I lived outside of the US for many years and it was an excellent way to get a fresh perspective on the country. One phenomenon I observed from afar that I’d never noticed up close was what I came to call The Gorp Syndrome. It works like this. Private minds create a useful product to meet their needs: like Gorp, or trail mix, a blend of raisins and nuts made by campers to deliver a natural and healthy blast of energy during a hike in the woods. Some smart company gets the idea to package and sell the product. After the product reaches its full customer base of, say, hikers and health-minded snackers, the company seeks to expand the product’s appeal while maintaining its identity. So they add carob or yogurt covered raisins: sweeter, so more people will buy it, but still arguably “natural,” and “healthy,” although now with quotation marks. Then someone at the company says, well, hey, if people like sweet stuff so much, why not add something really sweet like, say, M & M’s? So ultimately Gorp, while weirdly retaining some completely undeserved aura of healthiness, is transformed into sugary garbage.
Thus rice cakes become caramel rice cakes and Broadway theater becomes The Little Mermaid and journalism becomes in-depth reporting on every other dead blond and Marilyn Monroe becomes Madonna – and an entertainment icon becomes Michael Jackson. Hey, a free and democratic market is a beautiful thing but, without a commitment to values, it has a way of transforming creations of use, beauty and substance into ultra-saleable crap. What can I tell you? Everything has its downside.
Michael Jackson was a good dancer and sang pretty songs and changed nothing and represented nothing and meant nothing. Leave aside the alleged fondling or whatever it was – a man can be a creative genius and a monster too. But when you think of pop music greats like Louis Armstrong or Sinatra or Elvis or the Beatles, you can see how they stood at the crossroads between the musical era that created them and the era they helped to create. This is an era of pop junk mostly and Jackson, at best, contributed by helping to expand the reach of the music video. Well done, I guess – but, really, so what?
I lived in England when Princess Diana died and I was there for the upsurge of maudlin anguish over the death of that similarly tawdry and self-destructive figure. I thought she was ultimately meaningless as a personage—though not, of course, as a person—but that the paroxysm of helpless grief marked the emergence, or possibly rebirth, of a dangerously sentimental and dishonest method of experiencing the world. Not coincidentally, it came just at the beginning of the Prime Ministry of Tony Blair, which gutted the nation’s Thatcherite prosperity and self-esteem in the name of a sentimental and dishonest vision of what government can achieve.
And not coincidentally, this current outpouring over Jackson comes at the beginning of the Obama administration… But then, when one remembers that we once had presidents like Washington, Lincoln and Reagan, Obama may be seen as the presidential version of The Gorp Syndrome himself.
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112 Comments
1. Klavan On The Culture » Michael Jackson and The Gorp Syndrome « Snow Report Blog:[...] via Klavan On The Culture » Michael Jackson and The Gorp Syndrome. [...]
Jul 8, 2009 - 11:11 am 2. raoul:well written klavan, but so what?
Jul 8, 2009 - 11:21 am 3. Pajamas Media » Michael Jackson and the Gorp Syndrome:[...] the entire story here [...]
Jul 8, 2009 - 1:11 pm 4. Blarty Blarckleblart:Yeah, Michael Jackson was overrated and “meant nothing.” That’s why nobody grieved after his death, and his music – including two albums that are over twenty-five years old – didn’t take over the top four spots on the album charts. He was no more significant than Rick Dees or the guys who did “Whoomp There It Is.”
Right.
Jul 8, 2009 - 1:19 pm 5. Berlet98:Michael Jackson, the Memorial and the Aftermath
Well, it’s over, I think. I hope. Sort of. The memorial for Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, the man who beat a pedophilia rap, the androgynous Michael, is finally concluded as most of his body should be laid to rest at Forest Lawn Cemetery.
As grotesque as it sounds, MJ’s brain will not yet be interred pending further examination by the L.A. coroner to determine the cause of death. Adding to the strangeness, there’s a report as of this writing that the whereabouts of the rest of his body is unknown.
You couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried.
I caught a bit of Tuesday’s festivities on the news since they were impossible to avoid. And it really did seem more a festival than a wake, except for the very touching, tearful remarks of his young daughter, Paris Michael Jackson.
The eleven year old was evidently heartbroken at her loss, yet braved the thousands at the Staples Center to express her sorrow. Some believe she was forced to speak at the end of the services, exploited as one more element of “a macabre circus:” http://bit.ly/142bsh.
That British observation went on to add that the glitzy superficiality was all “a reminder of why Michael Jackson became [and died] a deeply unhappy, lonely man living an utterly bizarre existence,” a comment few American media would dare make.
It also established a “world record . . . for the most people wearing sunglasses indoors.”
Nevertheless, coerced or not, anyone not moved by the child’s few words and sincere grief either has no soul or has no heart.
Neither Jackson’s son, nor his dad or mom, spoke although a host of others–family, friends, and sycophantic, parasitic hangers on–did step to the stage to voice their feelings in speeches and songs over the passing of the King.
Included were, of all people, Al Sharpton, Magic Johnson, and one of the few Whites granted stage time, Jacko’s former girl buddy, Brooke Shields.
It’s a fine line treaded at times such as these when to criticize any newly deceased is deemed beneath low and rotten. However, to heap praise on a failed human being and pretend he was not deeply flawed is patently hypocritical and false.
Obviously, not all concur on that failure or his flaws and it was a memorial, after all, an occasion to laud the dead although some of the praise seemed just a tad excessive.
One of the bereaved toasted Wacko Jacko as “the greatest entertainer of all time,” apparently forgetting Elvis, Sinatra, and the Beatles as well as what must have been awesome stars in ancient Babylonia and Sumeria.
However, that’s quibbling for Michael Jackson was definitely the greatest entertainer of the last generation even if some would argue for Bart Simpson.
All that aside, . . . (Read the rest at http://genelalor.com)
Jul 8, 2009 - 1:28 pm 6. Melinda Moss:Good article. I grew up with Michael Jackson and was sadly disturbed by what he turned (himself) into. I have to say that had that been my child, brother, uncle, whatever, I would have drawn my family close and kept things PRIVATE. This is the first time I remember anyone actually capitalizing from an actual funeral. I do not think anyone will ever let him rest. Not even his own family. It seems as if DECENCY is just too much to ask for anymore.
Jul 8, 2009 - 1:47 pm 7. Mike W.:You make me sick. You set up a cleverly subtle racist metaphor here with your “GORP Syndrome”: By adding “chocolate” to something you inherently degrade it.
Case in point: Please explain to me how Sinatra “stood at the crossroads between the musical era that created [him] and the era [he] helped to create”?
What era of music did Sinatra help create? How did Sinatra change the face of music?
He didn’t. Sinatra was an extraordinary singer, but was not a genius or role model by any stretch of the imagination. He hung out with the mafia and by all accounts was an honorary member. Nor did he change music.
