Still an enormous amount of mourning going on over Michael Jackson.
Tribute websites and Facebook groups popping up. Constant news coverage, the likes of which we have not seen since 9/11 (understand here and now that I am not comparing the two events in any way), extolling his virtues. Mourning the loss of a legend. People of all ages seen sobbing in the street. I just did a quick survey of my friends’ FB status updates, and found more than a few middle-aged friends still have “OMG MJ I’ll Miss you Soooooo much!“, “The music has died”, etc.
Folks, what is it about Celebrity and Media amnesia? I don’t get it.
Have you all forgotten what this man was? What he did? Have you repressed the crap he pulled – and got away with – simply because he was “Michael Jackson”, self-proclaimed “King of Pop”?
Have the courage to stand up, look it in the eye, and call him what he was: A child molester. A pervert. A twisted, sick individual. A selfish, self absorbed, deviant individual.
Do I deny that his music was profound? That it played a major roll in most of our lives, and aided in the development of our musical culture? Well, I can’t do that, can I. Most certainly the music deserves to be celebrated. Mourned? Well, no – it’s still here, isn’t it? It always will be. But the man? No, the man I cannot mourn. I can’t even scrape up a whisper of sorrow for the loss of life, on even a basic level.
And now look at Joe Jackson – a child abuser in his own right – enjoying his circus freakshow time in the spotlight. The whole thing is just wrong. Why are we paying attention to him? The media is hanging on his every word. Sensationalism sells; however slimy it is.
Media Amnesia is one way to put it – but what we’re really talking about here is hypocrisy. We condemn the criminals that have been put away for molesting (and worse) innocents, because they weren’t anyone special. Michael Jackson is idolized and enshrined though, and his misdeeds conveniently pushed under the rug because he was “special“. He was “Michael“. The only reason I can see that he wasn’t alone in a jail cell when he died was that he was privileged, and he paid people handsomely to remain that way. He remained on his pedestal though, because society allowed it. Hypocrites.
It’d appear that I pissed off an old friend with my comments. Sorry about that, C. The FB comment was not directed at anyone in particular. The intent of this post was not to insult friends or piss off the world – it was to ask questions about why people would continue to idolize someone who has done so many seriously bad things in his lifetime. Feel free to share your thoughts.
I can’t help thinking about the parents that shipped their kids over to Neverland to hang out with a grown man. What on earth were these people thinking? Something tells me it’s those hung up on celebrity, the ones grieving their ‘beloved’. (Yes, I heard that word bouncing around this week. Ug.)
I agree Lisa… people are simply dazzled by anything famous and forget that these people can be as flawed as anyone else.
Good points, but I would venture to say that most who are ‘mourning’ aren’t forgetting anything – they simply denied the accusations in the first place. Which is more alarming than being a hypocrite, frankly.
I mourn the amazingly talented & charming (and innocent) little boy Michael Jackson once was. And that is all.
Money and fame, the great insulators and enablers.
I was watching interviews of Jermaine. A sad media display. So many nebulous answers, “Michael.. he just cared .. so much .. about … everything.” Ignoring glaringly obvious flaws and oddball antics. Oh, there’s nothing unusual or suspect about a grown man choosing 12 yr old boys as traveling companions.
I for one am sick of all the MJ hooplah. Though I have to admit, I’ve felt sorry for the man – sorry in that I think he was mentally ill and (my opinion) and nobody would do anything to help him – put him away, etc. because there was money to be made off of him. And because of that, there are other victims…I don’t think he was ever a sane, rational human being. The real criminal here are his parents – and who knows, maybe their parents too.
Steph => Yeah, he was just a talented kid once. Hard to believe the metamorphosis into what he became. I find I can still enjoy his music, even feeling the way I do about his behavior. It is as though there were totally disparate personalities going on there. The music and the monster.
Doc => Love getting your perspective on things!
Karen => Agreed! Has to stem from somewhere, and all you need to do is look at his father and the rest of the clan to know where it started to go wrong. But there are choices, and he made the wrong ones.
Finally someone speaking some sence! I can’t stand all of this and it’s still going on. Michael Jackson represents all that is wrong with the pop culture and how a really talented innocent boy can grow up to be so twisted.
People are not meant to be worshiped in this way it will never end well, everything that happened with his should be a lesson but it seems people are worshipping him more than ever now. Indeed it’s time everyone got over it and took a good look at where everything went wrong.
Jade