Michael Jackson

[Saraa]

The culture is sooooooooo sick. We have lost the capacity to choose heroic heroes.

I agree.  

It is amazing how society bestows so much wealth and honor on entertainers and sports figures.  Many of whom are not very nice people, when we actually take the time to realistically examine their lives, unobstructed by the fog of PR or media hype.

Meanwhile people who really do something heroic are often unnoticed and unrewarded.  By my definition a hero is someone who  puts their own life at risk to save another, or someone who toils at a job that improves lives in a tangible way, despite receiving only an average salary. Their job is a calling and not something chosen simply for profit.

Oh well, that's my 50 cents, and I will step down from my soap box, now.  

[Izzy_*now*]

I really don't know what to make of a perverted lowlife such as MJ, as called by a US fire chief complaining of the deaths and length of (mourning) time plus media (underkill) and fuss given to the fallen heroes of 9/11.

I was 15 when Johnny Cash sang "I Walk The Line" and at my little country farm I heard that and 'loved' him ever since. Now I never knew of his drinking, stealing, drugging, as it was a different time. To me he was just my hero, and STILL is. When did i learn about his unacceptable behaviour? I do not know.

I could be sounding hypocritical here, but Johnny's father blamed him, or Johnny thought so, that he was the reason for his brother's death. Johnny also knew when he was doing 'bad' and tried t0 rectify it.

Did Michael? or was he just N enough to thing that he was indestructible?

I try to tell myself that he was old enough to know better. I tell myself that at age 12, no one could make me say the opposite to what I thought about a good or a bad dad, unless I had been threatened.

As 'bad' as Johnny was, he had the love of June Carter, who saw the goodness in him.

Did anyone see any goodness in MJ, or just his $$$$ to buy love? .........and forgiveness.
I don't know what I ought to think, but I still think of him as an overrated pervert.

[SilverLining]

The culture is sooooooooo sick. We have lost the capacity to choose heroic heroes.

Hops

I'm with you.  The amount of attention being paid to MJ just amazes me.  Didn't his career peak out almost 30 years ago with the "Thriller" album?  Since then it's just been a decline into an ongoing series of bizarre behaviors.  

One theory I've read claims the public identifies with certain events or people because of a nostalgic connection with a certain time.  The height of MJ's popularity came at the end of the economic doldrums of the 70's, and at the beginning of the booming 80's.   Maybe the public is mourning a lost past more than MJ specifically.    He's kind of symbolic of a more general decline in the society.  In 30 years MJ went from being a talented and productive artist to a debt ridden wreck, while the society went from the supposed "morning in America" to our current mess.          

[Saraa]

 The amount of attention being paid to MJ just amazes me.  Didn't his career peak out almost 30 years ago with the "Thriller" album?  Since then it's just been a decline into an ongoing series of bizarre behaviors.  

One theory I've read claims the public identifies with certain events or people because of a nostalgic connection with a certain time.  The height of MJ's popularity came at the end of the economic doldrums of the 70's, and at the beginning of the booming 80's.   Maybe the public is mourning a lost past more than MJ specifically.    He's kind of symbolic of a more general decline in the society.  In 30 years MJ went from being a talented and productive artist to a debt ridden wreck, while the society went from the supposed "morning in America" to our current mess.          

Silverlining:

That makes sense.