June 25, 2009
No! Michael Jackson is dead!
I don't care what you think. I am just terribly, terribly sad.
One of the most talented singers of our time has died. So much of my youth is mixed up with his stuff.
RIP MJ!!!
Here's my all-time favorite MJ song--from his BEST album (just LISTEN to the song):
Posted by S. Abbas Raza at 07:55 PM | Permalink
Comments
Poor guy. But why not show him from a time before this racist world disfigured him?
Sweet
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Jun 25, 2009 8:31:33 PM
Steven, I guess because I don't wanna' show him how we would have wanted him to be. I respect whatever decisions he made about his personal appearance.
Posted by: Abbas Raza | Jun 25, 2009 8:38:14 PM
Abbas:
You know what's funny? I spent a big chunk of my childhood in Chicago, and I can remember when the Jackson Five were a *local phenomenon*... I can even remember a slightly older (12-year-old?) girl having a crush on the boys and me being terribly jealous about it. I also remember an Aunt saying their music was "just kid's stuff". Years later, living in Europe, I caught a late-night showing of the "I Want You Back/ABC" medley on Television... this was before the mainstream Internet/ YouTube, on which such videos are easy to come by... I hadn't seen the clip since I was a boy. And guess what? I cried! Honestly. Michael Jackson was already dead, for me, then; that talented little cocoa-brown child was dead.
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Jun 25, 2009 8:55:49 PM
Steven, you seem shaken up yourself. It's not an easy thing to think about. At the moment I'll just allow myself to feel sad that an amazing talent has died.
:-(
Immer dein,
A
Posted by: Abbas Raza | Jun 25, 2009 9:21:24 PM
Abbas:
But I'm *not* shaken up... not all these years later. I'm just creeped out that the larger lesson of the poor guy's ruination is being glossed over, generally. He bleached his skin, *radically* chopped up his facial features and straightened his hair under the impression (accurate or not) that global stardom required it. I wouldn't be surprised if the management actually *encouraged* this. If the man was actually a friend of yours, I suppose I'm out of line... otherwise, hey: is the "political" only what appears on CNN or The Daily Show?
The guy's *nose fell off* due to the excessive plastic surgery needed to render this nose less Negroid in appearance. I think there's a fruitful discussion about racism in that.
Please forgive me for pressing this point. I much prefer the "black" Michael Jackson.
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Jun 25, 2009 9:52:03 PM
I can't help but think that anyone undergoing that amount of plastic surgery must have had mental issues. His death is sad, but not unexpected, giving the obvious downward spiral of recent years.
Posted by: J. Hawkins | Jun 25, 2009 10:07:19 PM
Isn't he, like Marilyn Munro,and Elvis Presley, a victim of the cult of celebrity, a cult which continues to feed on his dead body as we speak? It will be a commercial bonanza for TV stations like CNN.
Posted by: J. Hawkins | Jun 25, 2009 10:12:45 PM
Why do you say you don't care what we think? If you are truly sad as you say, that qualifier should be unnecessary. It is a weak attempt to express sympathy and yet rise above the crassness that MJ somehow seems to be associated with.
Posted by: Faris | Jun 25, 2009 10:23:59 PM
An artist is dead.
Steven, I echo your sentiments. I will always picture him as a member of the Jackson 5, circa 1972. What became of him over the past quarter century is depressing, his face becoming the countenance of deep anguish.
Sigh.
Posted by: t.simenon | Jun 25, 2009 11:15:25 PM
The closest I ever came to feeling anything akin to grief when a celebrity died was last year, September 12, the day David Foster Wallace hung himself on his back porch. I had only recently started really getting into his work, and his humanity, above everything else, including his shocking intelligence, just made his death seem so... unfair, even if it was self-inflicted.
This, though...
I can't explain it, but it's the first death of an entertainer that has ever really, really shook me. I don't own any of his albums, I don't know every word to any single one of his songs, and in recent years I've been feeling more and more like Steven, disgusted not so much by Michael himself but by what his situation has turned him into. And still, the sadness I feel about his death is extraordinary.
