED detonated near his vehicle. He was from Steilacoom, Washington and deployed from Fort Richardson, AK. He was a member of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division. He wasn't a celebrity, there was no scandal, no sensationalism. He was just a hero who was there for you.