Quote:
Originally Posted by DrPhil
Rest in peace.
ETA: Note that this post is different than saying "decent dancer and even worse human being...the world lost a good one...." I suspect that MJ was involved in some things that could've contributed to his passing. But, that doesn't make him a bad person to me nor does it minimize the impact of his career and his passing for those who feel impacted.
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I was going back and forth with a group of friends about this, and this is what I wrote:
"The Michael Jackson that many people are mourning has been gone for about 15 years. Nearly everyone has memories of Michael Jackson songs and videos for years before the molestation claims came to light; as someone on NPR said this morning, there's not a Michael Jackson hit that doesn't invoke memories. You remember where you were in your life when "Beat It," "Bad," or "Black or White" was popular. It's probably how our parents felt when John Lennon and Marvin Gaye died. Someone who created the soundtrack to our youth--our wonder years, as it were--is dead, and it reminds us that much more that we're getting older and we're going to die too, regardless of how they actually died.
In other words, the Michael Jackson I and at least a billion other people around the world are mourning is not the one who called his son "Blanket," who was rumored to have purchased the Elephant Man's skeleton, or the one who, as we now know, was addled with painkillers since his brush with death back in the 80s. We are mourning the little kid and the dance machine--in other words, the talented and charismatic entertainer.
It's not my place to determine the veracity of the molestation claims, but I could honestly see them going either way. I'm not a Michael Jackson fan per se; I've never purchased one of his albums, a concert ticket, or a glittery glove. That said, when I heard that he had taken ill and later died, the MJ from "Billie Jean" and the Jackson 5 popped in my head, not the pale, plastic shell of that person who he became in his later years. I wouldn't be surprised if the vast majority of mourners are seeing that person. He's kind of like Elvis that way."