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As much of the world mourns the loss of "Pop Icon," Michael Jackson, it's difficult to avoid evaluating the impact that his untimely loss will have on the larger world around us. Reports indicate that the European T.V. audience was greater than here in America, and I can't help but wonder why.

While a large segment of the population has been fixated on a memorial service that was turned into a media driven entertainment extravaganza, events that will certainly have a far greater and more meaningful long-term impact on mankind continued to take place around the world. A partial list includes: North Korea's saber-rattling (firing off missiles and threatening the U.S. and Japan); Honduras deposing a leftist leader; Venezuela's Hugo Chavez' non-stop denouncing of the United States (while financing other left-leaning leaders throughout Latin America); Iran's brutal repression of its population dissenting in the streets of Tehran and its continuing push for the nuclear bomb while threatening to wipe Israel off the map and exterminate the entire Jewish population -- and, of course, Russia, moving to re-assert power over eastern Europe and influence around the world.

If these aren't sufficient cause for concern, there are also the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the seemingly endless strife between Pakistan and India, al Quaida and the Taliban, and the Sudan, among others.

We also have a very full plate on the home front, trying to deal with such problems as the state of the economy, the unbridled overspending of our own government at every level, seemingly without any consideration of the consequences, incurring record debt that threatens to destroy the value of our currency.

These are all issues of great concern that can have grave consequences for the future of America, and everywhere we turn, there are major problems, any or all of which are likely to transcend the historical importance of Michael Jackson's passing. Without question, he was a Superstar and will likely continue to remain one in death. Greater than Elvis? Who knows? Greater than the Beatles? Perhaps, but in my opinion, which is undoubtedly not worth much in such matters, not likely.

What about the great American music that was written during the glory days of Tin Pan Alley, or the memorable music of the Broadway shows that have been written over the years, dating back to George M. Cohan, or before? Or, it might be argued that the truly important composers were people like Bach, Beethoven, Chopin or Wagner, many of whom struggled to put food on the table and died in poverty.

However, my purpose here is not an effort to assess the relative merits or importance of the music of any period or any composer or performer -- but rather to consider their significance when viewed through the prism of world history and the events that shape it.

It is in this context that I view Michael Jackson's passing and the importance of his contributions, that is, against the backdrop of the conditions that will very likely shape the future of the world. Viewed from that perspective, in my opinion, he is or was not really important at all.

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