In what has to go down as the Least Surprising ConclusionTo An Entertainer’s Biographytm of all time, TMZ is reporting that Michael Jackson has taken the Big Moon Walk at the tender age of 50.
(LA Times confirms)
* And don’t waste your time or mine piling on. You know what I’m talking about.
Update: Prize for the best backhanded obituary of the day goes to Associated Press…
He was perhaps the most exciting performer of his generation, known for his backward-gliding moonwalk, his feverish, crotch-grabbing dance moves and his high-pitched singing, punctuated with squeals and titters.
h/t Ed S.
Update 2: – Racist!
One last comment:
A “tragic childhood” is a 4 year old in Bangladesh with retinoblastoma. A “tragic life” is a Russian teenager sold into the sex trade.
Michael Jackson did not have a tragic childhood, nor did he have a tragic life.
He had the life he chose.
To excuse his behavior as though it was simply a pre-programmed result of his years as a child performer is not just intellectually lazy, it’s an insult to every individual who has overcome true childhood hardship, deprivation and/or abuse to emerge as a functioning member of society.
Michael Jackson was no bobbing cork on the sea of circumstance – he was a multi-millionaire with the means to choose any lifestyle he wanted. “Functional adult” was one of the options. He chose otherwise.
Celebrate the music if you like, but for decency’s sake, don’t celebrate the man.
I am wondering if “Mary Sunshine” – (this handle projects a picture of hippy on acid with flowers in her hair whilst wearing a “make love not war” t-shirt) is single – I think her and Ben would make an ideal couple. You two should exchange emails…seriously.
Mary and Ben, although I believe it is not proper to speak ill of the dead, I am not the least offended by Kate’s post. MJ being a famous and very rich (at one point) was a musician. Musicians by their very nature, bear their souls through music – the loss of privacy is the price paid for their fame.
I do not know if Micheal was guilty of pedophilia or not – God is his judge now. However, his words and actions coupled with his open obsession for male children is undeniable. Perception is everything – just what do you expect people to think when a person openly admits they have young boys sleep with them in their bed and are openly proud of this fact? He himself broadcast this reality long b4 any charges were laid against him. How you can possibly play a race card in this situation is indeed puzzling. From what you both have said, I think I can safely assume that the public is picking on Chris Brown because he is black – the fact he beat the shit out of Rhianna takes a back seat to his ethnicity? The only racism and unkindness, or lack of sunshine – which by the way implies light – is in your blindness to the truth. I would be Mary Sunshine too if I ignored anything negative – no matter how truthful and pretended people who do inappropriate things are just misunderstood – doubly so if they are gay, Muslim, black or native. Inviting young boys to sleep in your bed -a fact even MJ did not dispute – is inappropriate regardless of you ethnicity and no amount of talent or albums sold can eradicate this fact. Do you understand now? Mary – I implore you to truly let the light shine.
I don’t know the exact numbers but there are something like 50 victims for every charge laid. Jackson was charged a couple of times and had the resources to shut down many before they hit the media. I will not celebrate his life.I may attempt to snap my fingers to a few of his tunes,but not much more. Jackson was one F’ed up adult that F’ed up more than a few kids (in all likelihood).He was talented,but I wouldn’t cross the street to piss on him if he was on fire,no matter how bad he was melting.
‘Just wondering: if MJ were Canadian, might he have been hauled before one of our Human Rights (sic) Commissions for being racist?
“Face it, only wealthy white men can be “eccentric”; black men, of course, are the embodiment of deviance.”
-MJ was black?
-An adult man regularly having sleepovers with children isn’t an example of deviance?
-MJ was black?
-An adult man regularly having sleepovers with children isn’t an example of deviance?
Your first point is well taken but I think it says more about what it means psychologically for many to be black in this country. Mike just had the money to do something “about it.” Hair and skin was 20th century – surgery is the early 21st. We’re just getting started with this…
I totally agree with your second point and what I would add is that I’m still trying to get my head around all these parents tripping over each other to push their kids ahead in line to sleep over Mike’s house. That’s bizarre, totally bizarre.
There have been rumors about MJ’s sexuality in the African-American community since the late ’70s, that Diana Ross vamped him when he was teenager, etc. We all knew he was damaged goods back then. Sourcing the cause of it was always the subject of conversation. Apparently, this will remain the case.
