Why We Care in 2009

There were so many things in 2009 that made me wonder why we as a relatively intelligent American Society would care, so I am going to enumerate just a few ofthem here--

1. Jon and Kate Plus 8-- why do we care about these people? How have they enriched the lives of us or Americans or their own family for that matter. It was clear from the get-go that Jon was passive and Kate is an aggressive control freak-- we knoew how this would end, but why do we care? The only thing worth caring about in this whole scenario is the fate of these 8 children-- let's hope that they can ban together, get out of the lime light and raise thier children.
2. Tiger Woods-- and why? Immoral, yes!, bad role model, maybe! BUT a heck of a golfer. This brings up the age-old debate about the division between one's personal life and one' public life-- a theme that is as old as time. We saw this theme in the play, Julius Caesar. We saw this play out in President Clinton and his transgressions, and countless others. The fundamental question is does the person's personal lif have anything to do with hihs or her private life? We should not hold these people up as role models anyway. At most, recognize that he made mistakes (at least 14?) and chalk it up to bad cahartacter, but to villify and try this man in the media is a waste of media coverage.
3. The Khardashians-- Why do we want to keep up with them? They have not enriched our lives at all-- entertained, some, maybe, but not done anything as I can tell worthwhile except marred Bruce Jenner's reputation a little!
4. The Balloon Boy-- this is just stupid and the parents are pretty crazy too to exploit their own child-- but as America is obsessed with fame and reality, did we in a way create this?
5. Michael Jackson-- arguably one of the most talented icons, and sadly lost; however, his legacy is deep, so this is why we care. Michael Jackson changed the face of music-- much like Elvis and the Beatles. Michael Jackson defined my generation with songs like "Thriller," "Man in the Mirror," and countless others. We care because behind all of the bizarre behavior and strange kid names, Michael Jackson changed American pop culture.

There are so many other things that we can discuss here as the decade closes, but we'll let the debate rage...