Yet, you would put Sinatra in a wholly superior category of musician/performer than Jakcson. Why?
Clearly, because Sinatra was Caucasian and Jackson was not.
Jackson was “chocolate” added to the pure, healthy, white “GORP” music of Sinatra and the Beatles, and he cheapened it.
Just as President Obama is “chocolate” cheapening the white GORP presidents Washington, Lincoln and Reagan.
Maybe some folks don’t understand what you’re doing here, and maybe some folks do and think you’re clever too. But you are not. You sir, are a racist and a coward.
You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
Jul 8, 2009 - 1:51 pm 8. David Thomson:There is even an outside chance that Michael Jackson’s death may have contributed to the destruction of the United States. Sadly, I’m not joking. It appears that Nancy Pelosi did not have the votes necessary to pass the cap and trade legislation at the time of the Gloved One’s demise. The odds were against her. All of a sudden, the legacy media exclusively focussed on Jackson—and virtually ignored the important bill. This allowed Pelosi something of a free hand to beat up the remaining hesitant representatives. Barack Obama’s administration would have suffered an enormous defeat that may have crippled its effectiveness for the rest of his term. I actually believe that the cap and trade bill will ultimately be defeated in the U.S. Senate. But what if I’m wrong?
Jul 8, 2009 - 1:57 pm 9. Betty:Well written. I like the way you connect a few dots – the hyped up mourning coinciding with the passing of an era (or rather, the birth of a new one even more depraved than the last one.
Jul 8, 2009 - 2:04 pm 10. Strawman:Another comment (7) where I can’t tell if it’s serious or satire.
What’s off limits now? Monkeys and chocolate. The PC world is so dreary.
Jul 8, 2009 - 2:09 pm 11. Patrick of Atlantis:Michael Jackson should be buried with his plastic surgeons.
Jul 8, 2009 - 2:11 pm 12. Betty:I can add to David Thomson’s comment: the G8 meeting in Italy, the Chinese pushing the demise of the dollar and Israel shopping for a new ally to go to war against Iran are all hugely important developments that pass almost unnoticed in the shade of a perverse singer popping his clogs… Anyone feeling sick at my comment? I personally feel sicker at how this world has turned out, in which crowds the world over shed tears over the death of a charicature rather than crying out over the indescribable injustice and agression we are facing worldwide.
Jul 8, 2009 - 2:12 pm 13. antaine:Blarty –
That’s the point. Just because people with no sense of values ascribe value to the “accomplishments” of a person, like them, buy their album, vote for them, etc – doesn’t mean those “accomplishments” actually have value.
Jul 8, 2009 - 2:14 pm 14. davimcg:Hey Mike W., you forgot to mention that Michael Jackson was “chocolate” added to the pure, healthy, white “GORP” music of Louis Armstrong. Which just goes to prove the grievance crowd only hears or reads what adds to their grievance.
Also, Obama is only half “chocolate” so Klavan really is only half a racist and, therefore, he needs only show a modicum of remorse.
Jul 8, 2009 - 2:38 pm 15. misanthropicus:Glad the imbecile is gone and if this sorrows the anoemic buffoons that make for the audience of his crappy acts, “tant mieux” – rejoicing I am.
Not only that I sadistically enjoyed the TV parade of dolts whose live were changed by “beat it”, since they (dolts) were/are Soetoro voters, but the brouhaha around the funeral provided also a generous halo for the intelligent person (sheesh, Blarty, Vivo, of course excluded) – it muffled Soetoro’s attempt at impersonating a statesman in Russia.
Thank you Michael, hope you still can beat it where ever you are right now, sheesh and countless others are doing it too right now (Wow! an exciting thought: maybe this common, planetary rhythm can do something about the global heating – sheesh, your contribution would be welcome here).
PS: by the way, I still have a question: Los Angeles Times revealed that mister Jackson was buried without brain – but has this marionette ever possessed something that could have been rated as brain in the first place?
Appreciate an answer from Mike W, Blarty, Vivo and other officially intelligent liberals.
Yours, jubilant in Los Angeles -
Jul 8, 2009 - 2:48 pm 16. mark:And who really has the nerve to deny me the right to be a racist/bigot? Go away
Jul 8, 2009 - 2:55 pm 17. Left Coast Mike:# 8 David Thomson: I agree with your opinions. Sadly these so-called mourners are the ones that voted in the disaster we now have in the White House.
I hope you are correct that “Cap & Tax” will not pass the Senate.
I have been writing my Senators, but unfortunately Feinstein and Boxer always vote the party line for Obama.
God bless America.
Jul 8, 2009 - 2:56 pm 18. Ronnie Schreiber:Isn’t the title King Of Pop inherently damning with faint praise? Who wants to reign over a kingdom of Britney Spearses?
Jackson bemoaned his lost childhood yet deliberately brought three children into the world knowing full well that those children would not be able to have anything close to a normal childhood. Michael frequently mentioned how he’d envy kids playing on playgrounds as he traveled to gigs with his family. How many public parks do you think Paris, Prince and Blanket have played in? Do they have any friends their own ages?
So Joe Jackson was cruel and forced Michael to learn his steps at the threat of getting his father’s belt. Would Michael Jackson have developed his natural talents to the extent that he did had his father not forced him to?
Poor poor Michael whined about his lost childhood and then lived a life in permanent regression to the age of 10-12 (also his preferred age for his boy companions), the point in his own life when he was a child star.
While Joe Jackson may indeed have been abusive (the whole family isn’t the most functional) I think Michael exaggerated how much of his childhood was lost. Yes he went on stage first at the age of five, but until the Jackson 5 signed with Motown when Michael was 10 years old he lived in Gary in a normal neighborhood and attended a normal school.
Jul 8, 2009 - 3:03 pm 19. David Thomson:“Sadly these so-called mourners are the ones that voted in the disaster we now have in the White House.”
The mourners are definitely a sizable percentage of the coalition that ushered in the Obama administration. He is truly one of our first “rock star” presidents. And it is very fair to suspect that these particular people don’t know squat about the issues of the day. They merely think that Obama is a cool guy.
“I hope you are correct that “Cap & Tax” will not pass the Senate.”
I would bet $50.00 on this outcome—but not my life savings! It looked like it was dead as a door nail in the House of Representatives. Jackson’s death appears to have literally given Obama a new lease on his political life.
Jul 8, 2009 - 3:18 pm 20. JED:Sorry Klavan, the distraction is just another worshipping of false gods and twisting the messiah’s tale of someone who died for our boredom.
Jul 8, 2009 - 3:23 pm 21. Meryl:Somewhere in the anthropologenic brain, deep in the paleo-cortex there must be a real human need to worship something higher than the mere sum of the parts found within.
