Michael Jackson R.I.P.

[GenerationW]

I can appreciate if someone may think he's overrated, but to argue he was less influential and/or important than the likes of Duran Duran is just ridiculous.

I'm no MJ fan, but Duran Duran is like a speck of sand on his beach.

 

[adma]

Ho hum.

http://kunstler.com/blog/2009/06/the-man-in-the-mirror.html

The Man in the Mirror
By James Howard Kunstler
on June 29, 2009 6:01 AM

As America entered the horse latitudes of summer, befogged in a muffling stillness on deceptively calm seas, we were distracted for a while by visions of a pale death angel moonwalking across the deck of collective consciousness. Eerie parallels resound between the sordid demise of pop singer Michael Jackson and the fate of the nation.
Like the United States, Michael Jackson was spectacularly bankrupt, reportedly in the range of $800-million, which is rather a lot for an individual. Had he lived on a few more years, he might have qualified for his own TARP program -- another piece of expensive dead-weight down in the economy's bilges -- since it is our established policy now to throw immense sums of so-called "money" at gigantic failing enterprises (while millions of ordinary citizens wash overboard, without so much as a life-preserver). Anyway, Michael Jackson was on the receiving end of one huge bank loan after another long after his pattern of profligacy was set and obvious. They threw money at him for the same reason that the federal government throws money at entities like CitiBank: the desperate hope that some miracle will allow debt servicing to resume. Michael could burn through $50-million in half a year. It didn't seem to affect his credibility as a borrower. When his heart stopped last week, he was living in a Hollywood mansion that rented for several hundred thousand dollars a month. You wonder how the landlord cashed those checks.
Like the USA, Michael Jackson was a has-been. He hadn't recorded a song worth listening to in over two decades. He had done almost nothing but spin his wheels, hop around the globe from one place to another at enormous expense, and make himself available for award ceremonies to stoke his ego (and give advertisers a reason to promote some televised award show). He existed strictly on image, an anorectic figure nourished by moonbeams of attention, famous for saying that he loved his worshippers when the truth was he merely sucked the life out of them. In his last years, he even looked a bit like Nosferatu, the personification of the un-dead, and his fascination with ghouls was the basis for his biggest hit way back in the last century. A zombie nation deserves a zombie mascot.
He was a poseur, vamping in weird military outfits as though he were a five-star general in the Honduran army, or a character from a melodrama by the reprobate Jean Genet. He once materialized during halftime at the Superbowl in a shower of sparks, thrilling the multitudes while grabbing and stroking his sex organs, as though that was a heroic activity -- and indeed the nation seemed to emulate him as its culture became dedicated more and more to acting out masturbation fantasies. America was a fat man jerking off on the sofa watching a vampire of no particular sex vogue deliriously on the boob tube.
More than once the authorities tried to pin charges of child molestation on him for suspicious activities at his boy-trap, Neverland Ranch, with its carnival rides, private zoo, video game galleries, and inexhaustible supplies of sugary treats. The first time he settled with the alleged victim's family for $22-million. They just walked away with the loot and happily shut up. The second time, he moonwalked out of a court-of-law while weeks later jurors mysteriously went on TV to say, well, they did kind of think after-the-fact that he really did those things he was accused of, but, you know.... The defendant himself behaved as though his trial were a TV celebrity challenge show on another planet, arriving on one occasion twenty minutes late in pajamas with some lame excuse about a backache. He spent the last years of his life wandering a few steps ahead of his creditors, gulling concert promoters into "comeback" schemes (with walking-around money up front), and with three bought-and-paid-for children, obviously not his own, for consolation.
When he dropped dead last week, the nation's morbidly maudlin response suggested a cover story for the relief of being rid of him and all the embarrassment he provoked. One CNN reporter called him a genius the equal of Mozart. That's a little like calling Rachel Maddow the reincarnation of Eleanor Roosevelt. A nation addicted to lying to itself tells itself fairy tales instead of facing a pathology report. Yet, like Michael Jackson, the undertone of horror story still pulses darkly in the background. The little boy who grew up to be the simulation of a girl was really a werewolf. The nation that defeated manifest evil in World War Two woke up one day years later to find itself stripped of its manhood, mentally enslaved to cheap entertainments, and hostage to its own grandiosity. Maybe in grieving so exorbitantly over this freak America is grieving for itself. All the loose talk about "love" from the media and the fans gives off the odor of self-love. America is "the man in the mirror," the gigantic, floundering Narcissus, sailing into the stormy seas of history.

