Which Was More Tragic: Michael Jackson’s Death Or His Life?
Jackson Honored by Time
For the past four days media coverage of Michael Jackson’s death has been constant. He has been portrayed as an American icon. Someone to be admired. Someone who is “adored” by millions of people many of them too young to have seen Jackson when he was at the peak of his career. TIME Magazine is going to publish a special, commemorative edition. The cover picture that will be used is from a 1992 Jackson music video, “In The Closet”. In this special issue TIME spoke with dozens of celebrities and famous people including: Jesse Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Al Sharpton, Deepak Chopra, Cheryl Crowe, Barry Gordy, John Mayer, and Nancy Reagan. All of these people will, undoubtedly, have high praise for Jackson.
There is no doubt that Jackson was a powerhouse entertainer. An extremely talented musician and showman. He was also a man who changed his face through plastic surgery so many times, beginning in 1984 when he had his first “nose job”, that, unless they saw him through those years, his family would have been hard put to recognize him. He went from a normal looking person to a grotesque caricature. The story he tells of his childhood and the physical and verbal abuse he received from his father may account for much of his behaviors, but does that excuse those behaviors?
He was also an adult male who lived (literally) in a fantasy land. A land, to which he invited young boys and shared a bed with them and, seemingly, found nothing inappropriate about it. He was a man accused, although not convicted, of child molestation. And, although he was not convicted, neither, in many people’s minds, was he exonerated.
What message is being sent in all this media hype about a seriously troubled and troubling man? Praise for the man’s work is one thing. Praise for the man is another.
