The king of pop kicks the bucket – so what?
Who cares?
Sure, Micheal Jackson, at one time, was a great musician. Who can forget the Jackson Five? Or ‘Ben,’ or ‘Never Can Say Goodbye,’ or ‘Thriller’?
But let’s be honest folks. That amazing pop star? He turned into a bizarre creature, not just in middle age, but well before that.
Long before Michael Jackson went on trial on charges of weirdness with young children, he was already really weird. He was an attractive guy who turned himself into a walking advertisement for the dangers of cosmetic surgery.
Nose jobs. Chin implants. Skin bleaching. Whatever. Addiction to painkillers. Impregnating his cosmetic surgeon’s assistant — how has never been quite answered.
A great talent turned himself into a freak of the tabloids, the courtrooms and the public consciousness. It was very sad to see him go down, but we’ve all seen the trajectory for years.
Remember Elvis. Let’s learn this lesson again.
Michael, R.I.P.
June 25, 2009 - 7:42 PM
What is just as sickening as the way he lived his life physically, is the fact that all these people in this country and the world have made this freaky man a “god.”
I knew you were an idiot, you’ve made that very, very clear over the last few months, but seriously, you just moved up to fu***** idiot. The greatest performer in history and essentially the most famous person in the world dies and you say “so what?” No Dan, I think the “so what” belongs after “Dan Casey says/thinks/writes…”
With all the layoffs and folks “mysteriously leaving” TRT, how in the world is a no talent hack such as yourself still around?
Dan, that was amazingly callous and insulting. Like many iconic figures, Michael Jackson was brilliantly gifted and tragically flawed at the same time. His contribution to music and entertainment world wide was phenomenal and speaking ill of the dead immediately is crass. While his own life was a tragedy in many ways, he has friends, family and fans who loved him immensely and he deserved a better salute than you offered IMHO.
I find myself agreeing with a lot of your columns and blog entries, but this just smacks of callousness. Yes, he was different. But does that mean it’s ok to make fun of him and ridicule him? Does his celebrity mean that the jokes don’t hurt?
Michael Jackson gave the world an amazing catalog of brilliant music and tried to make the world a more loving and gentle place. He was an amazing philanthropist, trying to give underprivileged and sick children a childhood he never had. His death is tragic and all you can do is say so what. Shame on you. Who cares about him? I do. And so do millions of people around the world. When you depart this world, do you want people saying so what? Or do you want to be remembered with love?
OK folks, I plead guilty to callousness, with the “so what?” in the headline and “Who cares?” in the first line. You saw my knee jerking there.
I agree with you that Michael Jackson was a great musician — many years ago. And I have a certain amount of sympathy for the magnifying glass under which he lived.
But — and this a big “but” — there was a weirdness and strangeness to the way he’s led his life that goes way beyond addictions to painkillers and plastic surgery.
I’m talking about the $20 million+ he paid one young boy to settle charges that Jackson had abused him. And the charges (of which Jackson was acquitted) that he sexually abused another boy. And the bizarre way he chose to become a father, and weird actions like dangling your child over a hotel balcony while posing for photographers.
Those actions add strange and sinister tint to the public life he lived. All in all (my opinion) he was the weirdest of the weird. Is the world better off without him? Not necessarily. But I don’t believe we’re a lot poorer for the loss.
Dan, callous or not, I have to agree with you. He was a great musician and artist many years ago, but became a freak and nothing but a weird shell of his former greatness. When I read of his passing, I felt little sadness because of the complete mess he had become with all the numerous scandals. I’m hoping he is remembered more for his music than his late-life freakshow, but that honestly defined the way I saw him more than his music, even though I grew up with his music in the 80′s. It’s sad when a person passes, but I have a hard time feeling anything in this instance.
Wow. I find this incredibly sad… This over attention the news is giving to the death of Michael Jackson. Though negatively provoking for those who idolize Michael Jackson, I am grateful you have brought this perspective up, Dan!
Does it really take this many celebrity deaths, and not to mention a certain man’s infidelity, to distract us from those poor folks in Iran? Please remember them….. Do folks even know who Neda Agha-Soltan is?
How about this, do people even realize the Chinese want to replace the US dollar http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8120835.stm? And what this could mean to us?
A national uprising in Iran will have a definite greater impact in the future of the world than Michael Jackson’s existence…… replacing the dollar will most definitely make our economy weaker and increase the Chinese influence over our nation.
In Iran we are looking at a serious situation in an already precarious region of the world which can explode at any moment and the citizen’s of Iran are begging us to free them from the tyranny. If we do we are risking attacks on our national security, if we do not we are supporting slaughter.
I am an artist and fully believe in the influences of arts and entertainment on society, government, religion and so forth, but there are most definitely much more important things Americans should have a focus on than of the likes of Paris Hilton, Michael Jackson and such, mere entertainers who lack good moral substance. When are we truly going to get back on track with what is truly important in the world?
Oh yes!
This will give you an idea of what I am talking about. Well worth viewing, this is a comedic look of just how our average citizen’s knowledge stands up to the Iranian’s……… from The Daily Show……
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1198975133439&ref=nf
If you have not yet, please research the real story of Neda Agha-Soltan… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neda_Agha-Soltan.
Not the new one the Iranian government is peddling.
Must not be any meaniful news available.
Dan Casey,
There is some pretty well founded belief that despite this man’s immense talent, he himself may have been an abused child. I have always suspected Karen Carpenter’s untimely death due to bullemia was from unaccepting and over demanding parents.
In both cases, these human beings deserve our sympathy instead of our apathy. You are wrong. From a compassionate conservative,
Bob
I am in a family full of physically abused individuals and with all honesty I do not hold them any less responsible for abusive actions on their children or others. We can have sympathy for the man, but that does not mean his inappropriate acts against children should be washed away in order to claim him a god-like being. He did what he did and then ran to hide even though he was extremely physically ill. The man was an entertainer.
Although I’ll remember him fondly for the Jackson5 cartoons of my youth, that’s about it. He certainly doesn’t deserve to have the front page of the paper and 24 hour news coverage. This celebrity hero worship has really got to stop.
Michael Jackson road the talent train to the end quite a few years ago. I don’t place entertainers, politicians, or other larger than life persons on pedestals. Now, really, can CNN just get back to some real news, please?
Yes, let’s get back to this “Cap and Trade” fiasco of a Tax Hike. Here we are in the middle of a bad recession and the government in all their freaking wisdom hands us the largest tax increase in HISTORY OF MANKIND !!!
And you don’t hear much of anything about it…… Can Americans really be that stupid. Can the News Media really be that shallow (biased?) ?
I think they should melt down what is left of his pathetic body and sell his nose on ebay! King of plop not pop.