 

[Urban Shocker]

How does it compare to JFK Jr stuff in '99?

I don't recall seeing any John-John collectables for sale at the market - his fading allure as a great beauty at the time of his death was similar to MJ's post-career-death death, I suppose. The ultimate expression of that process is when you're surprised to hear that some once-famous public figure has died whom you thought had died years before - a fate that MJ was probably heading towards.

 

[Brian69]

Ha--I remember being into Duran Duran as a youngster and not caring much for MJ. But as I became older I became more respectful of Jacko's talent and somewhat less so of Duran Duran (though they still have some great tunes).

Michael Jackson does have a solid musical legacy but he was built up to be larger than life, which is why we get this excessive outpouring of grief over his death. He never had a real childhood, never lived a normal life and was surrounded by sycophants and hangers-on. Hardly surprising he turned out so weird and disconnected from the public. I found the press conference with Al Sharpton and his father yesterday to be a prime example, with that Ike-Turnerish octogenarian flogging some upcoming album in between answering questions about his son's death. Brutal.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

He was probably the most famous person in the world for my entire life, although he retreated a bit from daily public consciousness in the internet era after 2001 or so. While I pretty much agree with Urban Shocker that this is a post-career-death death, the fact that his last album - featuring songs that most people have never heard [of] before - went double-platinum still means that MJ's career in a state of death was more 'alive' than virtually all other musicians. I don't think anyone else has had 5 #1 hits off one album...and that album was not Thriller. After what MJ did in the 80s, there was nowhere to go but down, but he managed to embark on the most bizarre downward spiral imaginable.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Did anyone see the interview with MJ's creepy father on Sunday at the BET Awards? "Everyone is doing fine" he said, and went on to plug his company's upcoming plans. On Monday he did it again, this time showing up with his business partner. What a stone cold, shameless jerk. His son isn't even in the ground yet and he's using the media frenzy to promote his business ventures.

 

[jenny_zhang]

Ah, Michael Jackson. Perfect example of tragedy with fame. First he had his childhood screwed over, a father who shattered his self confidence regardless, and then he grows up but doesn't really. I watch interviews with him and his mentality seems like that of a child. And if you look at things he did as an adult, building an amusement park, inviting kids over, it just looks like he was trying to regain some semblance of childhood, not molest children. His pattern doesn't match that of child molestors. BUt I guess pedophilia is the big thing these days. He had issues, but they were approached the wrong way by the media.

Sad.

Oh, and look at the grieving father >_>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFDN...elf-after-son-s-death&feature=player_embedded

 

[gabe]

Micheal begged for drugs like any other addict but nobody told Michael NO. Yes, the Doctors maybe some what to blame, but not completely. If an addict wants them, they will get them one way or another

 

[syn]

Micheal begged for drugs like any other addict but nobody told Michael NO. Yes, the Doctors maybe some what to blame, but not completely. If an addict wants them, they will get them one way or another

Considering he was a prescription drug addict, I'd say they share a lot of the blame.

 

[syn]

Did anyone see the interview with MJ's creepy father on Sunday at the BET Awards? "Everyone is doing fine" he said, and went on to plug his company's upcoming plans. On Monday he did it again, this time showing up with his business partner. What a stone cold, shameless jerk. His son isn't even in the ground yet and he's using the media frenzy to promote his business ventures.

I watched it on Youtube. Pretty bizzare.

 

[MetroMan]

Kilamite on YouTube set out a good argument that I think is worth putting up here:

Some people are so single minded about the whole pedophile thing. I'm not going to quote people because it'd rather just say what I was thinking when I was reading some of the really ignorant remarks.

