Britney Spears is bald and the whole world is going to fall apart.

Or at least that’s the way everyone’s acting. This is a flashback to when Kerri Russell, of the show Felicity, cut her curly hair. But one thing remains the same, everyone needs to leave it be.

It’s just amazing what captivates Americans. It’s pretty pathetic, really. Pictures, video and even interviews with her hairdresser have plastered the TV for days.

And because people won’t stop talking about it, the media has jumped on the bandwagon. They know that this stuff sells. So instead of devoting the necessary time to issues of global importance, even CNN has put itself on Britney watch.

When the hairdresser clip and static photos got old, the broadcast news stations turned to questioning her sanity. Apparently getting your head shaved means you are in desperate need of psyho-analysis.

Britney married Kevin Federline, so we should be done questioning her reasoning skills. We know there’s something missing upstairs. One report even feared for her child’s safety. Why is it so surprising to people that her kids may be in harm’s way? For goodness sake, Spears drove around with her baby on her lap. No crap, something could happen to her children. The question is why do we care? Children throughout the world are in far more traumatizing and dangerous situations than the Britney-Kevin offspring.

If Britney wanted to be bald so bad that she took the clippers from her hairdresser, than more power to her. Being bald for a woman isn’t easy, so regardless of her thought behind the move, it’s definitely sending a message. What that is? Well, we may never know, and finding out shouldn’t be the media and the public’s responsibility.

This is just as bad as the situation with Anna Nicole Smith, except Anna Nicole actually died and that’s just a little more newsworthy. As a side note, there are about five networks showing live coverage of Smith’s trial.

Hair cuts should not get top of the hour coverage on major news networks. We understand having perhaps a two-minute story in the entertainment portion of a news cast about Britney’s move, but is it necessary to devote a half hour segment to her new coif and then create news by gossiping about what this means? Simply put, no.

There is a war going on, there are people dying everyday of genocide in Sudan and Russia is selling ballistic weapons to Iran. That’s kind of a big deal. Britney’s hair on the other hand? Well, People magazine can have that story.

The sad thing is that this argument seems to be beating a dead horse as overzealous celebrity coverage as news has been an annoyance for readers for years. It’s time for U.S. media to report on the real stories. Besides, that’s why viewers tune in.

The above editorial is the general consensus opinion of the editorial board of the Daily Kent Stater.