Fake Importance, Real Importance

Should the light sabers of Star Wars have hilts?

Should Superman still have red trunks outside his blue suit?

Should women heroes wear tiny costumes to expose their bodies, especially compared to their well covered male counterparts? 

When will George R.R. Martin finish writing those damn books in Game of Thrones?

Shouldn't an actress who is Asian be playing the lead character in Ghost in the Shell instead of Scarlett Johansson?

Should Disney abandon the continuity created by George Lucas when it resumes the Star Wars films?

Just how large is Kim Kardashian's ass, anyway?

Is Kanye West's selfish focus upon himself so large that it would create an orbital pull and create its own gravity?

Popular culture seems destined to flood our senses with information, images, spectacle, and lurid event.  It asks questions that we have no answers for, and in the end, our attention is diverted from real news.  Whether we need to escape, or whether we choose escapism to avoid reality because it is easier to escape, many people in Western civilization and capitalist society choose to ignore the events outside of their reach, so much that they are ignorant to the world around them.

Many have not heard of, and if they've heard of, they do not care about:

ISIS 
 
The Syrian Civil War

The Ukraine conflict

Ebola

There are a number of issues that aren't agreed upon by people enough to act upon them*, but in the cases listed above, people are dying, and there are clear cut aggressors or enemies.  The people involved know the issues are important, but those who focus entirely upon pop culture often have no idea what is going on.

*Some of the issues where there is debate...

Are humans causing the current phase of Global Warming?

Is the Death Penalty cruel and unusual punishment?

Should Immigration standards allow people to come into the United States or the countries of the European Union from considerably less wealthy countries seeking financial benefit?

There are many more issues without cohesive answers, but many feel the need to solve the problems in pop culture before we assess and solve the hard issues in reality.  Why do we elect people and pay taxes, after all, if not to take care of these issues?  Our lives are hard enough, without such worries.

I am being facetious of course, but the truth is, I worry over the future, when people are more sad that an author or actor or character in a movie dies, than 213 people in a battle for a town in Syria.  But it does happen.  Every single day.