Perhaps, like Foster Wallace, it was his humanity, and the loss of that humanity -- not in the form of a disfigured face, which could not disfigure his soul, but in death, and I realize as I'm writing this that an entire era has died, an entire category of artistic expression and energy; forgive my hyperbole, but I don't think it's hyperbole: his mere presence in the world, his sheer humanity, fucked up and sad and brilliant and loving and beautiful and innocent to the last, was one of the world's greatest links, one of those people who are more like experiences, whose very existence becomes something akin to a cause. I have been reading about his death nonstop since I heard about it, I know no other way to deal with this radical unexpected grief I feel, and what has struck me is how many people feel exactly the same way -- and also, how many people have prefaced their own grief with statements just like the one Abbas made, "I don't care what you think," because they are well aware that his humanity was the thing, more than his music, and that some people won't get it.
I am sad, too, Abbas, and I cannot sleep.
Posted by: ghostman | Jun 26, 2009 2:32:58 AM
I've known many people in South Asia and West Africa who used to be dark and progressively became "white" due to vitiligo, which is a common skin ailment. It is most likely that MJ had vitiligo. Sadly, some would rather believe that he bleached his skin on purpose just because they have never encountered this disease themselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitiligo
Posted by: dw | Jun 26, 2009 3:14:49 AM
"He bleached his skin, *radically* chopped up his facial features and straightened his hair under the impression (accurate or not) that global stardom required it"
Um...not quite, Mr. Augustine. He started doing all those things AFTER he had already become a global superstar. Michael Jackson wasn't a victim of racism, he was a victim of his personal pyschological demons, which led to behavior and lifestyle choices that became increasingly bizarre and over the years. It didn't help that he was surrounded by enablers and flunkies out to make money off him (many including his own family). Certainly his father having pressed him into being a performer from such a young age and depriving him of any normal childhood took its toll on him psychologically, as did the insanely intense media scrutiny and rumors he lived with (though Jackson himself was much to blame for the media frenzy surrounding his life, since he used to feed the press false stories about his own behavior; apparently he subscribed to the notion that "all press is good press," even when it makes you out, by design, to be a freak).
Jackson lived in a bizarre fantasy world of his own making, trying desperately to maintain himself in an infantilized, developmentally arrested state of perpetual childhood. Perhaps he lived in that world for so long that he actually came to beleive it was true.
Jackson was obviously a deeply unhappy, troubled, and conflicted soul, despite all his fame and worldy success. His story is a sad and pathetic one in many ways, but being a victim of racism isn't one of those ways.
Posted by: Dennis | Jun 26, 2009 3:48:15 AM
DW,
Jackson was, in fact, diagnosed with vitiligo in 1986. Apparently he did undergo some deliberate whitening procedures after his diagnosis in order to attempt to even out contrasting spots on his skin. He had already became adicted to plastic surgery well before that. After having borken his nose in 1979 and needing plastic surgery to repair it, he repeatedly went back for more and more plastic surgery over the years. He had also become addicted to pain killers after hair-on-fire incident at that Pepsi commercial shoot. Perhaps the Vitiligo diagnosis and initial attempts to even out his skin tone also resulted in a sort of addiction, where he kept needing or wanting more and more such procedures until he lost all sense of how bizarre he really looked to other people. I still maintain it was his own psychological issues and demons that drove him to such behaviors, not racism.
Posted by: Dennis | Jun 26, 2009 3:56:24 AM
Sorry, Faris, I didn't mean to be rude. I guess you are right: I was shocked and I was anticipating and trying preemptively to fend off instant criticism of MJ. For all I know, he may have been a horrible person, but whatever else he may have done, he certainly did bring much pleasure and joy to hundreds of millions of people through his music and dance...
Posted by: Abbas Raza | Jun 26, 2009 4:17:51 AM
Such a sad, sad day.
