Celebrity Death Fnord

I noticed another new type of fnord. It's the media hype that surrounds the death of a celebrity. As a practical matter, unless you personally knew the celebrity, it doesn't really affect you personally.

The reason this hype is important is that it replaces discussion of other issues. People think "I care about current events! I know that Michael Jackson died!" More important stories, such as the collapse of the economy, are not mentioned.

I also noticed that the news cycle follows a predictable pattern. There's intense coverage for about a week. Then, people move on to other things.

I noticed something else interesting. It's been a couple of weeks since I last heard a mainstream media outlet mention the swine flu! If "OMFG! Swine flu!" were a real serious problem a few weeks ago, I don't see why it would be hardly mentioned at all now.

Do you remember how people were rushing out to buy high-grade surgical masks, to prevent themselves from the swine flu? In the local drugstore, they bought a huge stockpile of surgical masks. Now, they can't sell them and they're just sitting there. I found that hilarious.

The cycle of swine flu hype illustrates how these media scares are entirely fabricated. They are designed to keep the cattle scared, rather than giving genuinely useful information. The media hype regarding Michael Jackson's death follows a similar cycle.

I noticed this new fnord type, because it totally affected my mother. She never was interested in Michael Jackson at all. Now, she's interested in every tidbit of information regarding his death. It was interesting to notice the effectiveness of the State propaganda engine.

People have a genuine need for useful news. Information like "Taxation is theft!" is never publicly discussed in a mainstream media outlet. Irrelevant stories are hyped instead.