The atheist must have great faith to believe in an infinite nothing. Religious people have their plans. Truely secular people, if this equation is universal, must have a need to hold in high esteem someone else, someone powerful or famous. This hero worship can have a dual function of attaching to something higher and vindicating the lack of self-esteem. The attachment, in the shaman’s world, is to share the power. Buy the record and fill in the blanks. Wait 50 years to own the classic. Leap the faith and buy an “instant classic.”
7 Mike W
Wow. Assuming you meant what you said, it’s my guess that you’re the racist. You’re showing evidence of seeing the whole world as a nail just because you own a hammer.
If you’re a too clever by half satirist, the one word “not” on its own line at the end would have helped.
Jul 8, 2009 - 4:05 pm 22. Jones:I’m glad he’s dead.
Jul 8, 2009 - 4:10 pm 23. Middleman:Like Jackson or not, he projected a positive image of America and American culture to the world stronger than any government agency and more so than any other American cultural icon, including Sinatra and Elvis. Pop culture can be more powerful than a military. Perhaps you should learn this.
Jul 8, 2009 - 4:27 pm 24. Bittersweet:#7
But Mayor Ray Nagin’s Choc’late City was a fine usage of the word?
Are there rules now for using the word chocolate? Are all browns out? Sienna, burnt umber, obsidian?
Please forward us a copy of the list of approved words, we’ll review them and get back to you.
Jul 8, 2009 - 4:36 pm 25. Evil Pundit:#22 — Craziness and suspected paedophilia is a positive image?
Jul 8, 2009 - 4:45 pm 26. Jonny Amplesack:7 Mike W
Jul 8, 2009 - 4:48 pm 27. Middleman:WTF are you talking about?
Michael Jackson was a white man.
The word is accused. He never was found guilty was he? Craziness? Sure, he was sh*tbat crazy, but plenty of artists and entertainers have been.
Tell me, if you went to any corner of the globe and ask a person to name an American who they liked and respected, chances are they’d name Michael Jackson more than anyone else.
Back in the 80s Reagan might have helped bring down the wall, but Michael Jackson provided the soundtrack and the soundtrack plays a bigger role than you may want to admit.
Jul 8, 2009 - 4:52 pm 28. misanthropicus:Re # 22/Middleman: [...] Jackson or not, he projected a positive image of America and American culture to the world stronger than any government agency and more so than any other American cultural icon [...]
Right you are Middleman, and indeed we owe to Jackson (and other pop stars) how the world sees America:
* hebephrenic -
* outlandishly illiterate -
* incessantly grabbing his/her crtoches -
* in & out esthetic surgery -
* prey to suicidal identity crises, bleaching skins or correcting that and that physical attribute -
* superficial -
* wanton -
* as sexuality goes, abomination as rewarded enterprise -
* financially irresponsible -
* irrational -
* superstitious -
* fraudulent -
* mightily un-artistic -
* self-indulgent -
* having as objective of fulfillment, self-gratification on the expense of the social contract -
* compulsively using reality-changing drugs -
* barbaric -
* cruel -
* deeply yearning & succumbing flattery -
* barely surviving self-loathe caused suicidal drives –
* etcaetera, etcaetera, etcaetera -
… why would one wonder to see one like Barry Soetoro elected as president in a nation like this?
PS: the plus side of Middleman’s description is that his template applies exclusively to liberals – fortunately there is so much more to this country that simply cannot be referred to as a liberal trait -
Jul 8, 2009 - 4:54 pm 29. Pee Wee Herman, Community Organizer:WTF?
Jul 8, 2009 - 5:07 pm 30. Khiri:Mike W.,
Um….your kidding, right?
Wow.
Jul 8, 2009 - 5:20 pm 31. John Marshall:Following Strawman, I have to say that Comment 7 is one heck of a piece of writing. If it is parody, it’s only weakness is that it’s too smooth. If it is not parody, it is an incredible expression of paranoia in a few words.
Jul 8, 2009 - 5:26 pm 32. Middleman:#25,
And do you think the world will love us better if we replace the pop singers with Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and Pat Boone?
Extremely doubtful.
Jul 8, 2009 - 5:32 pm 33. Delia:“Tell me, if you went to any corner of the globe and ask a person to name an American who they liked and respected, chances are they’d name Michael Jackson more than anyone else.”
Well, now I’ve heard everything. Let’s hear it for the MORMON!!!!!!!
Jesus Juice for da boyz in da hood and one for my homey on ice.
Jul 8, 2009 - 5:32 pm 34. Delia:When a Jehovah Witness knocks on your door do you:
A. Pretend you’re not home
B. Open the door and try to sell them Amway products
C. Grab your crotch and squeal garbled lyrics
Jul 8, 2009 - 5:36 pm 35. maak:It’s been so long since he’s done anything significant, I had almost forgotten he was still alive. The whole funeral circus thing was bizarre. I didn’t watch any of it.
Jul 8, 2009 - 5:39 pm 36. SebastianHGZ9:When will Hollywood start paying attention to Christopher Marlowe? His is the greatest story never told yet.
Jul 8, 2009 - 5:44 pm 37. Pee Wee Herman, Community Organizer:http://marlowe-shakespeare.blogspot.com
Does anybody give a rat’s ass what the “world” thinks of us?
I don’t. This isn’t a high-school popularity contest. BTW, a picture is worth 1000 words in describing what Mr. Putin thinks of Teh One:
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2009/07/look-how-silly-russians-made-obama-look.html
Jul 8, 2009 - 5:49 pm 38. John Marshall:As stated, Mr. Klavan’s hypothesis is a bit too broad and its essential insight is obscured. The essential insight is that American marketing distorts both its products and its audiences in pursuit of unlimited income. To me, this truth is clearest in the case of professional sports, especially football and basketball. To illustrate the point, consider a hypothetical. For soccer to make it big in the USA, it would have to make it big on TV. To make it big on TV, as football and basketball have, it would have to attract an audience that really has no interest in the sport as it exists. So, American soccer on TV would evolve into something unrecognizable to today’s soccer fan. The entire game would be played in front of one or another goal. Each team would have several players who could accurately kick from one goal to the other. Each team would have at least one player so large and strong that, when he heads the ball, the force of the ball can knock a goalie into his own goal. The formula here is pretty simple. Each event must occur in the intense zone in front of the goal and must be heroic in its violence. Then you do not have to be a soccer fan to enjoy the game; heck, you don’t even have to know how its played.
Jul 8, 2009 - 5:53 pm 39. mhr:In that enormous outpouring of weepy fans manifesting real or phony grief over the death of their pop star, what percentage voted for Obama and what percentage for McCain? 95% to 5%? Or am I exaggerating McCain’s popularity with them? Is this the future of American politics?
Jul 8, 2009 - 6:07 pm 40. John Moore:In an age when one can get real news any time and from any source, it shouldn’t be either surprising or alarming that lots of news is devoted to the passing of an inconsequential, but genuinely mysterious celebrity.
