Michael Jackson

Just watched that video. It has been a long time since I've seen that (not watching any news coverage). He was an amazingly talented performer. Watching that, it seems like two different people, him then and now.

[madeintaiwan]

The world STOPPED when Lennon died. Perhaps MJ didn't take out enough melanin from his skin. Freak or not. He was the greatest musician of our time. Period. If you don't or can't appreciate that, that's fine. I just think it is poor taste to say anything "bad" or crack jokes after someone, anyone, has died. They're dead. Let them be dead. The rule of saying nothing should apply here.

Lennon wasn't accused of multiple cases of child molestation, didn't admit to "entertaining" children in his bed / bedroom (and see nothing wrong with it), or dangle a child off a balcony. Lennon was also murdered, which does not appear to be the case here.

From where I'm sitting it doesn't have a single thing to do with melanin. Jackson made contributions to the music world on the same scale (or greater, depending on musical tastes), but the way he chose to live his life is why I'm not even remotely sad that he's gone, and sick to death of the coverage.

[GrayMatterWife]

. . . the way he chose to live his life is why I'm not even remotely sad that he's gone, and sick to death of the coverage.

I feel badly to admit it, because it sounds so unforgiving and uncharitable, but I feel the same. No more kids will be hurt by him.

And, maybe, he is finally at peace, too. Hopefully, he has been relieved of whatever demons haunted him and lay behind his deeply disturbed behavior.

My feelings on this certainly aren't shaped by Jackson's color (or his lack of his original color, or whatever). I would feel the exact same way about a white guy who did what Jackson did. And he doesn't get a free pass (from me, anyway, although that clearly means little) because he was black. Or grew up with a lousy childhood. Or whatever. Whatever color his skin color was, he was a grown man who hurt children and got away with it because of the color of green.

His would-be future bed-buddy victims are safer now that he cannot victimize them.

[Chrisada]

Debbie does not want the kids. A quote from an interview she just did.

"I was never a good mother, I never felt any attachment to them. It was a better feeling giving them to him than it was keeping them as my own. I know I will never see them again. I was never cut out to be a mother - I was no good. I don't want these children in my life. My children are my animals now."

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news...ir-father.html

[MrsC]

I think MJ's death is very sad. I think he was a lonely and messed up man, more like a man child. I think everyone is forgetting that he was found not guitly on those abuse cases. Yes, he admitted to sleeping in the same bed as these kids, which is completely wrong but that doesn't mean he abused them. Of course parents are going to jump on that and assume the worst. Everyone who was close to him and who knew him denies that he was capable of such a horrendous crime. I think he was a kid whose youth was stolen and who never really grew up.

Here's an excerpt from an Oprah interview in 1993 where he admits that he had viliigo;
Michael: It's in my family, my father said it's on his side. I can't control it, I don't understand. I mean it makes me very sad. I don't want to go into my medical history because that is private, but that's the situation here.
Oprah: So OK, I just want to get this straight, you are not taking anything to change the color of your skin?
Michael: Oh God no, we tried to control it and using make-up evens it out because it makes blotches on my skin. I have to even out my skin.

Vitiligo Universalis (sp?) can change the colour of your entire body rather than the more common form which effects parts of your skin. You can google this and find photos where he has used make-up to cover it up.

I also believed that he had bleached his skin and that was through ignorance, I never looked for an alternative.

I don't like to speak ill of the dead. May he finally find some peace.

[Chrisada]

Ok, I deleted the interview of Debbie Rowe that I posted. Her attorney says it is fabricated.

[Meenah]

He was an extremely talented artist.

[bokelley]

I am going to go on a rant here. I turned on the TV to catch up on some news. And on every channel that I turn to, it is the Michael Jackson memorial. I understand that he was a music legend and all of that. But does it really need all of this... And how much is this costing the city of LA? Sorry about the rant, just had to get it off my chest.

[SuzySunshine]

Yep, so not watching it - I turned the TV off. I really hope this dies down after today.

[MrsK]

Tuned in just in time to see MJ's 11 year old daughter take the mic. She was sobbing and talking about her "daddy". It looked spontaneous. I don't think she was expected to speak. Of course, now I'm a puddle of mush.

[alison]

I have a bigger problem with the publicity that Jon and Kate get than an actual entertainer, who was arguably the world's biggest star.

[Chrisada]

I completely understand why it was on every channel and think they did a great job.

[oceanchild]

And how much is this costing the city of LA?

Apparently they're taking donations to defray costs: http://mayor.lacity.org/PressRoom/Pr...LACITYP_005598

Seriously though, I used to live about a mile from the Staples Center, and there were big events that required tons of security and road closures all the time. I think it's something they just have to deal with. The economic payoff to having all those celebrities and studios in town is pretty good.

All that said, I am not watching this. Just not remotely interested.

[SuzySunshine]

I have a bigger problem with the publicity that Jon and Kate get than an actual entertainer, who was arguably the world's biggest star.

I agree that he was a big star when I was a kid and should have a proper send off. Today's events seem like they were well planned. What has bugged me is that there has been very little other national news coverage since the day he passed. North Korea has a legitimate nuclear bomb threat and its barely, if at all, been talked about the last week. Obama is in Russia which was a tenuous relationship, to say the least, under Bush and its getting minimal coverage. I think this country's obsession with celebrities and not things that really could affect our every day lives has gotten a little out of hand. That is all.