Celebrity Obsessed Culture

The media mania over the tragic death of the son of a star whose fame crested with Urban Cowboy, more than a generation ago, rebounded briefly with the bloody Tarantino film Pulp Fiction more than a decade ago and has waned ever since, and a mother actress who were it not for her marriage would be largely unknown is amazing. To have maudlin music accompany national news stories along with reportage debunking ideas some seem to hold about the non-traditional religious entity the couple belongs to is astounding as well with an abundance of real hard news about the war on terror, the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the looming depression, the Israel-Hamas clash, the Presidential transition, indeed even H5N1 bird flu returning to Asia and claiming a life in Beijing, all of which could drastically affect thousands of lives, being mostly unreported. Of course, the press tries to dress up the story with a tie-in to the broader implications of seizure disorder, but make no mistake, this is bread and circus to distract from real concerns. Even the President-elect's selection of his Surgeon General reflects this celebrity worship trend. A TV doctor is picked, an M.D. with broad public visibility already from his stint on CNN. This TV star will help facilitate our transition into socialized medicine, an issue with much broader implications than whether the Travoltas follow Mary Baker Eddy or L. Ron Hubbard.