“and what I would add is that I’m still trying to get my head around all these parents tripping over each other to push their kids ahead in line to sleep over Mike’s house. That’s bizarre, totally bizarre.”
yes, unfortunately it appears that they pimped their kids out.
In my haste, I forgot, forgive me, and Heeeeeeer’es Johnny !
RIP Ed,
,
Being as this is a blog from Canada, observations of “being black in this country” are different from the US. Whatever the current state of race relations in the US (black president)judgements about comments being racial must be viewed differently on this blog.
Michael Jackson had every opportunity in the world, being extremely wealthy, adored (inexplicably) all over the planet. He took advantage of this by having a pet monkey, sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber, sleeping with prepubescent boys and so on. His life was a circus that he chose to live.
ET, fair enough. Unfortunately, we are seldom given the full information on situations and sometimes have to make judgement calls based on what we do have. Only MJ and any victims really know. Parents who let their children sleep over had very poor judgement.
Forgive me for making a couple of points.
Of course we cannot know to an absolute certainty what took place between Michael Jackson and these children.
However, to act like this is some kind of impenetrable enigma is painfully naive.
Because of the scandals in the church and pedophiles as Boy Scout leader and day care workers and the entire sordid panoply, we understand a lot.
An undeveloped male can have very innocent feelings, however after puberty sexual proclivities arise with those feelings.
Perhaps the perpetrator is unaware that sexual feelings will arise. Perhaps they do not wish for them to arise, but puberty as a developmental state causes sexuality to be involved with those feelings.
Although I am a Jungian, you don’t have to consider transpersonal bases to understand this. The Oedipus and Electra complexes are well-known phenomena about sexual feelings that can arise when one would prefer they did not.
This puts Jackson’s sleepovers with kids in extremely dubious light.
And this business of racism. You will see that I am writing this from Dallas. Outside of the military I have essentially lived in the South my entire life.
I am old enough to remember what racism actually is. And although we have put this dark chapter behind us in the South, there are those of us who actually do understand what real racism is.
And I promise you that it is not a famous, wealthy, insulated celebrity hobnobbing with the creme de la creme receiving criticism because of his screwball antics.
I bet a case of beer,if you dig him up in 50 years, he’ll look the same:/
Michael Jackson is not dead. Along with Elvis you will be seeing him at a truck stop near you.
Greg.
Good to get your points. I will have to carefully read up on the psychology of what can make a man a pedophile. My point is one that seems to be set aside however. This is the lives that the molested children then have to live afterward. I have read that such molestation may turn them into molesters (how tragic).
In Canada we had a terrible case of a young man who went public about a molester. He later threw himself of a viaduct in Toronto and died.
A swine of a hockey coach got 3 and a half years for molesting young hockey players. He was most agressive and took a kick at the camera people.
Last I heard was after release he was coaching junior hockey in Spain.
The old tough heads of Canada’s knock ’em down and drag ’em out were notoriously silent about this guy.
A lot of people do not want to touch the subject.
kudos to those that do.
A weeks time it will all be old news. No tears from this corner.
Terry Tory: “It’s not about the music anymore. It’s about the dancing, choerography, costumes, sex exhibitionism, videos and merchandise.”
I agree, but I don’t think you can blame it on one performer. You could add Alice Cooper and Jimi Hendrix, to name a couple for whom I have little desire to listen to their music (I do like “School’s Out”). I think the ’60s was full of fine pop songs that outshine most of their work. Many people don’t realize that just because a person is musically talented, it doesn’t mean his musical output is of good quality.
It was his fault. I live in Northern Ontario, and it was his fault I froze one of my hands
I’ve known a few tortured people. I dispute the notion that the lost choose to lose their way.
I will mourn Farrah and Ed much more than I will mourn Moon Boy. Fill your boots – call me a racist. I could give a shit. He was a freakin wierdo in whatever colour he came in. Even he didn’t know what colour he was.
Looks like Dr. Oops strikes again. Being rich and famous doesn’t seem to get a person better medical care, just over medicated and dead.
However, these star-struck Doctor-bots did make it possible for the new Anna show model to roll into our living rooms this year just before the notoriously boring summer doldrums. A guaranteed sleeper hit called “MJ RIP-09”.
