Search This Blog

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

RIP Michael Jackson 
or enough is enough already! 

Okay, so I know it's not kind to speak ill of the dead, but in my book it's equally wrong to canonize someone who clearly evolved into an unsavory character, just because he died young-ish, unexpectedly and had a bazillion dollars. 

Michael Jackson was laid to rest today in a manner befitting his circus-act of a latter life. He may have physically died last week, but the reality is he died a long time ago, somewhere around the time he decided to mutate from a young, handsome black man to a freakishly pasty-white, Diana Ross wannabe. He only spiraled downward at break-neck speed from there. 

Yes, he made an enormous impact musically... Thriller being the pinnacle of his success and influence in my humble opinion. However, as the years marched on, so did his erratic and bizarre behavior, culminating in charges of child molestation. And that is unforgivable. At the very least those charges are reason enough to eliminate sainthood from his epithet. 

There was something obviously broken about him. He naively or foolishly (call it what you will) surrounded himself with individuals who must have seen his decent and refused to help him. And that is just criminal. You can make all the excuses you want for his aberatted behavior, but the fact remains we all make our own choices in life. He did some pretty twisted shit. He chose poorly and paid the price, scarring a few young souls along the way. 

I chose not to watch his memorial service. I don't believe he deserved the dramatic pounding of chests and ocean of tears shed at his passing. He once was a Pop star of enormous influence and innovation. He had the world in the palm of his hand. That's a fact even one as jaded as I cannot deny. 

He pissed it away.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.