I stopped for lunch in a local restaurant, and sat at the bar where the light was better for reading. There were two screens at either end of the bar. The one above me was tuned to CNBC, which provided a running account of the winners and losers (mostly losers) in the day’s stock market. It wasn’t until later that I noticed the other screen was tuned to “E,” which was airing the Michael Jackson Memorial Service.
As I watched a steady procession of the great and the near-great, the has-beens and the never-weres, deliver tear-stained renditions of that American Icon’s greatest hits, it suddenly hit me that trading on Wall Street was continuing as if nothing important was going on. It was hard to believe, but even in the middle of the memorial service for an Iconic American Icon, all those traders and investors could think of was making money.
Then I started wondering why “E” seemed to be the only station broadcasting the memorial service. Could that be? On a day that an Iconic American Icon of America was being memorialized, only an off-brand cable station deemed it worthy of coverage? That didn’t sound like the America I’ve come to know. Even Mark Sanford’s imbroglio merited more attention than that. I quickly paid my bill and hurried home to grab the remote. I clicked on the television and turned it to Fox. It was with some relief that I discovered some no doubt truly significant and famous person referring to “his words,” as in, “He gave us His words.”
I clicked the guide and was relieved to see ABC, NBC, CBS, MTV, VH1, and at least 10 other channels were also airing the memorial service. I say at least 10 other channels because there were some channels which carried the service even though their program description was different. I could have clicked through the channels to get a more accurate count, but that would have taken me away from the solemnity of hearing impassioned renditions of “ABC” or “Billie Jean is Not My Lover.”
It was good to know, though, that even in these trying times, America’s character came shining through. This Iconic American Icon of American Iconism received his due. People everywhere, were watching, not just in our country, but in countries throughout the world whose citizens can only dream of one day bearing witness to the sad passing of an Iconic (insert country name) Icon the likes of Michael Jackson.
I heard one person murmur that Jackson changed everything. I concurred, thoughtfully, grateful to know there’s someone out there for me to blame. And upon reflection, there is a certain amount of truth to the assertion. With the advent of cable news and the 24-hour news cycle, there came a crying need for breaking news to fill the multiple outlets. There just wasn’t enough serious news, or at least interesting serious news to go around.
Desperate for content, cable news networks, network news departments, and increasingly, newspapers and other denizens of that strange jungle called the print media, had to turn to the trivial to fill out those news hours. And who, over the past two decades provided more trivial news than America’s Greatest Iconic American Icon? He did change everything. Without him some of those news outlets might have been forced to close. Without him, it’s possible we would be forced to live in a world in which there weren’t dozens of channels available to cover his memorial service. What a wasteland America’s culture would be without Michael Jackson.