The MJ RIP-09 is loaded with features including 3 kids, 1 hit album, rights to a priceless music collection, an eccentric extended family of questionable value, pre-teen victim payoffs and enough debt to make even the most jaded liberal comfortable. Testing isn’t quite finished but early indications are that the MJ RIP-09 will easily give the best tabloid mileage of any early retired celeb model yet! Maybe there’s even enough in the trash can for a couple of years straight of MJ RIP-09 entertainment.
Reality TV just got better. Move over Heath, David and Farrah for the MJ RIP-09 THRILLER!
Fade to black…
Most of you guys are a-holes. If you knew anything about what you were talking about you wouldn’t spew such stupid shit. MJ had a skin disorder where large blotches of his skin looked “white” for lack of a better term. I’m sure his career would have went just fine having that look. So, MJ decides to get work done to make his skin one “color” and ignorant a-holes (who should be adults) believe the jokes and stories as fact.
Those of you that question his music, so be it; but, if you talk to a professional vocalist, or anyone in music, they will tell you “he is the best” period!. The dancing and the cloths were only accessories to his phenomenal skill. You may like Marvin’s voice more, or Steve Tyler’s power, but technically MJ is the bar all singers are measured against.
Wrt the molestation accusations, they’re just that, accusations. That being said, I wouldn’t leave my kids with him, whether it’s fair of not.
Personally speaking, I’m much more shook-up about this that I thought I’d be, especially when I wrote the comment a few days ago.
“Better than Freddy Mercury?” Touché.
FM is also great, although I’m not such a fan of Rock, I consider FM the best vocalist I’ve heard in the genre. Obviously this is a subjective topic, either singer could be 1a,1b.
btw, what is it about rock fans that makes them so haughty regarding music views? I swear you’re the leftards music. It’ seems for the most part, you can’t see past your own blinders and enjoy anything outside your genre. Most Hip Hop, R&B, Pop and Contemporary fans enjoy music from all genres including Rock and any other music with skinny white-boys banging guitars. Just wondering.
There’s at least 20 million reasons that MJ’s child fetish is more than just an accusation…..
And, I’ll grant, that maybe MJ didn’t have much of a choice early on, given the dysfunctional, albeit, affluent upbringing he had, that damaged him.
But he had a choice as an adult to ‘get right’, and he did not. Instead, he spiralled into his degenerate excess, often publicly.
While I wasn’t a fan by any means, I recognize the talent, he just wasn’t my genre at all. I just don’t get the creepy, fanatical adulation that some of these male adult creeps exhibit…..notably at his recent announcement of his (doomed) tour for this year….creepy.
In the end, he was a caricature of his former self.
Kate,
You’re on target with all comments (not that you need my support). Can’t believe the SABS (Share A Brain Society) who wish to deify this individual after ‘his’ recent coronation…(talk about picking “fly s**t out of the pepper”!) Spare me PLSE…
Reminds me of the one that says…”You can build bridges all your life and they don’t call you a bridge builder…but, just…………….”.
Cheers,
I thought they were going to freeze him and stick him on his earth view property on the moon or something? Cryogenics or whatever………..
I suppose that plan was scraped with his millions.
Now most likely he’ll be reduced to an urn of ashes in the oval office. Like a shrine (at least for the next 3 ½ years).
“My own ignorant view is that Jackson was, all his life, not a grown man but a pre-adolescent and asexual individual. Sleeping in the same bed with young children would have been, to him, akin to him being the same age as they were.”
I agree. May his talented but troubled soul rest in peace.
“My own ignorant view is that Jackson was, all his life, not a grown man but a pre-adolescent and asexual individual. Sleeping in the same bed with young children would have been, to him, akin to him being the same age as they were.”
“I agree. May his talented but troubled soul rest in peace.”
Oh yea, and if he was not a world famous millionaire celebrity….. instead lets say – the neighborhood retarded grocery clerk at Save On Food’s – yall would all feel the same way about it!
You have this wierd looking guy prancing around on the stage wearing a glove on one hand, grabbing at his crotch and singing “Beat it” – all kinda deviant – no?
I wonder if that pedophile they caught in thailand last year would be praised as much if he could sing.Good riddance to that freek,they should put him under fifty feet and face down just to make sure.
I wonder if that pedophile they caught in thailand last year would be praised as much if he could sing.Good riddance to that freek,they should put him under fifty feet and face down just to make sure.