As soon as I heard the breaking news yesterday afteroon that pop giant Michael Jackson had died in Los Angeles, I began to wonder how soon it would be before the rumors and conspiracy theories started to circulate

I only had to wait until early this morning, when I received an email from my son. Now, he was writing about his expectation that these tales would soon surface. But I began to wonder whether this thought was already common. What was in the air?

So I just Googled “Michaek Jackson fake death” and Google returned 321,000 (!) results.

Let’s just let that sink in for a moment.

Less than 18 hours after Michael Jackson’s death was announced, hundreds of thousands of people already believe that he’s still alive somewhere. (Hanging out at the 7/211 with Elvis, perhaps?)

There are news reports about it, blog entries, and even polls: Do you think Michael Jackson is really dead?”

So far, a lot of these stories are on spoof news sites, but it’s already popped up on the New York Daily News, Los Angeles Times, MTV and Rolling Stone websites.

RIP, Michael Jackson? Not bloody likely.

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