RIP Michael Jackson

[RazorclawX]

No, I'm not comparing MJ to Hitler, it's a relevant metaphor though.

Knee-jerk reactions like this is why the presumption of innocence isn't popular anymore; these days it's enough to be accused of a crime.

Do you think anyone will salute OJ's contributions to football when he dies, despite being a great player?

Yes.

His Heisman is still on display at USC.

Don't take it personally though, my observations aren't meant to be a critique on MJ or your adoration of his accomplishments, but rather a critique on human nature.

Which is also inappropriate. If you want to critique human nature, there's a button on the top of the page called "New Post". Otherwise, all I see you did here was walk into here and name-drop Hitler to get a reaction out of people when you knew full well what kind of reaction that would get out of people.

[mAc Chaos]

Well, I don't know if you can separate listening to somebody's music from the person themselves.  Listening to a song, supporting the people that made it, buying the music, contributes that person.  When we don't like what a company or something's doing, we boycott it, right?  The reason is because it's implied that buying their product in some way endorses their actions.

I know if there was a band I liked to listen to, but I found out they were just terrible people and that they did bad things, I would lose much of the enjoyment I get from their music, because all of the baggage would constantly be summoned up every time I hit play.

Then again, I don't really pay attention to the personal lives of the musicians who make the songs I listen to.  If it sounds good, that's as far as I go.

I don't know about Michael Jackson, though.  Never really listened to his music or paid attention to him.

They've been playing his stuff on the news stations nonstop.

[Hercanic]

Farrah Fawcett also died the same day, earlier that morning.

Ed McMahon died Monday.

[DrumsofWar]

What struck me the most is the fact that he became so incredibly popular, maybe even more than the Beatles and Elvis put together, despite everything that happened afterwards.  It's a little mind blowing to realize HOW big he might have gotten in the 1990's and this decade in terms of being a truly stratospheric star approaching a popularity unequaled in maybe centuries, if all that hadn't happened.

Hercanic: Yeah, which is why people are trumpeting the rule of three thing.  The funny thing is that Ed McMahon is the only one of these stars whose life actually saved lives, being a Marine pilot in both World War II and the Korean War.

[Marco]

If you want to critique human nature, there's a button on the top of the page called "New Post". Otherwise, all I see you did here was walk into here and name-drop Hitler to get a reaction out of people when you knew full well what kind of reaction that would get out of people.

Discussion forum is for discussion.  It isn't as if what I had to talk was completely irrelevant to the original subject matter - it was that very subject matter on which I was making a point.  I digress though, if you want a thread to honor someone and have it purely be for that, then fine, not trying to rattle the cage here.  I say no more.

[AA7Dragoon]

Maybe I can put some of all this into perspective.

Michael Jackson was a man whose life was tragic and ended so.

Yes, we loved his music.  He defined generations of music, changed the record industry, and his music will always be as timeless as Elvis and the Beatles.  He was an artist with a talent that will never be seen again.  He truly was the "King of Pop."

That being said, Michael Jackson was also mentally ill.  Years of child abuse from an abusive father, and overwhelming success robbed him of the earlier years of his life.  His mentality never fully matured, even regressing into bizarre manifestations such as his surgeries and the Neverland Ranch.  Unfortunately, his enormous wealth and celebrity status only fed his illness, and allowed him to create a world void of reality and rationality.

Michael Jackson was also a pedophile.  Is he an evil person for being that way?  In Jackson's case, it is difficult to say.  For someone who should have been hospitalized and seeking therapy, he was instead allowed to pursue his infantile impulses to compensate for the physical and emotional abuse attached to his celebrity status as a child.

Should he be revered as an artistic icon or demonized as a deranged pedophile?  Neither.  Michael Jackson's story is not unique.  It is one more story of a childhood celebrity's life ruined by fame, money, and success.  He is a lesson for us all not to covet the life of the rich and famous.  There is no happiness in the decadence of celebrities' lives.  In fact, it is the reason why Michael Jackson died of cardiac arrest at the age of 50.  The stress of years of litigation against him, massive debt, prescription drugs, and the pressure of his comeback tour did him in.  We will see in the coming weeks that the same thing that happened to Anna Nichole Smith happened to Michael Jackson.

Michael Jackson.  An artist with a method to his madness.  His life, a tragic end of what could have been.  Rest in peace.

[Legion]

Michael Jackson was also a pedophile.

Just because people say that doesn't make it true.

Is he an evil person for being that way?

If there was cold hard proof that he was one, yes that would make him a bad person for me. Taking advantage of children is an evil act, imo.

Besides, the unresolved matter concerning the allegations has nothing to do with the artist being dead now. I'm sure RCX didn't intend on fanning the flames of that 90s discussion on this board, but rather, as I said earlier, on sharing the news of the death of probably the world's most reknowned artist since Elvis.

The world has lost Michael Jackson. Fans and unfans and everyone in between will acknowledge that means something. Maybe not as sad as the Africa situation, like Desler said, but if we go on comparing everything to that, then nothing is sad anymore.

[Aiursrage2k]

Michael Jackson was also a pedophile.  Is he an evil person for being that way?  In Jackson's case, it is difficult to say.  For someone who should have been hospitalized and seeking therapy, he was instead allowed to pursue his infantile impulses to compensate for the physical and emotional abuse attached to his celebrity status as a child.

Was he actually convicted for being a pedophile. Pedophilia should never be allowed to be normalized, and yet there are groups such as NAMBLA trying to do just that