I've paraphrased and added to the content of an email circular that's doing the rounds, I feel its quite pertinent.
Micheal Jackson died the other day. He was an entertainer who performed for decades. He made millions, he spent millions, and he did a lot of things that make him a villian to many people. I understand that his death would affect a lot of people, and I respect those people who mourn his death, but that isn't the point of my rant.
Why is it that when this man dies, the whole of America and half the Western world lose their minds with grief. When this man whose only contribution to the world was to ENTERTAIN people, people find the need to flock to a memorial in Hollywood, and even Congress sees the need to hold a "moment of silence" for his passing?
Am I missing something here? This man dies, and all of a sudden he's a freaking martyr because he entertained us for a few decades? What about all those SOLDIERS who have died to give us freedom? All those Soldiers who, knowing that they would be asked to fight in a war, still raised their hands and swore to defend their countries and values. Where is their moment of silence? Where are the people flocking to their graves or memorials and mourning over them because they made the ultimate sacrifice? When did this world become so calloused to the sacrifice of GOOD MEN and WOMEN, that they throw themselves into mourning for a "Pop Icon?" yet consider the death of a Soldier a statistic ?
I think that if they are going to hold a moment of silence IN CONGRESS for Michael Jackson, they need to hold a moment of silence for every American service member killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. They need to PUBLICLY recognize every life that has been lost so that the American people can live their callous little lives in the luxury and freedom that those soldiers who have passed and those that have gone on, have provided for them. But, wait, that would take too much time, because there have been so many willing to make that sacrifice. After all, they will never make millions of dollars. They will never star in movies, or write hit songs that the world will listen too. They only shed their blood, sweat and tears so that people can enjoy what they have.
What about Harry Patch ? What about the last living connection to the indescribable suffering and loss of Flanders battle fields in WWI ? What about the last combat vetted member of a Pals regiment, groups of friends from the same town who volunteered to fight together for their country, some of which where wiped out in a single day ?
Micheal Jackson dies and his songs aren't off the radio for a week and every 3rd television program is some fawning biopic. The passing of the last living embodiment of a sacrifice that todays generations, outside of those currently serving, could never even begin to understand apparently only warrants a brief slot on news at 10.
Harry Patch wasn't necessarily the bravest, most daring or highest achieving man to have fought in the Great War. But, quite simply, he was there.
Shame on a nation who can lavish grief and praise over the passing of an outrageously wealthy overseas entertainer yet barely recognises the passing of the last living symbol of a generation of our own whose sacrifice trancends all of those that preceed or follow.
Subject: Food For Thought 
Thu 30 Jul 2009, 13:45
