obligatory famous-people-died post (since it's me a rather soap-box-y version), plus some links

[mao4269]

Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett both passed away within the past couple of days. The latter seems to be largely ignored, overshadowed by the former. As for responses to the former, I've seen a couple people celebrating his death, and they all seem to use the word "freak" in doing so*. I remember in one of my classes in college, the professor

Comments

[esajudita]

It's not so much celebrating his death as it is wishing that people didn't care so much. He was a freak because he got himself all messed up, probably did loads of drugs, and molested a bunch of kids. And this is the kind of thing that kids in the US are taught to admire...the Michael Jacksons and Britney Spears of the world. Pathetic.

[mao4269]

It's not so much celebrating his death as it is wishing that people didn't care so much.
I'm all on board with the "don't we have more important things to discuss" boat (and am editing the entry to acknowledge that), but much of what I've seen goes well beyond that.

And this is the kind of thing that kids in the US are taught to admire...the Michael Jacksons and Britney Spears of the world. Pathetic.
People admire Michael Jackson because he was a talented artist whose work had a huge impact on popular culture. Overall, I'd say that U.S. society teaches kids to admire people who, unlike Jackson, distance themselves from anything "freaky" (just look a this year's American Idol).

[esajudita]

A talented artist? He produced unoriginal songs about the same old shit, written the same old way. Only independent musicians produce good music.

I don't watch American Idol because it's only going to produce people who perpetuate the same banal old crap.

[mao4269]

I used "artist" rather than "musician" deliberately. He helped create the music videos as we know them. Regardless of whether you like the content of his songs, he was extremely talented at incorporating them into some of the prime examples of a new art form.

Whether you watch American Idol is unrelated to the fact that it in many ways serves as a gauge of what U.S. society teaches people to admire.

[flyboymike]

Don't forget that Michael Jackson finishes the celeb-death trifecta. Ed McMahon died this week as well. Seeing as how he was a Marine, a Corsair pilot in WWII and a Bird Dog pilot in Korea, then a Brigadier General in the California Air National Guard, I'd call that more important than Mr. Jackson.

[mao4269]

I have to admit that my bias is towards thinking that the pen is mightier than the sword :P.

[flyboymike]

Perhaps I should have said more deserving of spending time and effort in honoring his life and passing, as opposed to "more important."

[mao4269]

Fair enough. :) To be honest, I don't particularly feel a need to spend time and effort honoring any of their lives or passings; if I weren't bothered by the people who are celebrating Jackson's death I probably wouldn't have mentioned any of them.

Re: A different perspective

[mao4269]

Although MJ transcended race and gender, black folk take a lot of pride in him, as arguably the greatest entertainer of all-time.
That point and the point of my post aren't mutually exclusive.

I also think it is possible, and actually, important to commemorate his life and achievements.
My dis-inclination to do so is just a reflection of the low priority I give to pop culture more generally, not tied to him or his failures. To the contrary, my criticism is for those who marginalize his greatest achievements and focus exclusively on his failures.

[rapta]

I remember in one of my classes in college, the professor suggested that one of the reasons people vilify Jackson was discomfort with his liminal status - neither "black" nor white", neither steretypically "male" nor female".

Interesting. Maybe it's because I don't really pay much attention to pop culture (or maybe I was too young when he was popular or both), but I've never really gotten that vibe from him. Growing up, whenever people referred to Jackson like he was a freak, it was always in reference to the allegations of child abuse (and occasionally the multiple plastic surgeries). But then again, I was never heavily involved in pop culture, nor were many of the people around me. And now that you point it out, I think I can see what your professor was talking about.

You brought up some other interesting points as well, which I'll have to think about. (As always, your analysis of societal issues has been thoroughly considered).

[mao4269]

Thanks. If I don't remember to say this closer to the actual date, good luck with your move!

[lobster_bandito]

I like this post. And unlike some of the folks above, I heard a lot of "freak" comments about Jackson related to his gender and perceived womanliness, not his pedophilia. This was before the child sexual abuse trials, and those later trials seemed to just confirm what people already thought of his "freak" status (not vice versa).

There was a lot of trans misogyny tied up in how the public responded to Jackson, no doubt about it.