Times have changed. The media cycle of the past is not a cycle at all any more – it’s a continuum. Who cares if the increasingly less relevant major media spend their broadcast hours and their print pages on an unimportant subject?
Besides, if they focused on the issues, their product would be a result of an even mixture of incompetence and leftist cheer-leading.
The focus on Jackson’s demise is neither wrong nor consequential.
Get over it.
Jul 8, 2009 - 6:16 pm 41. Promethea:#27 Middleman . . .
I think you’re confusing Michael Jackson with Michael Jordan.
Jul 8, 2009 - 6:51 pm 42. Kim:Heads up. It appears that what we have here is an implicit attack on this-worldly Western values by a Platonist.
The Gorp Syndrome is mainly an anti-concept, a kind of package deal smear job.
It’s an attack on objective values (those things people act to gain and/or keep) by someone who thinks values are inherent in forms (in Broadway theater, but less so in animated films).
Jul 8, 2009 - 7:16 pm 43. John Marshall:Good point, Kim, but your philosophical comments go a bit too far. For example, soccer might be the last popular sport in which skill, agility, and conditioning are more important than other factors such as size and strength. If soccer fell victim to American TV, we would lose athletes and fans who understand the game, not to mention skill, agility, and conditioning. But TV might make a lot of money off televised soccer.
Jul 8, 2009 - 7:43 pm 44. misanthropicus:RE #32/Middleman RE #25: [...] And do you think the world will love us better if we replace the pop singers with Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and Pat Boone? Extremely doubtful. [...]
Absolutely: Hannity and Beck would finely dialogue with interested and inquisitive audiences, while Boone would be loved by all the young Christian (many and very civilized) campers from all over Europe I saw a couple of years ago at a pan-Christian festival in Germany.
See Middleman, you are not clear on the concept – all over the world, neat and bright people hook up with neat and bright people, freaks and pervs root for with Michael Jackson, Sean Penn, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeanine Garoffalo, Sandra Bernhard or Michael Moore, false presidents hook up with false presidents, like Soetoro with Chavez, Mugabe, Zelaya, Lula and Castro, and so on and so forth.
Never seen two drops of mercury dashing in each other? That’s imbecility and rock stars.
Jul 8, 2009 - 7:44 pm 45. John Marshall:I have to agree with Jonny Amplesack, comment 26, that Michael Jackson was a white person. The best evidence for this claim is that, at the time of his death, Michael’s face was the face of a white person. Given Michael’s incredible efforts to create that face, surely we must agree that it was the most important thing in his life. The wishes and goals that mark a man’s sacrifices define who he is. Michael was a white person.
Jul 8, 2009 - 7:50 pm 46. fireyourguns:I loved Farrah Fawcett!
Jul 8, 2009 - 8:26 pm 47. Vincent:I thought the example you were going to use was Grey Poupon. When my mother started using it in the sixties, it burned your mouth and sent corrosive fumes up into your sinuses. It was great. At exactly the same time they started running TV ads, I think it was in the early eighties, Grey Poupon became milder than French’s Yellow Mustard.
Jul 8, 2009 - 8:29 pm 48. Professor Guvinoff:The Gorp syndrome seems like a rather good diagnostic of our present predicament, i propose caused by the elevation of image above substance.
Case in point: we managed to elect a charming ethno-hybrid idiot who wrote (actually, got written and published) 2 autobiographies to make up for a total lack of accomplishment. The american electorate gorped itself with abandon. (Abandon of principles included of course).
Gorpiness is a cultural dimension, and Andrew Klavan is the right guy to measure it.
Jul 8, 2009 - 9:09 pm 49. Pee Wee Herman, Community Organizer:Do those run on ethnool?
Jul 8, 2009 - 9:43 pm 50. The UnPatriot:Excellent assessment of current cultural mores. I may have found my new tag line.
“Obama may be seen as the presidential version of The Gorp Syndrome himself.”
–The UnPatriot
Jul 8, 2009 - 9:46 pm 51. Delia:49. Pee Wee Herman, Community Organizer:
“ethno-hybrid idiot
Do those run on ethnool?”
Nope. They ‘run’ on saccharin but they short circuit when they get the old banana in the tail-pipe routine [BEVERLY HILLS COP].
Jul 8, 2009 - 9:53 pm 52. Realist:Oh how I laughed watching all these Blacks grieving over a paedophilic pervert who totally rejected his blackness by turning himself in to a bald ugly middle aged white woman who wore straight hair wigs and BOUGHT white children as PLAYTHINGS and married WHITE women too.
Jul 8, 2009 - 10:21 pm 53. Kishimoto:He is as much of an example to Blacks as Mohammad is to morality.
A man so obsessively ‘loved’ by so many and so fiercely ‘protected’ by a family who owed so much of their success to him, could not be saved by any damn one of his worshipers.
Had anyone ever told this man, “Mike, you are so damn handsome – okay, one nose job, everyone has their hangups, but please believe me, you are really good looking.” -or- “Mike, being black is something to be proud of, not erased; please don’t disgrace us this way.” -or- “No Mr. Jackson, I will not provide more facial reconstruction no matter how much you pay me because your nose will collapse and you’ll live in chronic pain.” -or- Mike, maybe you’re really not deliberately harming any children, but don’t you realize that the damage is being done all the same? And don’t you know that sleeping in the same bed with pre-adolescent boys will be construed as pedophilia no matter what intent you claim to have?” -or- Mike, pain management must only be administered by doctors who observe the law and that a rising tolerance to narcotics may lead to overdose?”
Evidently, Michael Jackson truly was the loneliest man in the world. Celebrity is a disease.
Jul 8, 2009 - 10:32 pm 54. alex:The McMartin child molestation trial is a good reference point for people to stop in their tracks before condemning anyone. This trial destroyed a dozen people, in the end there was no molestation, all a product of media hysteria fueled by wild rumors and court appointed officers on personal mission to produce manufactured evidence.
There should have been dozens of children coming forward if Michael Jackson truly was what people here assume, we have one family that was undergoing financial issues….it will be interesting to see what facts come forward now that he has died.
Michael Jackson was a packaged product, as most entertainers are. , Its what we pay to see. Nobody will lay down 75.00 – 300.00 to watch Michael Jackson sit on a chair and sing ballads. They demand and received entertainment on a lavish scale, people pay for the package. Blaming him for providing that is intellectually dishonest, if you feel better assigning fault for his showmanship then blame the tens of millions that paid to see him perform over the years.
Lastly, when Governor Palin is accused of delivering her daughters baby, or firing law enforcement officers, it is the Media that manufactures the evidence and the media is to blame for hysteria surrounding her.
