..::>Rethinking: Governance & Citizenship<::..

I would first like to share with you all, an email that I received on the accounts of Whitney Houston's death as well of many other pop culture celebs....

With Regret.... Whitney Houston's death, while a sad thing, was the direct result of very unwise life choices. It dominates the news. Charlie Sheen is 45 and his story is all over the news because he is a substance abuser, an adulterer, sexually promiscuous, and obnoxious. Lindsay Lohan is 24 and her story is all over the news because she is a celebrity drug addict and thief. Something as frivolous as Kim Kardashian’s stupid wedding [and short-lived marriage] was shoved down our throats, While........ Justin Allen 23 Brett Linley 29 Matthew Weikert 29 Justus Bartett 27 Dave Santos 21 Jesse Reed 26 Matthew Johnson 21 Zachary Fisher 24 Brandon King 23 Christopher Goeke 23 and Sheldon Tate 27... Are all Marines that gave their lives last month for you. There is no media attention for them; not even mention of their names. God bless you, Rest In Peace, and THANK YOU, TROOPS. In the last few weeks I’ve been noticing a strange phenomenon online. I’ve witnessed several statuses, tweets, and general discussions all centering around the basic idea that the press is focusing too much on the death of Whitney Houston, while completely ignoring the deaths of soldiers who die in war. I first want to say that I am not suggesting that Whitney Houston’s death is more important than the sacrifices made by soldiers overseas. I fully support and appreciate the fact that countless people are sacrificing themselves across the globe for a larger purpose. However, that being said, I think it is sad to have Whitney Houston or any celrbity who has died recieve more attnetion than our troops. I  believe, a celebrity's death shouldn't get so much more attention than the deaths of  soliders who lay their lives on the line every day. Finally, media is profit driven and searches for things that will sell. Celebrity deaths are the kind of thing they drool over. So although ideally the media would be a bastion of free press and honest news reporting, in truth they are a business that has a bottom line. Our society is a "celebrity-obsessed culture" but when we lose a star which is painful and tragic it will never be the same  mourning what's real in our lives, the loss of those we're close to. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Next, I want to look at the Kennedy-Nixon Presidental Debate in 1960. John F. Kennedy was a relatively unknown senator from Massachusetts. He was young and Catholic — neither of which helped his image. But by the end of the evening, he was a star. It's now common knowledge that without the nation's first televised debate, Kennedy would never have been president. On 26 September 1960, 70 million U.S. viewers tuned in to watch Senator John Kennedy of Massachusetts and Vice President Richard Nixon in the first-ever televised presidential debate. The Great Debates marked television's grand entrance into presidential politics. In August, Nixon had seriously injured his knee and spent two weeks in the hospital. By the time of the first debate he was still twenty pounds underweight, his pallor still poor. He arrived at the debate in an ill-fitting shirt, and refused make-up to improve his color and lighten his perpetual "5:00 o'clock shadow." Kennedy, by contrast, had spent early September campaigning in California. He was tan and confident and well-rested. Those who listened to the debate on the radio thought Nixon had won. However, by 1960, 88% of American households had televisions — up from just 11% the decade before. The number of viewers who tuned in to the debate has been estimated as high as 74 million. And that 74 million who watched television saw a candidate still sickly and obviously discomforted by Kennedy's smooth delivery and charisma. Those that watched the debate on TV thought Kennedy was the clear winner. In addition, those television viewers focused on what they saw, not what they heard. I guess these two examples do not idealize a perfect fit with this weeks topic but I thought they were very interesting and wanted to bring them to my classmates attention on a.) how self-centered and selfish our media pertains to capture attention of stupid celeb drama and gossip rather than informing Americans about their troops fighting for their country b.) how media has grown, changed, and adapted to beneift government politicis.

http://articles.cnn.com/2012-02-24/opinion/opinion_levs-grief-celebrities-troops_1_social-media-icon-whitney-houston?_s=PM:OPINION

http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=kennedy-nixon

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2021078,00.html