Posted by: Teo | Jun 26, 2009 5:13:16 AM
"For all I know, he may have been a horrible person, but whatever else he may have done, he certainly did bring much pleasure and joy to hundreds of millions of people through his music and dance..."
Yeah. We give tribute to him as a great musician, a great artist -- without ignoring questions about his personal life.
Posted by: Teo | Jun 26, 2009 5:14:31 AM
"I've known many people in South Asia and West Africa who used to be dark and progressively became "white" due to vitiligo, which is a common skin ailment. It is most likely that MJ had vitiligo."
Nonsense. Look at the cover of Thriller: he'd already had the first phases of the plastic surgery by then; does vitiligo thin the bridge of one's nose and trim the nostrils? Does LaToya have vitiligo, too?
Having written/collaborated on quite a few utterly-bullshit press releases in my time... (and so forth).
Try on this Thought Experiment: Eminem decides to darken his skin by many, many, *many* shades; makes his lips and fuller and his nose wider; gets a kinky perm and dyes it black: what would the press' reaction be? Surely they'd go bezerk, heap outrage and derision on the guy: he'd lose about 90% of his fans. Yet Michael does essentially the same thing and, aside from a few jokes, the world approves: why?
Because he traded up, racially.
What do you suppose the effect on the psyches of millions of black kids was? Incalculable damage.
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Jun 26, 2009 5:33:08 AM
The good times
Posted by: Daniel Rourke | Jun 26, 2009 6:09:10 AM
"After having borken his nose in 1979 and needing plastic surgery to repair it, he repeatedly went back for more and more plastic surgery over the years..."
Dude. Seriously. Some critical thinking is in order; if a pop star's press machine can so completely bamboozle you, how will you ever manage to hold your own against the awesome weight of Presidential re-Truthing? Is this the Age of Credulity?
Again: did LaToya, by a miraculous chain of coincidences, suffer the same fate?
And how about Lil' Kim?
http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/Lil-Kim-w04.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Lil_Kim/gallery/Lil-Kim-w04/&usg=__XnFVCoKVYlNcD0TJwvfOa-py_YI=&h=415&w=445&sz=39&hl=en&start=81&um=1&tbnid=3NQ92pTbVKsgfM:&tbnh=118&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3DLil%2BKIm%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26start%3D80%26um%3D1 ">The MJ Effect
"Michael Jackson wasn't a victim of racism, he was a victim of his personal pyschological demons..."
The racism and the inner-demons are surely related. If you were only somewhat sensitive to the misery that most "blacks" in North America (and around the world) endure from the world's irrational contempt/revulsion/fear, you'd faint.
Michael Jackson is the first celebrity in history to bodily manifest, to such an extent, the self-hatred that was practically his *birthright* as a "black" human. The man was a walking symbol of a planetary ill.
Christ, haven't you noticed the fact that most leading "black" actresses are actually in the range of "mulatto"? When's the last time you saw a black woman on Television who *didn't* have straightened, or otherwise artificial, hair?
I'm from a deeply mixed-race family; I'm not so dark, my facial features are "European"-ish and my hair is not "kinky"... and, still, I have felt it. I dress conservatively, I'm professorially articulate and polite to a fault (except with Scientologists): still, I have felt it.
It's impossible to imagine what it must be like to go through life under the *full* force of racism without being physically *black*. But to dismiss all that with an exasperated roll of the eyes is to add insult to injury.
This is the perfect occasion in which to reflect.
