Everybody's A Critic
I just don't get it. I've never gotten it. The only thing I found mildly interesting about Michael Jackson was his moonwalk, but that moonwalk shouldn't, for example, merit any of the all-too-common comparisons between him and Fred Astaire. Whereas Fred Astaire could dance divinely and was sensible to an astonishing range of fine emotions, Michael Jackson was typically limited to spastic gestures and he had no couth. None. Whatever talent Jackson may have had when he was young long ago became overshadowed by his perverted, erratic behavior and his self-maiming by repeat plastic surgery. He'd become nothing but an American freak show. What I really don't get is why so many people still fawn over his memory and why so few people are willing to point out that being a mega-famous child molester does not make being a child molester OK. Surely better role models exist? I'm sadly disappointed by all of the bathos.
Posted by George Kenney on June 28, 2009 2:27 PM 
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Comments
As Plato observed, the state of a society can be gauged almost immediately by listening to its music.
Crotch-grabbing, mind-sickened Jackson is a good symbol of our mentality. Or take just about any other rock group or idiot entertainer or "star."
We have become a nation of very degenerate barbarians. The quality of the mass media is unspeakably low and profoundly subversive of human decency and human equilibrium — it corresponds to the low mentality of the average American. Hence our "problems," our violence, our pornography, our torture chambers, our predatory excursions abroad, our killing frenzy, our myth-laden exceptionalism, our greedy materialism and consumerism, our bloated way of life generally, etc. All of it testifies to moral rot — to the horror of a much-suffering and decent minority.
[Thanks, Henry. Exercising my editorial prerogative, btw, I haven't let through comments in praise of Michael Jackson. g.]
Posted by: Henry | June 29, 2009 6:17 PM
Well, Thriller was a great album. But maybe you had to be a certain age at the time to think so. Everything he did after that was mediocre at best. Nothing he did justified his level of fame and I don't understand the obsessiveness of his fans. But truthfully, I don't understand the fan(atic)s of celebrities at all. I just can't get that emotional about someone I don't know.
Fortunately I don't watch tv so I've been spared most of the media blitz.
Posted by: Michael | June 29, 2009 9:25 PM
He was under intense pressure from the media, and most people around him, from an early age. I think he was extremely talented, and extremely tortured, too.
To assume he was a child molester is unfair. Yes, he was accused, yes, he did settle out of court, but he was also found not guilty. As skeptical as we might be about a grown man being so fascinated by children, we should also be skeptical about those making claims against an obviously easy, and very wealthy target.
[Read this. g.]
Posted by: Jay | June 30, 2009 12:01 AM
Michael Jackson, diddler, junkie.
As an entertainer myself, I know that the public has a certain expectation that one should be sexually deviant and on drugs if one is to make great entertainment fodder. I beg to differ.
Posted by: Dar McWheeler | July 3, 2009 12:29 PM
Don't feel badly, George. There is nothing to get. It's low brow entertainment for a deeply vulgarized low brow populace. If you point that out, it just makes such people angry, as is to be expected.
Formerly people's idols were genuine heroes or saints. Now they are rock starts and football players. This is termed an evolutionary advance.
Posted by: Sam | July 3, 2009 1:47 PM
Hi George,
Inclusion of the phrase 'being a mega-famous child molester does not make being a child molester OK' caught my attention. You may find the July 10-12, 2009 article by Raymond Lawrence, Jr. titled 'The Calumnies of Peter King - Michael Jackson as Sexual Pervert' worth reading:
http://www.counterpunch.org/lawrence07102009.html
Other than information published in the newspapers and other MSM, I know little about Michael Jackson's so-called 'music or child molestation'; I would not spend time listening to or watching this individual's performances. On the other hand, Mr Lawrence is an Episcopal cleric who has written several books which your readership may find of interest for any of a variety of reasons: 'Sexual Liberation: The Scandal of Christendom'
It seems unnecessary to criticize the advertised/promoted behavioral quirks of people in the news (perhaps this is why David Brooks did not name the well-known Congress person whom he recently mentioned had 'kept his hand on my inner thigh throughout the speech' (paraphrased, as I don't recall exactly). Famous people may have all the character faults to which everyone else is susceptible, though we might prefer that strident poker-faced lying were not one. Unfortunately, a certain well-oiled segment of the MSM prefers to keep certain stories/rumors rolling when they are too busy/lazy/inept to do actual investigative journalism. Obama's recent nomination for Surgeon General is hopeful; who knows maybe something positive may eventually be accomplished during the reign of Mr President.
[CounterPunch has run altogether too many essays defending Michael Jackson. Much better, by far, was this piece by Bob Herbert. g.]
Posted by: William Wilson | July 14, 2009 12:42 PM
The two links provided by William Wilson are pretty good reads...thanks!
Posted by: Video Guy | July 30, 2009 1:44 AM