Jul 8, 2009 - 10:45 pm 55. yoyo:When it is Michael Jackson the hysteria is built around, it becomes fact and he deserves it. This is also intellectually dishonest and by this double standard destroys credibility of posters and writers
i didnt like jackson at all and have disliked this faux morning (much like Princess Di) however do you realise how much of the comments is saturated in ugly anti black sentiment?
Jul 8, 2009 - 11:11 pm 56. Danny Harbison:Very well written as usual, Mr. Klavan. I personally find all of this hype over Jackson to be both disturbing and amusing. You mentioned the death of Princess Diana, and I found that to be rather telling. Most people don’t realize that Mother Theresa died the same week as Princess Diana. Between the two I would say that Mother Theresa had a more positive effect on people’s lives, but Diana was celebrated the most.
Jul 9, 2009 - 2:27 am 57. stopthepresses2:We have Jesse Jackson’s speech here,http://stopthepresses2.blogspot.com/search/label/Micheal%20Jackson
Jul 9, 2009 - 3:10 am 58. pelaut:Great writing. Great thought. Great that you took on the whorish Diana, Monroe, Madonna, and of course, freak Jackson. PLEASE knock out Elvis for ALL of the same reasons.
Jul 9, 2009 - 4:27 am 59. Bix:Yes, Mike W. Way to contort the wording of this article to fit your racialized agenda. You’re beautiful, babe!
Jul 9, 2009 - 5:25 am 60. Delia:54. alex,
If M.J. was truly ‘innocent’, he should have quit ‘entertaining’ young boys in his bedroom and in his ‘bed’ immediately after the first charges against him cropped up.
He ‘bought’ his white children while continuing his drug habits.
Sad for the kids but not sad for a Pedo who built a whole ‘kid trap’ with candy, movies, rides and a zoo to lure them in.
Would YOU have let your child spend ‘the night’ with Michael Jackson?
Jul 9, 2009 - 6:45 am 61. Blarty Blarckleblart:13 antaine
That’s the point. Just because people with no sense of values ascribe value to the “accomplishments” of a person, like them, buy their album, vote for them, etc – doesn’t mean those “accomplishments” actually have value.
Actually, buying his albums – to the tune of 28x platinum, for Thriller – is an excellent indications that a musician’s accomplishments have value – artistic value. You might also add the near-universal respect among other musicians that Michael Jackson enjoys as an artist. His music is withstanding the test of time. In general, over time, the wheat (MJ’s best work) gets separated from the chaff (e.g., Rockwell).
How else would you measure the value of a musician’s accomplishments?
Jul 9, 2009 - 6:52 am 62. Well Educated Cad:I personally am glad they’ve planted the Pedophile.
Jul 9, 2009 - 7:05 am 63. Blarty Blarckleblart:Recognizing that Michael Jackson was a significant artist does not actually make you a pedophile, you know.
Jul 9, 2009 - 7:54 am 64. Good Ole Charlie:@62
Notice The Planted Jackson is minus one brain? The thing’s still in formaldehye awaiting testing.
Not that it was ever used…
Jul 9, 2009 - 7:59 am 65. Blarty Blarckleblart:The auto-generated ad that accompanies this piece is quite ironic, don’t y’all think?
“Support Pajamas Media: Visit Our Advertisers” – and it’s a link to buy Michael Jackson songs from itunes.
Jul 9, 2009 - 8:21 am 66. Joe Bison:There appears to be a cultural divide in
America. MJ elicits extreme fascination in
Blacks while among Whites the range of
emotions are spread out. Almost like a
skewed curve vs a bell curve.
MJ artistically was not my cup of tea
and his passing did not surprise me.
The way he looked it was an anytime
now thing in my opinion. However,
my attitude is to respect the feelings
of those who loved him and leave it
there.
As to his private life I do not have
inside information to what really
happened. For sure the childhood he
lived would be child abuse and he turned
out weird. Problem is that when one
becomes ultra rich and famous it becomes
difficult for anyone to help that person.
This person lived a tortured existence
Jul 9, 2009 - 8:49 am 67. Delia:and if he does not earn your sympathy
then at least your silence. Name
calling reduces one to the level of a
liberal.
65. Blarty Blarckleblart:
The auto-generated ad that accompanies this piece is quite ironic, don’t y’all think?
“Support Pajamas Media: Visit Our Advertisers” – and it’s a link to buy Michael Jackson songs from itunes.
~
GAH! ARE YOU SERIOUS?! I have my computer set up to shut down most ads on websites.
TWISTED.
Jul 9, 2009 - 8:53 am 68. alex:Hilarious how people here buy into the media hysteria when it suits their fears, but in the next post they scream bloody murder when the same media paints their political choice with the same broad brush.
Jul 9, 2009 - 9:34 am 69. Delia:The Irony escapes them and goes right over their heads.
68. alex,
What part of the LIBERAL ‘in the tank for 0bama’ media are you talking about?
The MSM have been painting M.J. out as some sort of creepy ‘Saint’.
Puhleaseeeeeeeeee!
Jul 9, 2009 - 9:49 am 70. Paul -Indiana:#26. Jonny Amplesack:7 Mike W WTF are you talking about?
Jul 9, 2009 - 10:15 am 71. Kim:Michael Jackson was a white man.
======
He was neither.
48. Professor Guvinoff, “The Gorp syndrome seems like a rather good diagnostic of our present predicament, i propose caused by the elevation of image above substance.”
The elevation of image above substance in product marketing is no accident, and there is a good reason for it: if you sell your product based on its actual specifications, then anyone who can beat your specs can out compete you. But if you position your product so as to associate it with an intangible benefit or image, then no one can out compete you based on product improvements. Regis McKenna made this point in his book “The Regis Touch: Million-Dollar Advice from America’s Top Marketing Consultant”.
But our present predicament goes deeper, to a widespread inability to distinguish image from substance: many people operate at a concrete-bound, perceptual level with minds uncluttered by concepts. They can’t reason in abstract terms. The closing of the American mind is a multi-generational dumbing down, caused by the injection of philosophic Pragmatism into the school system. You can see it in the textbooks used to teach math and logic if you look back. Kids in the 1880’s were taught fundamental math and logic concepts that are completely missing today.
In the movie “Being There” with Peter Sellers, the theme is image above substance: an ignorant gardener named Chance is able to rise to the highest levels of power and influence, based on how he is perceived in the media.
I have often wondered whether Obama’s rise to power was paved by David Palmer, the fictional black president who had perfect integrity, portrayed in the TV show 24. Did Obama just slip into an imaginary frame waiting in the minds of millions of Americans?
Jul 9, 2009 - 10:31 am 72. Meryl:“do you realise how much of the comments is saturated in ugly anti black sentiment?”
won’t bother correcting the grammar….but I don’t think it’s very nice of you to ignore all the hard work Michael put in to becoming a white person. Why are you making a point of pretending that he was black?