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Jun 26, 2009 6:13:25 AM
Steven,
I see the psyche-obits are underway, too public a man and too unique a tragedy to avoid speculating on if you ever cared for his music. My own appreciation for him runs much along your lines, young and un-augmented with those incredible pipes ("Got to be there" is the masterpiece to me). But I can't quite agree that racism and "trading up" was the primary cause and accompanying defense tactic at work for him. I'm sure that if you pulled up the net from his mind those monsters would be present, but the behavior was just too bizarre ("passing" could never have been the goal could it?) and puberty itself seemed to be a more prominent hound that he spent his adulthood fleeing - too pat I think to say "the racist world disfigured him." He hated himself and one of the things he was, was a black man. I can't think of a more complicated mess in pop music and that's saying something. Eminem couldn't "black up" because . . . it doesn't really need to be explained does it? And plenty of whites were horrified and fans lost by his later transformations. I work at a club where his death has been much discussed tonight and "he's been dead to me for years" was the line out of every other persons mouth. But I don't doubt that your right in saying he was damaging as a role model to some black youth, fortunately there was never a shortage of others to point to.
Posted by: Jesse | Jun 26, 2009 6:49:13 AM
you're right in saying, not "your" dammit, long night
Posted by: Jesse | Jun 26, 2009 6:52:05 AM
"Eminem couldn't "black up" because . . . it doesn't really need to be explained does it?"
Yes it does. Do it, please.
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Jun 26, 2009 6:52:35 AM
Because it would be immediately denounced as the latest version of racist lampooning, although questions of mental health would also arise I'm sure. I'm not much of a hiphop fan, but I would have to imagine that some interesting debates have happened by now, in regards to white rappers affecting the mannerisms of the urban black poor in America. But shading down has a much different history and so guarantees a much different reception no?
Posted by: Jesse | Jun 26, 2009 7:08:34 AM
Jesse:
So, you're saying that Eminem going "black" and Angelina Jolie going "Asian", say, would be clearly offensive/grotesque, but that Michael Jackson going "white" is in its own category, beyond that sort of judgment? I'm puzzled (yet not quite shocked) at the racial double-standard.
From "white" to "black" is "down" (bathetic; lampooning); from "black" to "white" is "up" (touching; aspirational): that's the core of my argument, not my argument's rebuttal. Michael Jackson was a walking avatar of Inner Apartheid.
I find that "liberal whites" are so consistently, willfully, self-protectingly obtuse on these matters that I sometimes think: arm me with a precautionary croquet mallet and I'd honestly prefer to chat with a flag-wearing Nazi, who is at least honest and unconflicted in her/his pet beliefs/narratives.
Michael Jackson was a great dancer: just leave it at that... right? Ditto Louie Armstrong: let's just enjoy his performance of "What a Wonderful World" and ignore the cruel irony that he wasn't even *legally human* for much of his life. What am I, a party-pooper?
Terrible.
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Jun 26, 2009 8:59:25 AM
Thanks for explaining Jesse. You lost me for a second there.
"and puberty itself seemed to be a more prominent hound that he spent his adulthood fleeing"
Spot on
I think he also hated being the son of his father, another motivation to change. And I think it's at least remotely possible he suffered from one of those body image syndromes like people who can't stand the thought that they have a right arm. That could have been an agonizing existence.
All those things taken together…ach.
Also, did someone mention conspiracy?
Only two of his songs ever made the charts after this one:
They Don't Care About Us
Steven, was he dead to you by the time he created this?
Posted by: Carlos | Jun 26, 2009 9:13:23 AM
Carlos:
I have my own criteria for musical greatness; am not taken in by slick production wedded to capable performance. I think "Thriller" was a masterpiece that capped a young lifetime of masterpieces. I feel that everything after "Thriller" was Big Time professional pap... on a curve of diminishing returns.
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Jun 26, 2009 9:25:15 AM
Anyway: still waiting for a comment on the strange coincidence of LaToya Jackson's "vitiligo". Any takers... ?
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Jun 26, 2009 9:33:04 AM
Michael Jackson was obviously mentally unstable, like so many other celebrities. Why look for racism as an explanation? This is spurious. Most of us could not handle the kind of media pressure placed on these people without cracking up in some way.
Posted by: J. Hawkins | Jun 26, 2009 9:40:34 AM
Some suggest dance is the most natural form of artistic expression. He was so naturally gifted at dance, it just happened, then that angelic voice.
