O HAI! Didja hear? MICHAEL JACKSON IS DEAD!!!!!111!!
...and his death, along with Farrah Fawcett's, diminished the amount of weird in the world by a full percent.
Which is sad. Speaking particularly of Jackson, here, the whole pedophilia thing kinda ruined it for him, but there was a time when he was refreshing and important because he showed that a person could be different and strange - even disturbingly so - without being dangerous or bad. He was amazing and important in ways that have been discussed to death over the past few days, and at least we've all had a chance to go back and revisit his music and videos and performances and recall to mind why he was ever so huge, and why noone has surpassed him to this day.
But then the pedophilia turned around and bit him in the butt, and I don't know if anyone will ever think of his talents and skills first when they hear his name or see his picture. The probable-child-rapist will be what we see him as first.
And that's sad (and child molestation is an evil, horrible thing, I do not endorse or promote it in any way). Because if ever our understanding of pedophilia were to be tempered by the understanding that pedophiles are often extremely damaged people, he's a perfect case study. There's no way he could have grown up normally, given how much pressure he was under at such a young age, abused and made to smile for the cameras - okay, that part has been rehashed ad nauseam over the past several days, too.
But yeah, I think it's necessary to synthesize the 3 Big Things about him - the damage, the pedophilia, and the amazing talent. And the tsunami of fame and fortune which enveloped him so early on. Okay, 4 things. The surgery (dysmorphia) can be considered parts of #1 and #4 - evidence of damage, abetted by enough money to make surgeons give him more nose jobs far beyond the time when it was no longer a viable option.
God, see? He's just got so much shit going on, nine million angles he can be viewed from. No wonder his death is still such a big story.
Anyway, I don't think it's fair to just view him as "child molester" and leave it at that. So there. And he was one, I'm fairly sure. And it was a terrible thing to do to his victims, and they and their families have every right to think of him only as a child molester and to seethe that he was never punished (directly) for it, and to ensure that that will always be a part of his legacy.
But despite what a cartoonish monster he became later in life, he was not always a monster, and we've seen him since he was just an abused, but talented kid. He was human once, and we know it, and I don't think acknowledging his monstrosity requires denying, disregarding, or negating that humanity, that talent and beauty he once posessed.
My friend Kate said earlier that his fans are going through the same thing people do when a loved one dies after a long battle with dementia - we are finally able to say goodbye and let go of someone who has already been gone heartbreakingly long. And I think that's a good analogy. He was gone, and now he's dead. The whole story makes me ineffably sad.
Which is sad. Speaking particularly of Jackson, here, the whole pedophilia thing kinda ruined it for him, but there was a time when he was refreshing and important because he showed that a person could be different and strange - even disturbingly so - without being dangerous or bad. He was amazing and important in ways that have been discussed to death over the past few days, and at least we've all had a chance to go back and revisit his music and videos and performances and recall to mind why he was ever so huge, and why noone has surpassed him to this day.
But then the pedophilia turned around and bit him in the butt, and I don't know if anyone will ever think of his talents and skills first when they hear his name or see his picture. The probable-child-rapist will be what we see him as first.
And that's sad (and child molestation is an evil, horrible thing, I do not endorse or promote it in any way). Because if ever our understanding of pedophilia were to be tempered by the understanding that pedophiles are often extremely damaged people, he's a perfect case study. There's no way he could have grown up normally, given how much pressure he was under at such a young age, abused and made to smile for the cameras - okay, that part has been rehashed ad nauseam over the past several days, too.
But yeah, I think it's necessary to synthesize the 3 Big Things about him - the damage, the pedophilia, and the amazing talent. And the tsunami of fame and fortune which enveloped him so early on. Okay, 4 things. The surgery (dysmorphia) can be considered parts of #1 and #4 - evidence of damage, abetted by enough money to make surgeons give him more nose jobs far beyond the time when it was no longer a viable option.
God, see? He's just got so much shit going on, nine million angles he can be viewed from. No wonder his death is still such a big story.
Anyway, I don't think it's fair to just view him as "child molester" and leave it at that. So there. And he was one, I'm fairly sure. And it was a terrible thing to do to his victims, and they and their families have every right to think of him only as a child molester and to seethe that he was never punished (directly) for it, and to ensure that that will always be a part of his legacy.
But despite what a cartoonish monster he became later in life, he was not always a monster, and we've seen him since he was just an abused, but talented kid. He was human once, and we know it, and I don't think acknowledging his monstrosity requires denying, disregarding, or negating that humanity, that talent and beauty he once posessed.
My friend Kate said earlier that his fans are going through the same thing people do when a loved one dies after a long battle with dementia - we are finally able to say goodbye and let go of someone who has already been gone heartbreakingly long. And I think that's a good analogy. He was gone, and now he's dead. The whole story makes me ineffably sad.