I’ve mentioned several times here on HN about how I believe our society’s view of celebrities has changed drastically. We still worship them as demi-gods as we always have but only for a limited time. After that we want to see them fall from grace and fall hard. For instance Michael Jackson has been working with several big names on a new project and you have probably haven’t heard anything about it. Surely you have seen pictures of him venturing outside with a mask on though. You’ve likely also have read somewhere about his financial troubles. The story of Michael Jackson recently has not been his successes it has been his shames and failures. We love to see this man struggling. I only use him as an example because this trend extend way beyond him and has gotten a little out of control with the media feeding society’s new sick obsession.

We are all aware of Britney Spears and her tremendous fall from grace. It has become the fodder for many a late night monologue. Which is fine. That’s the price of fame. However, now certain media are taking it a bit far. The Associated Press had this to say about Britney Spears…

“We are not wishing it, but if Britney passed away, it’s easily one of the biggest stories in a long time,” AP entertainment editor Jesse Washington told Us Weekly. “I think one would agree that Britney seems at risk right now. Of course, we would never wish any type of misfortune on anybody and hope that we would never have to use it until 50 years from now … but if something were to happen, we would have to be prepared.”

What do they mean by that? Well, they are saying they have her obituary ready to go for the moment she dies any day now. I wonder if Britney knows she is dying soon. A rep from the AP said that it is normal practice to prepare stories for a celeb’s death when it appears that he/she is at “high risk”.

AP isn’t the only ones participating in this distasteful practice of predicting a celebrity’s death. Blender Magazine has figured out a way to calculate and figure our the date of death for celebrities using a “death calculator” which feed in certain risk behaviors associated with a certain famous person (drug use, heavy partying, ect). This is what Blender said about Lil Wayne…

“Guns, drugs and a hot temper don’t mix. In order for Lil’ Wayne to increase his longevity he needs to seriously concentrate on staying out of jail.”

According to them Lil Wayne will die in 2026 at the age of 44. So this is how the media gets their kicks these days? By trivializing death?