Since the first time we tuned into the 10 yr old, we couldn't quite believe it, he was beautiful.
I could care less about his personal life or what morals people project onto it.
He was like Elvis to many Americans, like me, a 'one off' that simply can't be duplicated.
Posted by: bailey | Jun 26, 2009 9:50:49 AM
"Why look for racism as an explanation?"
Why look *away* from it? When one of the most striking manifestations of the problem is so clearly racial... ? Plenty of stressed/neurotic celebrities... very few of them are changing their *total racial appearance*. That's not a smoking gun, it's a fuming Howitzer.
I should think the burden of proof, in this case, would be on the "race-neutral" argument. You guys have fallen down an Orwellian Rabbit Hole.
Now: back to LaToya, Michael's white sister. No comment?
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Jun 26, 2009 9:52:35 AM
But why would he want to look white, when every white suburban kid tries his best to look as black as possible? I don't get it.
Posted by: J. Hawkins | Jun 26, 2009 9:56:05 AM
I'm wondering how any of you can pretend to expect (or "work for") "racial progress", when you can't even deal with an elephant-in-the-room of Jackson's magnitude? Forget two hours a week of community service: how about two hours a week of listening, thinking, soul-searching?
That entertainment you all love so dearly comes at a price.
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Jun 26, 2009 10:00:58 AM
Steven,
I don't really undertand what your saying. My son's school is full of white, asian, black kids and every variation of those and racism is just not an issue. The kids either like a performer or not, but they are not even aware of his or her race. At least they never mention it.
Posted by: J. Hawkins | Jun 26, 2009 10:09:04 AM
"But why would he want to look white, when every white suburban kid tries his best to look as black as possible? I don't get it."
Okay: this explains a lot.
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Jun 26, 2009 10:09:25 AM
Not to me.
Posted by: J. Hawkins | Jun 26, 2009 10:23:20 AM
You've really grown tiresome Mr. Augustine. You apparently think "racism" explains Jackson's bizarre behavior, and that he was forced by a "racist" society (indeed a whole "racist" planet!) to mutilate himself and try to turn himself white. If "racism" were the easy explanation you seem to think it is, how do you explain the successful careers of countless other blacks in various fields who don't mutilate themselves or try to become "white"? Your attempt at an explanation is simplistic, and itself a manifestation of racial obsessions and, perhaps even racial neuroses.
You clearly know nothing about vitiligo, judging from your question about whether it caused the bridge of his nose to narrow. Of course not, vitiligo affects pigmentation.
As for his initial foray into plastic surgery, the fact that it first came about as the result of a broken nose is well documented. Why he became obsessed with repeated plastic surgery after that is the mystery. Perhaps that first foray into plastic surgery, coupled with an addicitive personalty (cf. his later pain-killer addictions) and his obvious desire to maintain himself in a childlike state of arrested development triggered something in him that got out of control (Frnakly, I think it raises ethical questions about the doctors who continued to operate on him rather than geet him the mental help he so clearly neeeded).
One other thing, you seem to think his changes of skin tone and facial features can easily be explained by his having allegedly been the victim of a "racist" society (though, given the vast fame and fortune he had from the age of about 10 onward, I think claims that he was a racial victim and needed to "whiten-up" to be successful are hard to credit), how do you explain his androgenization? Not only did he morpho from a normal looking balck man into soemthing approaching whiteness (actually more of an eery translucence in his later years), he became increasing feminine, or even androgenous looking. Doe sthis mean he was a victim of sexism too? If he supposely wanted to excape being black becaue of a racist society, how do you explain his clearly running from his sex also? No, theories of victimhood at the hands of racists or sexist society wont' do here. Face it, he was a thoroughgoing loony. Talented yes, but clearly a few tacos short of a combination plate.
Posted by: Dennis | Jun 26, 2009 10:54:15 AM
"You clearly know nothing about vitiligo, judging from your question about whether it caused the bridge of his nose to narrow. Of course not, vitiligo affects pigmentation."
