When the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, died on June 25, 2009, the world lost a talented musician and showman. Today is July 8, 2009, and the media is still pushing Michael's death into proportions that may rival Elvis Presley's death. Yet other celebrities, including Farrah Fawcett, who happened to die on the same day before Michael "upstaged" her, do not receive anywhere near the same amount of attention from the media. I remember when Freddie Mercury, the front man for the British rock group Queen died, and that was nowhere near as big as what the media is doing to the King of Pop. So why so much attention from the media with Michael Jackson?

Ever since the 1980's, Michael and his media image was nowhere near what it used to be when he was a boy singing with his family, the Jackson Five. His LP "Thriller", one of the best selling records of all time, brought him a whole new fame, along with the start of plastic surgery (a starting to thin nose), dance moves, and haircut. He remained a nice looking guy. He made millions of dollars, some of which he spent on building his private theme park, Neverland, named after the mythical place in the Peter Pan story. Then he started having personal troubles when he was alleged to have engaged in child sexual abuse in the 1990's, which he was eventually acquitted. The media immediately pounced on him, considering him an easy target. I mention easy because unlike some other entertainers, such as Carol Burnett and Wayne Newton, Michael never took it upon himself to sue the media for stories of this nature which can be considered libelous. Poor Michael never drew any lines when he should have, and as a result, the media followed him into his death.

Will his family put an end to what is going on in the media right now? Probably not. Chances are some of them like the attention that Michael is getting, with the exception of his will being made public, who gets to inherit his massive personal debts, and of course, his children. The
 exploitation is enough to make most people want to turn off the television set and radio and simply say, "I liked his music too, thought he was a great showman, but if that poor guy ever gets the peace he deserves, that will be a miracle." Michael had a hard time maintaining any privacy in real life, which can be difficult for public figures. Yet some actors are able to achieve some semblance of privacy during their lifetime. Hopefully the media circus surrounding Michael Jackson's death will end soon and finally allow him to rest in peace.