Jul 9, 2009 - 11:08 am 73. JOE:Excellent point, Meryl. He clearly gave up being like, you know, black. And who’s to say that a mega-celebrity with unlimited access to the bestmedicinemoneycanbuy 24/7 could not also give up being dead? The possibilities for The Great Zombie Farewell Tour boggle the, you know, mind.
And Signor Klavan, as always, clear thinking expressed in lucid prose, you wacky racist, sexist, fascist troglodyte you.
Jul 9, 2009 - 11:46 am 74. Delia:72. Meryl:
“won’t bother correcting the grammar….but I don’t think it’s very nice of you to ignore all the hard work Michael put in to becoming a white person. Why are you making a point of pretending that he was black?”
Bahahahaha!
Don’t forget the gender-bending and crotch-grabbing. That takes real ‘talent’.
Jul 9, 2009 - 11:56 am 75. Roderick Reilly:Michael Jackson’s been dead for at least 12 years. He hasn’t been the “King of Pop” for even longer than that. The last dozen years of ghoulish post-mortem Dorian Grayness have been grotesque. It’s also been grotesque to celebrate him as much as he has been in death. A sad, small, quiet funeral would have been more appropriate to the reality of who he had turned into.
Jul 9, 2009 - 12:21 pm 76. Ronnie Schreiber:In general, over time, the wheat (MJ’s best work) gets separated from the chaff (e.g., Rockwell).
How else would you measure the value of a musician’s accomplishments?
You said that MJ had near universal acclaim from musicians. Norman Rockwell is highly regarded by many fine artists. A friend of mine teaches art at a Toronto university and Rockwell is his icon. The Detroit Institute of Arts, whose collection includes masterpieces from many ages, is currently running a Rockwell retrospective.
Jackson was a child prodigy who, in the first flush of adulthood, produced two great pop music albums (with the not insignificant help of Quincy Jones). After that he started his self-indulgent decline. I’m remain unconvinced of his lasting musical legacy in terms of influencing other great musicians.
It’s funny that you demean Rockwell’s art for the same reason you praise Jackson – commercial success.
Jul 9, 2009 - 12:29 pm 77. Ronnie Schreiber:When asked, the Beatles mentioned Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Roy Obison, the Everly Brothers and Motown as influences. Eric Clapton is, like many guitarists of his era, an acolyte of Freddie King (as wellas the other two of the “three kings”, BB and Albert). The Rolling Stones started when Mick Jagger noticed Keith Richard carrying some Chess Records blues albums – they named their band after a Muddy Waters’ recording. Many, many great guitarists (Mike Bloomfield, David Bromberg, Jerry Garcia, Jorma Kaukuanen) mentioned the Rev. Gary Davis as a strong influence. Stevie Ray Vaughn cited Jimi Hendrix, as many modern day players do.
So who has Michael Jackson influenced musically? Mariah Carey and Usher may be fine singers with great pipes, but I remain unimpressed. He could sing and dance very well. As a songwriter he wrote some very catchy tunes. John Mayer’s instrumental version of Human Nature at the memorial to Jackson was beautiful – but I doubt that Mayer, when pressed, would cite Jackson as a strong influence on his own music.
One of the British papers, in response to Jackson’s death did a column on top selling vs. influential albums. While Jackson’s Thriller was mid pack in a field of 25 most influential albums of all times, it’s interesting that #1 was Velvet Underground’s debut album. The comment was not many people bought it, but everyone who did, started a band.
Jul 9, 2009 - 12:44 pm 78. Marc Malone:#56 Danny Harbison – Dead on! It’s the difference between celebrity and fame. Fame must be earned. Celebrity is what the commoners celebrate, because such is the only chance they have for acquiring renown themselves… thus, the tawdry reality shows.
Jul 9, 2009 - 1:18 pm 79. Blarty Blarckleblart:76 Ronnie
Influencing Mariah Carey, Usher, and Justin Timberlake (who cops Michael as surely as Clapton copped Freddie King) is no small thing. I’m not a fan of any of their music, particularly, but they are A-list pop superstars who sell millions of records. That may mean fudge-all to music critics, but it’s evidence that Jackson is more than the footnote that Klavan describes.
The following is a link to a Billboard article with testimonials to Jackson’s talent and influence from music industry nobodies like Madonna, Quincy Jones, Dick Clark, Beyonce, and many others:
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/updated-michael-jackson-mourned-by-friends-1003988171.story?pn=1
Now, again, the opinion of those people may mean nothing to you, but it can’t be denied that they know the music industry better than Mr. Klavan does.
Jul 9, 2009 - 1:53 pm 80. Blarty Blarckleblart:More on Jackson’s influence:
http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2009/07/02/jackson8217s_influence_extends_from_rb_to_pop_rap_to_rock/
Jul 9, 2009 - 2:02 pm 81. Blarty Blarckleblart:Speaking of the Beatles:
“I feel privileged to have hung out and worked with Michael. He was a massively talented boy man with a gentle soul. His music will be remembered forever and my memories of our time together will be happy ones.” – Paul McCartney in Spin
Jul 9, 2009 - 2:06 pm 82. Delia:81. Blarty Blarckleblart,
Jacko also out-bid McCartney for quite a few songs he wrote. Some ‘friend’ huh?
Jul 9, 2009 - 2:50 pm 83. Delia:-And, excuse me, but Hitler was ’supposedly’ a great ‘painter’.
When people are criminal scum-bags, I could care less about their ‘accomplishments’.
Big freakin’ WHOOP.
Now Whacko Jacko has left behind orphans because he was a drug-addict and a spend-a-holic.
YAY.
Jul 9, 2009 - 2:51 pm 84. eidylon:oh please #7, there were SO many Black artists who contributed real soul to music, unlike Jackson. For instance Chuck Berry or John Coltrane. To say Jackson didn’t really contribute much does NOT make Klavan a racist.
Though i do take exception with ranking Lincoln as one of the greatest presidents, great sure, but not greatest. Sure, he abolished slavery, which was fantastic, a GREAT THING. BUT, he also set the precedent for the Federal Government to trample all over state and individual liberties, and i think the degradation of liberty that we have today wouldn’t be NEARLY as well-advanced as it is if not for Lincoln’s influence.
Jul 9, 2009 - 5:08 pm 85. Pat J:I heard a lot of the Michael Jackson jokes. From 1985 on he became a caricature and much worse. Yet, that does not diminish the sheer genius of albums like “Off the Wall” and “Thriller.” Those two albums combined sold over 100 million units!
As Klavan said, he was the first black person to cross the color barrier on MTV which at the time replaced radio as the go to entertainment media. All of a sudden, he was everywhere. He was the ultimate crossover artist. I sort of get the feeling a lot of posters hear can’t possibly appreciate that, but that’s okay. they’ve never been in the entertainment business like I have.
I for one never bought a Michael Jackson album and I probably never will. I’m more into rock and roll since it’s a much more visceral music form. But I can respect his genius the same way I can forget about Sinatra’s assocation with the mafia, or Elvis’s downward spiral.