You're in the wrong weight division here, Dennis. Trust me.
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Jun 26, 2009 10:57:21 AM
Dennis, I agree. His plastic surgeons acted unethically. And don't forget his desire to remain a child - clearly a victim of agism.
Posted by: J. Hawkins | Jun 26, 2009 11:10:21 AM
"You're in the wrong weight division here, Dennis. Trust me." ooohhh..ok, tough guy!
Do yourself a favor and seek help for your racial obessions, and quit using racism as a catch-all explanation for everything.
Posted by: Dennis | Jun 26, 2009 11:48:00 AM
Dennis:
When I start taking advice from sea cucumbers, I'll let you know.
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Jun 26, 2009 11:51:32 AM
Steven,
I didn't mean to say that Vitiligo was behind his changed features and straightened hair. I was only addressing the claims of him bleaching his skin.
You're right: the plastic surgery and hair straightening is probably related to growing up with distorted ideals of beauty. I grew up in South Asia and West Africa and have always been disturbed by hair straightening in both those regions as well as the preference for "European" features, which points to an internalized self-hatred. This is also why I was sad to learn that most women in Iran undergo plastic surgery on their noses.
However, in spite of his messed up life, MJ's voice was something pure and he was ahead of time, musically, in so many ways.
Posted by: dw | Jun 26, 2009 12:14:54 PM
Perhaps you should try making an argument, rather than simply posting cryptic lines that say nothing, such as "Okay: this explains a lot," and "You're in the wrong weight division here," followed by ad hominem attacks on people by likening them to odd sea creatures noone has heard of.
Or is it "racist" to object to your claims that being a victim of "racism" is the chief motivating factor behind Jackson bizarre actions and self-mutilations over the years? Are your original claims regarding Jackson supposed to be beyond question - and beyond requiring any defense from you - because of your self-proclaimed status as "deeply mixed-race"? (As opposed to what? Superfically mixed-race? Partially mixed?).
I've never heard of you before your post above on Jackson. Do try to get over yourself.
Posted by: Dennis | Jun 26, 2009 12:16:50 PM
"Perhaps you should try making an argument..."
See 60% of the above comment thread.
"I've never heard of you before your post above on Jackson."
This is a genuine relief.
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Jun 26, 2009 12:24:20 PM
dw:
"I grew up in South Asia and West Africa and have always been disturbed by hair straightening in both those regions as well as the preference for "European" features, which points to an internalized self-hatred. This is also why I was sad to learn that most women in Iran undergo plastic surgery on their noses."
Exactly (is it really "most" of the women in Iran, though?). And let's not get started on the horrors of commercial skin-lightening cream, eh?
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Jun 26, 2009 12:53:55 PM
"This is a genuine relief." Indeed! The feeling's mutual.
For what it's worth, I think John McWhorter in The New Republic has had the best reflections on Jackson's death that I've read so far: http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/mcwhorter/archive/2009/06/25/michael-jackson-the-man-who-wasn-t-there.aspx
Posted by: Dennis | Jun 26, 2009 1:06:13 PM
"I think "Thriller" was a masterpiece that capped a young lifetime of masterpieces."
Fair enough. They replayed Thriller on BET last night. The kid had moves. I wasn't a fan of it at the time, but it was great to see how good he used to be.
Posted by: Carlos | Jun 26, 2009 1:24:43 PM
Gee, interesting thread -- the way it quickly gets down to ourselves. Michael Jackson in death is a filter for so much of our own stuff. What this astonishing star made of his life is almost a mirror for faded promise, devil's bargains, and attrition of every kind. How I wish we'd let his death be about him, his difficulties not so compelling to parse today. To be commoditized and finally reviled is the fate of so many larger than life artists who live long enough. It would be nicer to remember him for his gifts to us -- they certainly cost him every other thing he had, did they not?