Michael Jackson pretty much missed out on a childhood because his father really pushed his music career. Fair enough, you could argue why has none of the other "Jackson Five" turned out like him, but Michael made it big quickly and his father knew he was going to be huge. His father has always taken credit for Michael's success, saying along the lines of "if it wasn't for me..". Now, a childhood is what sets you up for the future - socialising, having fun, seeing what's good in life. He didn't experience a lot of that. Maybe he couldn't deal with the corrupt way of adult life. Think of this: there's nothing more innocent than a baby's laugh. It makes you smile. It's a lovely thing. Same with kids - kids go crazy with bubbles. I think MJ really wanted to just experience what kids experienced when they blew bubbles, as it was a feeling of happiness he never really got to get. So, he builds himself a theme park, controversially hangs around with kids and just enjoys having fun with them. Nothing sexual - just enjoying the beauty of the innocence in a child's mind and trying to experience that innocence.

Next thing, he's got a court case and he's accused of being a pedophile. Any parent who truly believed their kid had been indecently touched by an adult would want that adult to perish and do everything possible to make that happen. Send him to prison, get him named as a pedophile. Get him on the sex offenders register. Things like that are what the outcome would have been if MJ had been a pedophile. Instead, the parent agrees an out of court settlement worth millions of dollars.

Now, how much money would you have to get given before you'd let Michael Jackson play with your kids..? Come on, the pedophile talk was all about the money. I'm pretty sure the kid that he was meant to have indecently touched eventually said that he had never been touched by MJ.

I never believed the sensationalist media who started this whole pedophile thing. MJ had the naivety of a child. He lives in an adult world however, and made the mistake of mentioning that he shared his bed with children and all hell breaks loose. It could come across as weird but for him it was just his genuine love (not sexual) for children and a longing to be a part of their world in an effort at a second chance at childhood.

The first case, where he paid off the parents can't be followed up because the details were kept secret. With regards to the second case that went to court, the media loved to follow the accusations against him up until the point where he was exonerated. They didn't follow up or show any interest in that the mother who pressed charges turned out to be a fraudulent career lawsuit seeker. She had sued, I believe it was George Clooney for sexual harassment a few years earlier and had been in several dubious motor vehicle accidents where she claimed insurance money.

MJ had his day in court and was innocent, but the pedophile jokes and image stuck. Unfortunately, that ruined his chances at focusing on his career throughout the 90s and early 2000's.

It's a shame. To those who still believe that he sexual molested children, you must not be a parent yourself, because as the quoted argument above points out: "How much money would you have to get paid before you'd let Michael Jackson play with your kids..?".

 

[Brian69]

On a brighter note, hard-hitting CNN did an exclusive interview with Bubbles, who is still going strong in an animal sanctuary after being parted from Jacko years ago. He looked bigger than he used to (good reason why chimps should not be pets) and was showing his age; apparently MJ never even visited him after he was given to the sanctuary. That part was sad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KpcJPYJKo4

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Initially I was guardedly suspicious about MJ and the kids but once the trial commenced and then concluded the evidence simply didn't support the allegations. Those families were slugs. As a middle aged closeted gay man, openly sleeping and surrounding himself with young boys wasn't exactly a very smart move on his part. Didn't this guy have anyone that he really trusted to advise him or give him some caring yet firm guidance on such issues?

 

[Urban Shocker]

Bubbles, I suspect. Or one of the llamas.

 

[adma]

As a middle aged closeted gay man, openly sleeping and surrounding himself with young boys wasn't exactly a very smart move on his part. Didn't this guy have anyone that he really trusted to advise him or give him some caring yet firm guidance on such issues?

Well, given everything in the end, I'm not sure what kind of guidance might have worked. In effect, it wasn't just a "closeted gay man" matter; it's that, gay or straight, MJ's whole sexual makeup was stunted. As the "rubba rubba" thing indicates, his erotic dreamworld was eternally that of pubescents playing doctor and whatnot.

Somehow, even if it did happen, I can't imagine MJ comfortably having an "adult" gay sexual relationship--unless Diana Ross counts...