5 News Stories We Should Care About More Than Zayn Leaving One Direction

For the past day, it’s been rather difficult to scroll down my newsfeed and avoid seeing a status update, article link or “Breaking News” alert about Zayn Malik leaving One Direction (that’s the dreamy, mysterious one for those who care). I have come to the conclusion that this must mean one of two things; mainstream news media and the American public has hit a new low in what they deem as “newsworthy” or I need to stop accepting friend requests from hysterical tweeny boppers.

I have a sinking feeling that it’s a combination of both but I’ll save the latter for a later time of self reflection. In the spirit of what appears to be a catastrophic affair in our world today, I present to you; five things we should care more about than a member of a boy band making a career change.

1. The uncle of the year

Stories like this melt my heart and I have no problem with them being over shared on social media. Jesse Nagy from Detroit donned a princess costume during a trip to the movies because his niece was nervous to wear her own in public. This guy hasn’t sold millions of records, he hasn’t captured the unyielding adoration of prepubescent (and sadly, some post pubescent) girls around the world and no one knew his name before this story went viral. But I’d rather read about ordinary people doing extraordinary things than be notified every time a celebrity decides to change their hair color.

2.The Germanwings plane crash

There is no need to clarify why this is a huge loss that needs be given the proper thought, prayers and consideration. According to a CNN report, The Germanwings Flight 9525 carrying over 144 passengers and 6 crew members was traveling from Barcelona, Spain, to Dusseldorf, Germany, when it crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday.

Aside from the fact that this is another in a recent string of devastating plane crashes, news broke this morning that the 28-year old co-pilot crashed the plane intentionally, which authorities discovered through “black box” recordings. While further investigation continues, let us keep the victims and their families in our thoughts and prayers.

3. I found $5 in the left pocket of my jeans while doing laundry this morning!! Don’t you love when that happens??!

4. Angelina Jolie removing her ovaries and fallopian tubes

I know what you’re thinking; isn’t this the same thing I condemned on #1 about following every move a celebrity makes like our lives depend on it? In this case, it actually might. The type of genetic testing that Angelina Jolie has brought to the forefront in her essay for The New York Times could play a significant role in preventing a host of future conditions such as colon, endometrial and pancreatic cancers as well as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

While I couldn’t care less about what decisions celebrities make about their own health and wellbeing, I do appreciate that she is shedding light on a fairly new method of early disease prevention that may not have generated as much interest if not for her social platform.

5. Kendrick Lamar’s new album

I have no other reasoning behind this final item except for that, in my opinion, “To Pimp a Butterfly” is one of the best albums released by a mainstream hip hop artist in quite a while. It tackles a plethora of social, cultural and political issues that are not only relevant to African American culture but American culture as a whole, especially given some recent cases of discrimination in our country.

I was so blown away by the artistry and skill displayed on this album that I didn’t even mind that Kanye West sang it’s praises on his Twitter page which means that Kanye and I actually have something in common (more self reflection for later). I do realize that being a huge Kendrick fan makes me somewhat biased on this topic and that One Directioners could make a similar argument as to why they care so much about Zayn’s departure. BUT, if Kendrick made a personal decision to leave the music industry, I won’t be posting crying selfies on Twitter with the hashtag #Kendrick #iwanttodie.

So there you have it, five things that are probably more worthy of our time and emotions than the One Direction hoopla. And to those that just can’t get over this devastating loss; pull yourself together, there’s always 5 Seconds of Summer.