I spent most of the day bemoaning the coverage of the memorial by every media outlet there is and arguing with my coworker on the frivolity and insanity of said coverage.
Ok, he was a great musician and one of a kind. He died in a shocker to a lot of people. I enjoy his music. I know he is a music icon/legend. However, there are many that have been just like him all throughout history and none were given the same treatment. His death was not shocking to me at all. He was frail, troubled, and most likely an addict. Look at Heath ledger, an addict. How did he die? In an overdose. MJ didn't die in an OD, but pretty close to it for someone his age. Say whatever you wish about his two stints in court over child molestation, but you cannot argue that he was a troubled soul and a troubled mind. It is impossible to get around that. He had lupus and a slew of other diseases that were changing him, and so he decided to counteract it by changing himself. He was no longer a black man at 50. His face was very different since "Billie Jean". I get all of this. He was an enigma; curiosity always followed him, considering all of his weird public escapades, his marriage to Lisa Marie Prestley, Debbie Rowe, having kids with Rowe that aren't his own biological offspring, baby-hanging over balconies, and many many more crazy shite.
However, what I do not get is the coverage that is befallen him and his family. Specials on every news channel, and wall to wall coverage today. LA City taxpayers paying the bill to many LAPD officers who really didn't need to be working today to prevent crazy fans from getting to close the Staples Center. California is broke and the city is in uber-debt. Who thought that this would be a good idea? The people who made money today exploited MJ's death, not celebrate it. Who made money today? The people who were putting together MJ's final tour (who own Staples Center, btw), advertisers on the many stations that ran the coverage, and the cable companies selling ad space. Complete exploitation of a person who probably didn't deserve it and of a family that is still in mourning. I watched a few minutes of memorial, and was flabbergasted. For little Paris to be in front a huge crowd dealing with the death of her father is probably not the best way for a child to be dealing with almost insurmountable grief and sadness. I am ashamed of the Jackson family to agreeing to such a spectacle. I am ashamed at the media for giving such credence to things that are so very insignificant to the broader picture. And I don't want to hear that it is a welcome break from all the bad stuff that is going on, because the death of someone in Western culture is never good, so how is that good news to be watching a dead person's memorial. I know I probably sound really really callous, but the whole thing sounds ridiculous when real events that impact the world citizen's life are going but no covered.
The whole frenzy over the memorial also makes me concerned. I have no better term for the entire thing than insanity. Like we are all part of some Branch Davidian sermon, brainwashed and raptured by some figurehead that may or may not be grand in the scheme of the universe. Most of it is too crazy for words, and I pronounce all and sundry on the bandwagon to be legally and clinically insane.
I hope it is mainly over. No replays, no new specials. If hard news is gained from his death, then yes, I will listen to the reporting from any news organization, but there is definitely no need to floss a dead horse. Let the man rest in peace like he deserves.
My thoughts are all over the place on this subject. If you want clarification, I'll try my best. I'm sure there will be some who disagree, and to them I say thank you.
1 comment:
Nobody is going to like what I have to say, but here it is:
I don't care what his contribution to music is. I get that he was a pop icon, but even that part of his life is over-rated.
The man was a pedophile. Even if one argues that he was not convicted, he admitted to sleeping with boys.
He purchased three children, then treated them like pets.
He pissed away enough money to feed and house every homeless person in the state for months, and he did so proudly.
He died because he surrounded himself with people who would not say no to him.
The worship he has received is disgusting and the way his family has behaved is even worse. None of them even bothered to take off their sunglasses INSIDE today. The way they stood around that poor girl, like vultures, staring at her, feigning concern for someone they probably did not even know, making sure she said things with an appropriate amount of melodrama, was vile.
Those black "leaders" (I don't know what makes them leaders; they do nothing except grab the spotlight whenever they can) who've jumped on the bandwagon ignored the fact that Jackson hated his own ethnicity so much that he deliberately changed it.
The circus, which was inescapable today, was absolutely amazing. I am embarrassed to be of the same species as those at the Staples Center today.
Just a side note - Heath Ledger was not taking drugs to which he was addicted (I believe his problem involved illicit drugs). He was certainly prescribed too many risky and unnecessary meds, but at least he was actually taking them because he was sick (with pneumonia).
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