This headline link has been up at the Citizen Free Press for hours now: Billionaire Jimmy Buffett passes away at 76…
I’m sure they will eventually claim it’s a joke. It’s not. The real joke is that millions rely on such irresponsible people running news aggregators to find out what’s going on in the world. And thatisn’t funny.
Yes, Jimmy Buffett managed his money well, and some sources credit him with having an estate worth a billion dollars. But Jimmy Buffet’s death is not notable because of his wealth. He is “singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett,” or, as the Times calls him in its headline today, “Jimmy Buffett, Roguish Bard of Island Escapism…” If Warren Buffett, like the late Senator Orrin Hatch, moonlighted as a part-time song-writer for fun, the financier’s obituary would not be headlined, “Song-writer Warren Buffett dead.” Paul McCartney’s wealth will not be the focus of his final headline.
So either Citizen Free Press really mixed up Jimmy and Warren, or it deliberately composed a headline to make sure its readers did.
Well, Warren Buffett is probably Jimmy Buffett in his dreams…
Ethics Alarms 
Whichever Buffett they had in mind, it’s actually an accurate headline. Along with his success as a musician and author, Jimmy Buffett had thriving businesses in a chain of Margaritaville restaurants, hotels, a cruise ship and even senior living facilities for aging “Parrotheads”, along with a clothing line and Buffett-affiliated brands of tequila, vodka and beer. Quoting from this morning’s NY Times obituary, “His claim to squandering his wealth notwithstanding, Mr. Buffett proved to be a shrewd manager of his considerable fortune; Forbes this year estimated his net worth at $1 billion.”
You beat me TO IT, GW.
Whoopsie, didn’t see the following two (2) comments…
Now see the expanded post. I wasn’t clear enough first time.
Incidentally, if you want to see Jimmy alive, he can be briefly spotted running out of a Jurassic World bistro hold in two margaritas as the pterodactyls attack in “Jurassic World”….
That’s the problem, but I was inexcusably oblique in the post. It’s clearer now: see above. There are actually two things wrong with the headline.
I am confused by what is wrong with the headline. Jimmy Buffet died yesterday at the age of 76 and his estimated net worth, according to Forbes, is $1 billion. Isn’t this a fair headline?
What am I missing?
I’ll update the post to make it clearer.
But Jimmy Buffett is not famous for being a billionaire. He’s famous for being a singer and a song-writer.
Paul McCartney is a billionaire, but the headline for his death will not be “Billionaire Paul McCartney dead at 113.” Worse, the headline deliberately courted confusion with Warren Buffett, who IS primarily famous for his wealth.
Exactly! Jimmy Buffett is who he is because he is a singer/songwriter. And his death, being the most tragic news you can report about someone, should be shown a little more respect. Henry Austin and Phil Helsel [The writers of that dumb headline] are assholes.
The whole site is asshole infested, but it does a fairly good job covering news developments from a conservative perspective.
It’s tantamount to writing a headline: “Amateur Pilot John Denver Dies in Experimental Plane Crash.”
JOURNALISM!
Per a ZipRecruiter study, most regretted college majors:
Journalism (87%)
Sociology (72%)
Liberal Arts & General Studies (72%)
Communications (64%)
Education (61%)
Marketing Management & Research (60%)
Medical/Clinical Assisting (58%)
Political Science & Government (56%)
Biology (52%)
English Language & Literature (52%)
English major here. Good prep for law school. Explicating poetry is the same as explicating opinions. Can you make much of a living from an English undergrad. No. Have to get graduate degrees. In and of itself, a bachelors in English is not so great. Lots of fun while you’re getting it. Get to read all sorts of great stuff.
“Explicating poetry is the same as explicating opinions.”
Groundhog Day: Rita (a fetching Andie McDowell): “Believe it or not, I studied 19th-century French poetry.”
Phil (the usual Bill Murray): “What a waste of time!”
Waste of time…..?
Unless I’m mistaken, O’l Jimmy, whose music and concerts I actually enjoy(ed), is a huge Dem donor, and in fact supported Hillary in 2016. So, as the saying goes, if you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas.