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 …

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!