Ghengis_John
[13] Hero
Most of the people who crack jokes about Jackson are 20 and under, so for them, Jackson the artist, humanitarian and coldwar ambassador of American culture and vitality never existed. There was only Jackson the joke, Jackson the freak. Why do you believe the guy was guilty of molesting any kids? Because all your life you've heard your buddies on /b joke about it? He was found innoent after all. I mean what's with the hate on princess Diana? You were like 11 or 12 years old when she died. Did she preempt your cartoons the day she died and you just never got over it? Maybe, people who are older than you don't have to pretend to have respect. I understand it's hard to have respect for anybody when you don't really know shit about them. While I didn't care all that much about princess Diana, I do remember her constant charity and public awareness work. The lady deserved some respect in my opinion for that. But you know more than age, I guess it's just a question of maturity.
As for my thoughts on MJ... Everyone in the 80's loved Jackson, there's not a corner in the world they haven't heard of him, and even my mom was nuts about him in the 80's. I've heard 17 year old potheads proclaiming that Jackson has had absolutely no cultural impact, whilst they listen to music that was clearly his spawn. I can only imagine what the man did for American prestige in the 80's and what role that's had in shaping the modern world. I'm saddened he died. I had heard he had tour dates coming up in Europe, so it seems to have taken even him by surprise.
At the same time that sadness is tempered with an understanding that he really didn't belong in this world. He was a deeply troubled and psychologically scarred man. He spent his life trying to chase the happy childhood that had eluded him and now that torture is over for him. I cannot say if he was warped, or if he was childlike and innocent and we who belong in this grimy cynical world could not understand him. Only his accusers know the answer for certain. Either way he was different than us and that made many of us uncomfortable. We crucified him under public opinion. To go so quickly from loved and cheered to reviled and mocked could not have been easy on his delicate psyche. And if he was in fact innocent then it is a true tragedy. He was a brilliant artist either way.
As for Farrah Fawcett, and her deserving respect while Micheal does not, it's a shame she died and a horribly painful death at that, and she does deserve the same respect anyone does in passing, but she has been pushed aside because her only real accomplishment was being born beautiful. If you want to base your judgments on who was "more normal" she also had some really strange ideas and a fucked up personal life. Look up some talk show appearances of hers for some samples.
