On the Contrary

President Obama had a town hall meeting on Wednesday and he took on the hard questions about health care.  He answered them well and took the opportunity provided by these venues to fully explain his plan and the alternatives.  As soon as it was over in TV land, it was back to the Michael Jackson saga.  Continuous coverage of his death and the mess his life was is non-stop.  Please stop it.

What is most enlightening is the pandering going on by the media, anyone black, entertainers, and anyone else who is afraid to raise obvious questions about “the king of pop”.  It also shows us that worship of celebrity is so much more important in our society than a real examination of one’s real worth to society.  Case in point is all the fawning over what a kind and loveable person Jackson was.  Really?  That certainly was his image, but it is too dangerous to enter the territory to really examine what by any measure was a disaster of a life right now.  You might look out of touch.  But since I have been out of touch with popular America for most of my life, here goes.

Okay he could sing and dance.  And he could do it with the very best of them.  But let us not confuse the entertainer with the person, which is of course exactly what we are doing.  By all accounts Michael Jackson left his affairs in a superb mess.  The children are fathered (and for that matter mothered) by who?  Do they in fact have legitimate birth certificates, and what person in their right mind would leave the children he professed to love so dearly in total legal limbo?  His mother or Diana Ross for guardians?  Dad cut out of the will.  That ought to tell you something.

Then there is his financial mess of an estate with an estimated debt of half a billion dollars.  Kind of makes your little credit card problem very small potatoes.  In all fairness, it is possible that royalties and memorabilia will make this up in the years to come (not to mention owning half of the Beatles song collection).  Those who knew him said he could not brook discussions on economics.  Okay, hire someone.  But the trust thing was another indicator of a truly disturbed personality.  His entourage was always changing and there were continuous reports of fallings out with A or B. He had so many doctors, it was obvious he was prescription shopping.   But he was an artist and artists are temperamental.  Or he was a jerk?

Then there is, of course, his strange behavior with children, which if you were profiling a child molester, he would fit it perfectly.  Of course he was not convicted, but like O.J., that doesn’t make him innocent.  If I had his money, I would never have settled the cases he did settle out of court when my reputation was at stake.  Maybe his fans want to believe he was asexual, but where there is smoke there is fire.  Meanwhile nary a disparaging word is echoed as the press and anyone who can get airtime pines on about the wonderful Michael Jackson, his troubled life, his recently discovered will, and of course the secret wives coming out of the woodwork.  And the reality is who cares or more importantly who should care?

So what does all this tell me?  It tells me that our celebration of celebrity has robbed us of our important reasoning skills.  It shows me that the press is nothing but an echo chamber of the conventional wisdom and popular trends.  It shows me how many people will do and say anything to get face time on our TVs.  It shows me why most Americans cannot have an intelligent discussion about health care, or energy policy, or gays in the military, reforming the banking system, or the way forward in Afghanistan.  It tells me why people listen to Rush Limbaugh and other conservative demagogues.  It tells me why people still listen to Vice President Cheney, and why we elect such morons to represent us in Congress who get nothing done.  It tells me that critical thinking skills are a rare commodity these days.