Posted by: Elatia Harris | Jun 26, 2009 4:03:47 PM
Oh God, I was afraid I might wake up to something like this. I'll take a quick stab at the stuff of the "racial-double standard" ( I'm "not quite shocked" by its existence either) and then I'll be off before this ash and smoke filled room's roof collapses.
"So, you're saying that Eminem going "black" and Angelina Jolie going "Asian", say, would be clearly offensive/grotesque"
If there is a history of ridicule by a dominant group over a subjugated one, which includes a well known form of donning makeup and the adoption or crude caricature of that group's mannerisms, then people should be rightfully wary when they see mimicry in that direction happening again. In the case of Eminem, it seems that his fan base and writers on hiphop have decided that he is rapping in good faith, so to speak. Add makeup to the picture and it can't help but bring up the specter of blackface right? But I honestly think that most people would just think "sad and crazy" or laugh at someone who was the ultimate in trying too hard.
"but that Michael Jackson going "white" is in its own category"
It really is, because its one component in a cluster of behaviors that all suggest the most profound unhappiness with himself. I have never met or heard anyone describe MJ's metamorphosis as "touching" or "aspirational". There was a trinity of identity flight to the guy: masculine to feminine, adult to child, black to white. If the exaggerated proportions of his body as a battleground are not in their own category, then Berlin is a hell of a lot crazier than I remember.
Posted by: Jesse | Jun 26, 2009 4:15:32 PM
I'd totally forgotten about that song, Abbas.
Posted by: David Schneider | Jun 26, 2009 5:50:25 PM
Nice Little Kitsch-Antidote
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Jun 26, 2009 7:53:15 PM
Juan Cole in his blog, "Informed Comment," had the following thoughtful piece about Michael Jackson:
http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/michael-jackson-islam-and-middle-east.html
Posted by: dw | Jun 27, 2009 12:48:57 AM
Note: in my admittedly cursory survey of Internet MJ-related grief, I have not run across a worse pick for "all-time favorite MJ song" than Abbas Raza's lame, lame choice of 'Off the Wall.'
Posted by: NYCtoGoa | Jun 27, 2009 2:22:51 AM
He was a pervert!!!
Posted by: unlucky162 | Jun 27, 2009 2:35:09 AM
Remember he liked sleeping with little boys!
Posted by: unlucky162 | Jun 27, 2009 2:40:54 AM
NYCtoGoa, I admit it is a weird choice (especially because the same album actually has "Don't stop 'till you get enough" on it) but I guess it has to do with some good personal memories. What's your favorite MJ song?
Posted by: Abbas Raza | Jun 27, 2009 5:02:09 AM
It is sad that a tremendous entertainer that brought so much happiness to billions around the world with his music and dance is dead. Our reaction to everything about him seems to be narcissistic. But of course it is, we live in that age of imaging and projectng that made Jackson great and made him so sad. Even all of this discussion so far is more about us--then it is about him. Name me a great artist-----who moved so many people--and who was so gifted----who wasn't some how damaged----and whose skin wasn't too thin to be able to withstand the reaction of fans and foes.
Posted by: maniza | Jun 27, 2009 4:03:33 PM
It is sad that a tremendous entertainer that brought so much happiness to billions around the world with his music and dance is dead. Our reaction to everything about him seems to be narcissistic. But of course it is, we live in that age of imaging and projectng that made Jackson great and made him so sad. Even all of this discussion so far is more about us--than it is about him. Name me a great artist-----who moved so many people--and who was so gifted----who wasn't some how damaged----and whose skin wasn't too thin to be able to withstand the reaction of fans and foes.
Posted by: maniza | Jun 27, 2009 4:05:34 PM
There's something seriously wrong with our value system, Maniza, when we make such a big deal out of the death of a Vegas-style song-and-dance man. A Tsunami of Kitsch is threatening to engulf us all. Multitudes wept when "Lady Di" made her exit, too. Thank the Gods that Mickey Mouse is immortal, eh? Imagine the wailing.