Jul 9, 2009 - 6:09 pm 86. Delia:85. Pat J,
You forgot the drugged up LOON from “THE DOORS” [Jim Morrison]. Wastoid whack-job and died ONLY because of his drug abuse. Depressing.
The truth is? We could make a very long list of talented people who succumbed to drug and alcohol abuse.
Color has nothing to do with it though and I get tired of the whole ‘black’ thing.
Yes, ‘Michael’ crossed ‘color’ boundaries and ‘gender’ boundaries by trying to make himself into a white woman.
How in the HELL did that help people of African ethnicity? He HATED his afro-centric looks!
There are some amazingly talented and hunky black actors who embrace their darkness rather than try to ‘lighten’ up.
Can you name one, Pat J.? I can name three right off the top of my head, but, I’ll let you go first.
Jul 9, 2009 - 6:29 pm 87. Delia:Here’s a respectable start on talented, artistic black men:
Sidney Poitier
Wesley Snipes
Eddie Murphy
Jamie Foxx
Stevie Wonder
Billy D Williams
Feel free to add to my list!
Jul 9, 2009 - 7:00 pm 88. alex:#69 Delia
Believing rumors as fact to fit personal Bias is exactly the fuel MSM requires to sell their trash, they do it with Michael Jackson, they do it with Governor Palin, President Bush, President Clinton, etc, etc. As long as people believe what they read or see on Idiot Box without research, the MSM will continue to shape the minds of lessor people.
Jul 9, 2009 - 7:02 pm 89. Delia:88. alex:
I suppose you think O.J. Simpson was ‘innocent’ too
Good grief.
The MSM has been all ‘moonlight and canoes’ over Jackson’s death.
Do YOUR research.
As someone who was molested as a child by both males and females, I know firsthand what it is like to not be ‘believed’ because I was a ‘child’. Now times that by a kazillion with a famous, rich, ‘pop-star’.
We shall see.
Jul 9, 2009 - 7:21 pm 90. Delia:P.S. It took my mother ‘accidentially’ walking in on my live-in babysitter [female] beating us over the head and yelling obscenities at my baby sister and I naked and terrified in a bath-tub for my mother to ‘finally’ believe us.
My dipshit mother also hired a male babysitter for my Sis and I when she wanted to go ‘party’ and the creep tried to stick his hands down my and my baby sister’s underwear. I instantly stood up and got angry and grabbed my sister and told the creep to stay away from her and I. I held onto her with all my might waiting for my mother to come back home.
I know ’scum’ and sorry, but, M.J. was a classic Pedo in the worst sense of the word. He was a sicko and the cases that never went to court [not the hugely pubbed ones] were just more proof that this ‘man’ was a pedo.
-And, why buy ‘white children’?
Sick.
Jul 9, 2009 - 7:28 pm 91. alex:#89, 90 Delia, Lets stick to the facts, OK? OJ…?? really..?? Get a grip.
The facts do not support any of your Posts. He had a skin condition in addition to Lupus, so your rants about trying to become white are just tabloid trash, it was not a choice, its rooted in medical conditions.
What is classic pedophile..?? define this before you label people you have never met. You have hatred for someone you don’t know or can relate too.
Please list cases that never went to court..as far as is known there is one, a dentist that was recorded stating this is a no lose situation to make millions of dollars from his son, who then drugged his own child to record fabricated testimony. The Mother of the Same Child refuted her husbands efforts.
The cases that did go to court never met evidence burden.
Finally, i work with people that have been through terrible situations, far worse than you could imagine. We all deal with dark episodes in life, how we come out of it depends entirely on ourselves and the choices we make.
Jul 9, 2009 - 8:01 pm 92. Delia:M.J.’s own staff corroborated testimony from young boys.
Read the ‘Smoking Gun’ archives. People with half a cranium have already done the research. Do your own.
Are you actually in ‘grief’ over this cretin?
Pathetic.
Jul 9, 2009 - 8:42 pm 93. Delia:91. alex,
Also,
M.J.’s ’skin’ condition ‘cropped up’ about the same time his ‘new nose’ and ‘new chin’ and new cheeks’ cropped up.
Convenient much?
Also, please, tell me why on EARTH he’d want white children rather than black children?
S’plain that one to me, home slice.
Jul 9, 2009 - 8:45 pm 94. Delia:Meanwhile, we have some amazingly brave men and women giving their lives for us and yet, this crotch grabbing pedo is STILL in the news.
Jul 9, 2009 - 8:47 pm 95. alex:Delia, the only person fixated and obsessed with Michael Jackson appears to be yourself. I have read many reports regarding this including the one you directed me too, which i copied and linked below for your viewing pleasure;
DECEMBER 9–A confidential investigation by Los Angeles police and child welfare officials concluded earlier this year that allegations Michael Jackson sexually abused a cancer-stricken boy were “unfounded,” according to an internal government memo obtained by The Smoking Gun.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/dcfsmemo1.html
Take a few steps back, do some deep breathing. Relax, the world is never as bad as people hope it is.
Jul 9, 2009 - 11:23 pm 96. Professor Guvinoff:71, Kim.
Points well taken, thank you. As it happens I grew up in the times when learning math and science was respectable, and enjoyed a gratifying career as a scientist. This is probably why the principles of marketing are so baffling to me, as science would have never gotten anywhere if it did not draw the line between image and substance, precisely the line one must endeavor to blur if marketing is your thing.
My son and his wife are quite smart in my book, (any measure of scientifc integrity is rather useless when it comes to this), but they surprised me with their great enthusiasm for Obama, who looks to me as the ultimate marketing virtuoso, with nothing of substance to sell, but who winds up with the dominant market share nevertheless.
When I was a kid, the most fun was to procure two broken bicycles for next to nothing, and try to make a useable bicycle by mixing-and-matching enough good parts. You come out of this with dirty hands, but also with some concrete knowledge. When my son was a kid, he played with electronic game toys, and knew that if the thing, you don’t open it and try to fix it, you just bring it back to the store. I guess you come out of this with clean hands, but with a mind lacking an anchor when it comes to the consideration of measurable results.
Is Obama the grand priest of the post-scientific age?
Jul 10, 2009 - 9:00 am 97. Delia:95. alex,
Next you’re going to tell me M.J. wasn’t a drug addict.
Elvis was a borderline pedo too btw.
Bleh.
Anyway, I agree that it’s time to let this crap die already. M.J. is dead and gone and it’s his children who will pay the ultimate price. I hope the children are kept together. It would be absolutely heart-breaking if ‘blanket’ is separated from his big bro and sis because he is from a dif birth mother.
-And, let’s ‘pretend’ M.J. wasn’t a pedo.
