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Sunday, June 28, 2009

MJJ

Thursday morning I flipped on the TV to the announcement that Michael Jackson was in cardiac arrest (dead) and had been taken to the hospital. The 911 call reported him not breathing and the doctor doing chest compressions. I think he was dead at that time but no one was going to pronounce him. Later he was reported as being in a coma and finally reported as dead.



The airwaves are filled with reporting on his life and music. If that last court verdict had been a "guilty verdict", would all these accolades be forth coming for him? I'm wondering how much of that will start seeping out now that he is gone. This man was besides an awesome musician, a freak. An uncontrolled catered too performer. I listen to his childlike voice and wonder at our persistence to honor and celebrate people to whom our children will want to emulate. Do you want your child to aspire to be another Michael Jackson? Is fame and fortune that important to anyone? Speaking of fortune, he died without one. After all those albums, videos and money he earned, he had no control over his own spending. 400 million in debt? He ended up more broke then he was as a child in Gary, Indiana. How does one worship someone whose bad decisions ended up taking his life.

Was this doctor hired for him to monitor his drug use and keep him alive for and through the upcoming concert in London? Was he healthy enough to really do 50 performances?

Is this post too harsh? We shy away from being critical of the dead; something I've never understood nor ascribe too. I realize nobody is perfect; we all make mistakes, yadda yadda, yadda, but people that make these mistakes/decisions because they feel entitled because of their celebrity warrant no sympathy from me. Let a penniless person do some of the things these celebrities do and they would be locked up in some mental institution or jail. That's how I feel. Money and celebrity buys a lot of forgiveness.

1 comment:

  1. Death doesn't canonize anyone. As my Dad was wont to say, "he was a sonofabeech when he was alive and now he's a dead sonofabeech.

    Choices, I wonder about them. Sometimes a choice isn't a choice. While ignorance or environment or any number of things, doesn't excuse behavior, a case can be made for understanding.

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