During this period of economic insecurity and multiple crisis. It is always surprising to turn to the novelty part of the news to see something odd. Those parts of the newspaper, magazine or web publication are clearly labeled.

They tend to go with descriptive names, “News of the Odd,” or “Strange News,” you know, stuff like that.

Well, it’s definitely clearly marked on the CBS web site.

They call it “Money Watch.”

Today, the top number one item on Money Watch asks “Who’s the Highest-Earnings Dead Celebrity?”

I (being the fool I am) am worried about the foreclosure crisis that is gathering steam with new revelations day by day. But that’s not newsworthy. Newsworthy is dead people earning money. Strangely enough, that has never made it onto my radar as a major issue (or a minor one).

So, once again I call attention to the ability of modern media to transfer our attention from the important to the trivial.

It’s not a big deal except it cripples democracy, damages thinking, and elevates the statistical anomaly to a kind of temporary annoyance.

James Pilant

(It’s Michael Jackson.)