Not a gaming related community thread this week, cos I've been away all this week and haven't had the internet to see whats going on. The one thing that has been dominating all the news though is obviously the death of Michael Jackson, and reaction to it. Which got me to thinking, why are some celebrities treated like they're gods? You have to have respect for the dead, and you've got to feel bad for his family. But the public reaction though I found sickening. On the news we've seen people breaking down crying in the street, the pictures of the people outside the hospital It's done my head in. You can't turn on the TV without some Michael Jackson related programme being on, Documentaries, tributes all that nonsense. Music channels had been completely taken over, even the film Moonwalker was on yesterday. I find it all really sycophantic. Surely i'm not alone in thinking this?

If this thread was about Jade Goody's recent death, I'd totally agree with you, but I feel Michael Jackson is a different story. I agree that some fans have taken his death too personally, and some music channels are no doubt exploiting his death for ratings, but Jackson was a man with genuine talent. I don't think it's going too far to say he was as important to modern music as Elvis or The Beatles.

One thing that does surprise me is the media's willingness to talk about his dodgy past. When Goody died she was instantly a saint, but at least people are acknowledging Jackson was a man with some real problems.

Ooooh don't get me started on Jade Goody, her coverage had me fuming!

Yeah I can acknowledge that Jacko was talented. Im not a fan, but I do like a couple of his tunes. Your probably right in your Beatles and Elvis comment too. Im not debating that though, it's the news coverage that winds me up. TV and papers exploiting it for ratings and sales. Even our local paper was full of it! What the hell does Jacko have to with Teesside and cleveland? Seriously it really pisses me off!

This is not going to away for a long time. I gaurentee it.

Billy Mays was a god. End of story.

A guy who did infomercials on North American TV does not equal god.

OK lets move away from MJ. What do you all think of the Jordan / Peter Andre coverage.
Surely you're all sick of hearing about those two morons?

Now you're talking. You can't open a paper right now without seeing a picture of Jordon falling in/out of a nightclub. At least Peter is staying (relatively) out of the spotlight.

That's because he's a boring sod.

Anyway Jordan isn't stupid, sure she puts her jugs out for the lads but she's a rather astute lady.

As for Celebrity the only one I've ever gotten pissed off about was Jade Goody, who never actually did anything worthwhile, apart from freaking out over a verruca and being a racist. Not something to elevate someone to celebrity. To be honest most celebrity coverage is handled pretty well in that they don't go over board. Obviously with deaths and other extreme situations they go a little more in-depth but generally speaking it's, "Celebrity X has clocked into the Priory after XYZ happened. In other news..."

No doubt Jordan's made some smarts moves to get where she is. Peter's 'loving father' image seems to be winning at the moment, though.

I don't mind seeing celebrity websites and magazines floating around (if I see one laying around the house I can't say I don't have a flick...), it's when I see these stories hitting the front pages of papers that I get annoyed.