It’s STILL wrong to purposely have children with the full intention of them NEVER having a mother. Sorry, but that is SICK. Then, to take risks by taking risky drugs?
These children have been abandoned by a drug addict. How WRONG is that?????????
Anyway, have a nice day. Thank you for the olive branch. This kind of thing just really sets me off because of my own personal experiences.
Jul 10, 2009 - 1:30 pm 98. Kim:96. Professor Guvinoff,
Thank you for your thought provoking observations.
I’m coming at this topic (culture/image/substance) from the perspective of a self-taught computer programmer who grew up on a farm, and in various college towns. I have experienced the joys of hobby electronics projects, and rebuilding bicycles and cars.
The mental anchor that you mentioned is a fascinating idea, and I think, right on target. The natural difference between first hand mechanical experience and computer-mediated experience, is that in one you learn implicitly that things have an unyielding definite nature, as opposed to whatever arbitrary behavior may have been programmed into a computer game. In games, there can even be the appearance of naturally impossible things, such as magic spells that give the illusion of a supernatural dimension to reality. The notion that reality is conventional and arbitrary, rather than naturally determined, would serve as the basis for a non-scientific cultural trend.
On the other hand, never in the history of mankind has there ever been such an abundance of knowledge so widely available. The famous library of Alexandria had a huge scientific impact on the culture of its time, but that is small compared to the scientific impact of the Internet. Many smart people, who have a coordinated awareness of reality, are building the cognitive infrastructure that will help confused folks get their bearings.
“Is Obama the grand priest of the post-scientific age?”
More likely, he is the last gasp of an anti-scientific age. The kids in school now are aggressively inquisitive and able to teach themselves despite the best efforts of their teachers. That cultural shock wave will devastate the Left when it arrives. Time is not on their side.
Jul 10, 2009 - 1:37 pm 99. Pat J:86. Delia:
===========
Teddy Pendergrass
Lionel Richie
Sammy Davis Jr.
Louie Armstrong
Bo Diddley
Muddy Waters
Prince
Fats Domino
Ice T
Morgan Freeman
Louis Gossett Jr.
Denzel Washington
Michael Clarke Duncan
There you go. Satisfied?
Jul 10, 2009 - 5:08 pm 100. Pat J:Forgot one.
Jimi Hendrix
Jul 10, 2009 - 5:12 pm 101. Pat J:And Samuel L. Jackson
Jul 10, 2009 - 5:14 pm 102. Delia:99. Pat J:
Great additions!
I love Morgan Freeman all the way back from his “Electric Company” days. He’s an amazing actor. I was totally bummed when it turned out he cheated on his wife of 24 years though.
Jul 10, 2009 - 5:46 pm 103. Pat J:I didn’t hear about that. What is it about celebrities or celebrity status that give them a green light to cheat? It’s like baseball and steroids and HGH. Give me a good man like Albert Pujols anytime over Sosa, Manny and Roger Clemens.
Jul 10, 2009 - 8:08 pm 104. Delia:103. Pat J:
“I didn’t hear about that. What is it about celebrities or celebrity status that give them a green light to cheat?”
Yeah. Depressing. Why? Is it fear of getting ‘old’ or something?
Michael Jordan is such a sweetheart. Did we add him to the ‘list’ yet?
Money/power/drugs are powerful things and that/they can destroy lives. Speaking of which, wtf is up with Donald Trump’s comb-over? To this day?! Nast.
But, life in ‘the spotlight’ has got to be warped. Nooooooooo spank you!
-Makes me glad I’m just an ordinary ‘Jane’ in the big scheme of things.
Jul 10, 2009 - 10:04 pm 105. JackT:Was the reaction to Elvis’ death over the top? This is usually the process when huge international mega stars pass away. There’s no trying to analyze the situation, or figure out the overwhelming love for Michael Jackson. The thing to do is let the process takes it’s course, and allow the nation and the world to honor a true hero, a music sensation, a prolific song writer and humanitarian, a gifted singer, who touched us all with his songs, kindness and love for all of God’s creations. We need more people in the world to be like Michael Jackson. I think God is well pleased with him.
Jul 11, 2009 - 6:06 pm 106. Gary Ogletree:You just have to get a laugh out of it. That’s why we have Daddy Joe angling to cut some deals at this opportune time. The media are happy with the ongoing family feuds and child custody dramas. We can choose not to watch.
Jul 11, 2009 - 7:33 pm 107. Jordan » `Dragonmount` | News:[...] Klavan On The Culture » Michael Jackson and The Gorp SyndromeI think you’re confusing Michael Jackson with Michael Jordan. Jul 8, 2009 – 6:51 pm 42. Kim: Heads up. It appears that what we have here is an implicit attack on this-worldly Western values by a Platonist. The Gorp Syndrome is mainly an … [...]
Jul 12, 2009 - 7:11 am 108. SGT Ted:Can’t leave out Ray Charles.
Jul 12, 2009 - 8:24 am 109. Cathedralfolk:Michael Jackson was an extraordinarily useful instrument of United States foreign policy during the Reagan/Bush/Clinton years. Reagan said, of America’s version of democracy, people vote with their feet. Michael provided the imagery of American prosperity and freedom in the Arts, that was unprecedented in closed societs, like the former Soviet Union, China, the Middle East. Yet, somehow, kids in these countries got a taste of American prosperity and freedom through the music of Michael Jackson.
Music as an art form provides the cultural and anthropological DNS of man in past and present societies. Michael Jackson was the cultural DNA of the United States of the 1980s and 1990s. All one has to do for evidence of this is look at the international records he broke 100 million records for two record albums. It is reported by wikipedia that his memorial service was viewed by as many as 1 billion people from around the world.That’s one sixth of the global population.
Yes our Dear Michael was one of the greatest foreign policy instruments we had in the 1980s and 1990s and he should be recognised for this.
Rest in Peace Michael and thank you for your service to your country.
Blessings and comfort to your greiving family.
Love and blessings,
Cath
Jul 12, 2009 - 6:24 pm 110. Learn How to Sing So That You Can Achieve Your Musical Goals || HomeSingingLessons.com:[...] Klavan On The Culture » Michael Jackson and The Gorp Syndrome [...]
Jul 17, 2009 - 9:00 pm 111. vladdy:Can we now get together a list of wonderful white men? White women? Asians, Island Peoples, Wise Latinos? Geeesh!
P.S. Some people here have a real difficulty differentiating commercial success and talent from genius.
Jul 19, 2009 - 5:17 pm 112. Cate:My goodness. Aren’t you the arrogant, pompous, snooty one – who wrote this article. Just scratch your head and wonder why so many millions of people deeply felt the loss of Michael. You don’t get it. And that’s okay. Sometimes for all of us there are things we don’t know, we don’t know. I’m sure if everyone felt deeply for you we’d reach cosmic conscience, right. NOT
Aug 17, 2009 - 6:39 pm