This Is What I’m Talking About …
OK … so Michael Jackson has died … which I would say is tragic … however the true tragedy is the media frenzy which has errupted over this whole event. Seriously people …
Take a look at this link … that’s the amount of news stories which were on the net for the past five years leading up to last month … and what’s in there? Several stories about trials, felony charges, articles about whether or not MJ could ever be as good as he was … nothing positive. At all.
Then the poor man dies. A tragedy when any life is ended, but then the media pounces and suddenly everyone all around the world loves him. Everyone will miss him. He was such a genius. The world’s greatest entertainer.
The man was broke. His estate was in the hole to the tune of a half a billion dollars. He faced several lawsuits not only here in the Americas but abroad as well. The last studio album he put out was 2001 … and before that, 1991. The only reason he was ever in the headlines was for yet another stupid thing which he had done.
Now … I loved him when he was on his game. Perhaps if this had happened some 15-20 years ago, all of this attention may have been deserved. But the man who passed away yesterday was NOT the same man who electrified the world and earned the title of the King of Pop. And this isn’t the first time something like this has happened.
When John Lennon was shot, no one had cared about his solo work. Instead he was the guy who had broken up the Beatles. Suddenly through the tragedy of his death he became this sensational thing which we realized that we had lost. What’s the difference you say? Lennon deserved the recognition which he didn’t get until his death. Jackson? He wasted that recognition with all of the antics which he’s pulled over the past decade and a half.
Once again the cancer of celebrity is rearing up and slowly degrading society again. I guess at least this is taking some of the heat off of the Gosselins and their unfortunate divorce.
June 26th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
You’re starting to sound like an old man with all this “degradation of society” talk, I think the methods change but celebrity sensationalism is nothing new and people always eat it up for some unknown reason.
All that said, I agree with some of the criticism but the fact is that many of the great names throughout history (Elvis, Howard Hughes, Ernest Hemingway, Van Gogh) had some fairly serious character flaws, but that doesn’t take away from their achievements. The freakshow that was MJ can’t change the fact that, whether you even liked his early music or not, it did have a fundamental impact on music in numerous ways. And whatever else happened will not change that.
The fact that so much of his life was a mess is even more reason to credit him for the successes he actually had once it’s all over, even if it was a long time ago.
As for the media.. I try and avoid the worst of it and take a moderation of news. CBC News World is enough for me.. and Timbit’s Black Box of course!
June 26th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Just finished explaining my position with another former Domecq-er …
My problem here isn’t so much with MJ … the guy had problems, but you’re right … when he was hot, he FULLY deserved it … I can remember myself getting quite excited about picking up the Thriller album … there is NO arguing that when he had it going, he WAS a huge influence on the world of entertainment.
But what has his contributions been for the past five years? Ten years? That’s why I included that link to the Google News Archives … he’s been in the spotlight … but for all the wrong reasons … and what was the general consensus on him? Wacko Jacko, right?
So he dies … and in the blink of an eye … all is forgiven … and everyone loves him again. So who’s fault is that? The media, for throwing so much of it in our faces? Our own fault, for looking past recent history?
My problem isn’t with Jackson, or even the things he did to earn the media scorn … my problem is with the three ring circus which has a cornering ability to pivot on a dime …
June 26th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
OK so I think we’re pretty much in heated agreement then. The media is ridiculous, Tina and I couldn’t take too much of it yesterday. But to be fair (and not trying to defend any of it), the coverage I saw did mention many of the controversies surrounding him while highlighting his accomplishments. And I’m sure we can look forward to more negative media in the future for him as more dirt gets uncovered, and the circus takes the next corner. If only it ended with his death, but highly unlikely.