Michael Jackson

The freaks have come out of the woodwork since Michael Jackson died last week. Most people seem to be focusing on his talent and his angels, rather than his demons. There is no doubt that he was marvelously talented, but this fact only makes his demons all the more terrible... and most certainly doesn't excuse them!

His death has brought his music back to the forefront of our popular culture, at least for a brief time. You can really see his place as the king of music videos in tributes such as inmate Thriller and Saudi Smooth Criminal. In my youth, MTV actually lived up to its name, focusing on videos. Whether you liked his music or not, his videos were always fun. Here is the real version of Thriller, probably the most famous video of all time. MJ's Smooth Criminal can be seen here. Here are a few other examples: Bad, Beat It, Billie Jean, The Way You Make Me Feel, & Black or White. As an aside, I was always partial to the Weird Al Yankovic parody of Bad titled Fat. "Ham on, ham on, ham on... whole wheat." Genius!

The most revolting thing regarding Michael Jackson's death is the media frenzy and I don't just mean the tabloid media. From David Kurtz at TPM:

Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism: "Fully 93% of cable coverage studied on the Thursday and Friday following his death was about the King of Pop."

Where exactly is the line between the tabloid and the news media?

1 July 2009