Yes, of course anyone can avoid the Michael Jackson media frenzy on TV...just by deliberately watching something else on the TV instead. It's just that so many people don't, that's all. ;-) They tend to eat whatever they are served daily on "the news" by BIG MEDIA, rather like sheep at the trough or citizens in Orwell's 1984. And that's what worries me about the influence of BIG MEDIA on the public.

Josef Goebbels knew well about that sort of thing, and did it very effectively in the 30's and 40's through German radio shows and film clips shown in their movie houses. Just think how much more he could have done with a TV sitting in every German home! It is the ultimate brainwashing instrument so far known to man. All it takes is the will of those in charge of the government and the mass media to use it that way...and they do. They use it to sell products. They use it to sew fear and prejudice. They use it to get the public onside for an unjustified war. They use it to create division (in some cases) and to manufacture unquestioning conformity or consensus (in other cases).