On the Contrary

Enough about Michael Jackson!  I am having serious withdrawal from the regular news otherwise titled “Republicans Say the Stupidest Things and Nobody Ever Flinches”.  But since about mid-day yesterday, it has been non-stop.  Okay Michael Jackson was an interesting and troubled man.  Back in his prime, when he hadn’t altered his appearance to the truly bizarre, he was an amazing entertainer.  But he was not a world leader and his coming and going is going to have no impact on world events or our future except on People Magazine and Variety, or if you held some of his debt.  But let’s just say the coverage is warranted.  Have you listened to it?

I kept waiting for the pool cleaning guy to call in about his close and personal relationship with Michael.  I can’t believe the number of people who did have a close relationship and yet hadn’t seen him in years.  Maybe he waved at them over a crowd at a restaurant.  What kindness!  What a tender moment! Then there was the sameness to all the interviews and that sameness which I started counting is how many times the work “I” was used.  Maybe that just comes with the territory with show business people.  Everything in the end revolves around self.  Of course who could miss Al Sharpton.  I was wondering when Jessie Jackson would show up.  I am starting to believe that the voting rights act was a product of Michael’s career.

Then there was Keith Olbermann’s description of the massive crowds at UCLA medical center.  The problem with this one, at least based on the TV coverage, was that there were only several hundred readily visible.  Then Keith waxed on about how this man had impacted so many lives and thus the crowds.  I was wondering if it was just the same crowd that gathers at a crime scene, car wreck, or burning building.  Then, of course, was the coverage of the  coroner’s report which told you nothing and then the nothing was analyzed ad infinitum.  Then bring on some talking head expert to tell you what you just heard.  The reality is we will know nothing until the toxicology reports are completed in 6 weeks, so can we move on?  For my money he probably did die of a heart attack brought on by the stress of being in debt, trying to make a comeback, and over use of pain killers (because the rich can’t suffer pain like the rest of us, they are too important).  But we shall see.

But this blog is not to denigrate Michael who certainly was a pop icon, maybe one of the greatest.  This blog is denigrating the unbelievable amateurish and boorish coverage of his death, focusing on every minute detail, most of which they got wrong, and broadcasting interview after interview that was anything but insightful, much less truthful.  You really start to understand how they can be so easily manipulated by political hacks when you watch this kind of mush that masquerades as news.

But maybe I am showing my age.  Had this been Van Morrison I would have been glued to the TV.  I guess celebrity is in the eye of the beholder.