(And, Re: a related video post: did post-1980 MJ really embody the spirit we'd hope to nurture in a shackle-rattling Iran... or more empty-at-its-core, consumerist American gigantism? I know that critical thinking is unpopular right now, but... you now. This is supposed to be a brainier site...)
Posted by: Steven Augustine | Jun 27, 2009 9:37:59 PM
What's a brainer site? Are you being fascistic or discrimating against those of us who may love the superficial or celebrity? :)C'mon Steven, not fair.
It seems to be a biggish deal for you too, count them up: 18 out of 58 or so comments are yours and the rest are in response to you. So it is a big deal for you too, his death.
Would it be okay to say that while many are celebrating him for his songs you are mourning his many deaths?
Posted by: maniza | Jun 28, 2009 12:23:59 AM
Face it...MJ was nuts regardless of any other "issues". And Steven Augustine is a misguided ass.
Posted by: John | Jul 4, 2009 3:16:14 PM
Racism doesn’t really exist. Racism is part of psychological warfare used to isolate and conquer an individual, a group, or a race. Racism is also used by haters to hide their true reasons for hating. When what I have written above is stated openly, only haters have a problem with this statement. I have come to understand that the only reason one person hates another person is due to the CREATOR! What is hate other then evil? What is the nature of evil other then to corrupt and destroy life? What is the Creator other then the creation of life? How can I be wrong with this analogy so far? Haters would prefer to justify their jealousy and hate by basing it on money or looks rather then to admit it all about another person God like qualities. This also applies to war. It is the basic of war. Looks do play an important role in jealousy, but only when they reflect God like qualities. One of the greatest God like qualities to possess that all haters hate, no matter the race is sexual attractiveness. Sexual attractiveness represents the creation of life. This attribute is recognizable in a child. It is the reason many children are abused by one or both of their parents. Those who possess sexual attractiveness enjoy the simplest things’ others take for granted. Such a person is less likely to bore when alone as easily as others. This implies they are more creative. So, there you have, creation flows from God like people and there lay haters reason to hate them.
One of the most well known hater is Cain (Genesis 4:8). His hatred shows that hate does not restrain their evil due to blood lines, they only eliminate. Many of us fail to realize that our failures in life can be related to our roots. Our success will be limited if we stay connected to roots that secretly or openly hates us. This also includes our social life and our health. It is all too often I have seen certain mothers suck the life out of their sons and daughters due to their hatred of them. This article is really not about this. It is about racism. If a brother can hate another brother enough to kill him, can this also be true of someone who shares the same skin color as yourself? One of the greatest problem among the black race no matter the nationality is black haters (haters that share the same skin color). The problem with this, like in the family structure, members do not recognize or acknowledge that such a person exists. Or they do not understand the true nature of this person or persons. The true nature, they hate their own race and are waiting or taking their chance to destroy or take advantage of members of their race (family). Know this, they will do anything they feel they can get away with.
There are haters among every race that hates certain members of their own race. This applies to every race. After analyzing the Mideast situation of terrorist acts, I have found that these alleged Muslims committing these acts, hate other Muslims because of their belief. One key fact lead to this belief, the killing of children under the name of Muslim. Why commit such an act under your belief if you did not want others to hate Muslims? Haters among the white race play whites against the black race. There are black haters who play the black race against the white race and no one is the wiser. Haters are taking the qualities of life from both race in the mix. This is how haters work no matter the race or nationality. There are haters in every race. Haters themselves cross all color barriers and make alliance with others haters, why the rest of us are neglected of the life we should be enjoying.
Posted by: J7 | Jul 5, 2009 1:14:52 AM
For more on racism see http://www.jah7.org/racism.htm
Posted by: J7 | Jul 5, 2009 1:17:54 AM
When we look for faults in others, it is only because we are trying to feel good about our own short coming. This is the same reason we belittle others. Often, this is what makes us haters.
Posted by: J7 | Jul 5, 2009 1:27:49 AM
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