Yu Xu, one of China's first female fighter pilots who could fly a J-10 jet, died during a flight training in Tangshan in North China's Hebei province on Saturday. Almost all major media outlets have sung high praise for Yu's spirit. People's Daily said: "She died for the peace and happiness of so many families ... The name of Yu and other heroes will be carved not only in stone, but also in the hearts of millions." However, despite being a news hit, a lot of social media platforms still pay much attention to pop stars, no matter their weddings, problematic marriages or just datings. The day Yu died, she did not even make it to the top-10 hot topics on micro blogs.

    Some netizens have criticized such people for being too cold to news about heroes who defend our country. They even quoted from the book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, to express their concerns over people being misled by new media while referring to pop stars as "xi zi", a contemptuous(轻蔑的) term used for entertainment stars in the old days.

    However, it is unnecessary to shame those netizens who were busy reading about film stars and other celebrities. We live in the age of social and new media, where the celebrities usually draw greater public attention than real heroes. This is partly because the agents(经纪人) of celebrities（名人）are very skilled at using social tools to expand their fan base for commercial gains.

    Of course, we should admit the great influence entertainment has on people's minds and it helps the media industry make money. Pop stars do take up a lot of our time, and especially many young people waste their spare energy on them, their new songs, new movies, even rumors about their love life and other scandals. The domestic media industry needs improvement, some entertainment stars should improve their public images, but it is not right to call them "xi zi".

    The media may be encouraging people to pay greater attention to celebrities than military heroes, but that does not necessarily mean people pay less respect to heroes than stars. The increasing number of reports about the pilot shows the heroes are worth people's added attention, and they get it.

Greater attention to celebrities doesn't mean less respect for heroes