Michael Jackson is dead. The circumstances surrounding his death may be suspicious, but after two months of non-stop media coverage, the continued fascination has become a frightening national pastime.

America’s captivation with the lives of celebrities is nothing new. Silent film star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle’s manslaughter trial was on the front page of every newspaper in the country in 1921, and the mysterious deaths of James Dean and Marilyn Monroe continue to stir up occasional media coverage. But no Hollywood event has equaled the sustained uproar over Jackson’s death.

The interest in the fate of Jackson’s children and estate is understandable, but it becomes unhealthy when it’s listed higher on CNN’s website than news of a suicide bombing in Iraq. If that’s any indication of what we care about as a nation, then we have completely lost our grip on reality.

The media has a profound effect on what the average American considers to be important. Whatever the ruling titans of the major news giants decide is newsworthy is what we see online, in print and broadcasted across the country. For some reason, they decided the continuing saga of the drawn-out investigation into an ‘80s pop star’s death is what Americans need to hear about. Whatever happened to policy debates in Washington, human rights violations in Third World countries or North Korea’s nuclear experiments? Where do our priorities lie as a country when we prefer to hear more about how “Thriller” changed music history than about Cuba’s offer to sit down for trade talks with the United States? Above all, when does Billy Mays get a marathon biography aired on the TV Guide channel?

Michael Jackson was undoubtedly a gifted artist whose life, despite how creepy it may have been, has left a lasting legacy on music. As with all lost artists, it is time to let the King of Pop go. The world must continue, and America has got to be focused on the challenges ahead, both internationally and domestically, instead of waiting for the next snippet of information from Jackson’s autopsy. It is time for the media — both broadcast and print — to get back to work keeping citizens informed about real issues. Leave celebrity gossip to the National Inquirer.

When we look at the country in the mirror, will we see millions of mourners or a nation of informed people tackling the problems of the living?