Topic: American Culture
What Michael Jackson's Death Teaches Us About Politics and the Media (and, yep, it's uglier than Michael's last nose job..)by Sherry Baker
(libertarian)
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
What? Another story about Michael Jackson? Am I, too, a groveling, celebrity worshipping Jackson mourner? No, no, darlings.
In fact, I'm an equal opportunity mourner. I feel sorry for anyone who dies for what at least appears to be no good reason at all --just dumb decisions, like taking a cornucopia of prescription drugs . Likewise, I feel sorry for the million plus Iraqis slaughtered due to lies and an illegal invasion.
But I digress.
Back to Jackson's demise.
Instead of either falling into the ridiculous near-hysteria hype-o-rama surrounding the "King's" death or, on the other hand, pretending like Jackson's demise isn't a cultural event, let's see what we can learn from it ... and, no, I'm not talking about some inane belief that he was literally a larger than life , holier than most everyone , peacemaker god or "king."
Here are some of the lessons learned this past week:
1. His death shows us just how incompetent the media are. Jackson was literally not evem cold stone dead when there were "experts" talking about how he had died of cardiac arrest. Some declared it was "heart failure" ( anyone who has a clue about what that disease knows he didn't have heart failure and anyone with any medical knowledge at all doesn't equate the condition "heart failure" with someone's heart stopping). Others launched into story after story about his "heart attack" or his ventricular fibrillation.
Bottom line: THEY HAD NO CLUE what killed him. No one knows yet. It was all blubbery speculation pulled out of the thinnest of air and information.
Sure, his heart stopped beating.. 'cause he DIED. He could have hadrespiratory arrest prior to his heart stopping. It could have been a thromboembolic event ( oh, go look it up) from some dance injury.
It sure sounds likes a drug overdose, though... Yet the media reported inaccuracies out the wazoo about the purported cause of Jackson's death never mind the fact the autopsy reports aren't even in --- with the same overwrought enthusiasm, incompetence and substitution of drama for facts they use to cover politics. It's all about not getting the REAL and FACTUAL story but coming up with a story that is entertaining.. the facts be hanged.
2. We also learned that Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican congressman who is considering a Senate run, is an ignorant drama queen poseur. He posted a YouTube video declaring Michael Jackson "..a child molester. He was a pedophile. And to be giving this much coverage to him, day in and day out, what does it say about us as a country?"
And what does it say about Peter "I will do anything to get some free publicity" King and his media ho-ing efforts to grab onto some kind of anti-Michael Jackson backlash..
Ok. I can agree with the vomitous amount of coverage of Michael Jackson's death and burial. But if King has any brain at all, he should know that Jackson was acquitted of child molestation charges. If King has PROOF to the contrary, go ahead and spill those beans.
Otherwise, although King may think he is omniscient and god-like, he has no business declaring that Jackson was a pedophile. He can blither on about his opinions all he wants but declaring that someone dead or alive is absolutely guilty of a horrible crime based on what someone FEELS about it and smearing the newly dead in a video is pretty tacky , low-life and certainly shows zero respect for the US system of justice.
Whether Jackson's looks were odd or he was eccentric or not ( and heaven knows we all can probably agree he was both odd and eccentric), he was acquitted according to the law of the land of being a child molester. So King is showing he doesn't go by the law's verdict, he goes by pronouncements and declarations based on what he thinks or assumes... Kind of a scary thought that this is a guy who wants to be a leader of this country? What's next? Will he know who is guilty of this or that, despite what a court trial decides? Is he for a hang 'em high justice based on some "knowing" by a great "leader" like this King guy?
Oh, and he said Jackson had "admitted to sleeping with young boys, traveling with young boys. ... That's the definition of pedophilia." No, that isn't the "definition of pedophilia" which shows, yet again, just how stupid and blabber mouthingly idiotic King is.
3. If even a small portion of the news about the sheer amount of prescription drugs Michael Jackson had access to and used is true, can we now be honest about the "drug problem" in America? Can we not face the fact that prescription drug abuse is a killer and yet, if you have the money and position, you can get whatever you want in the way of feel good or feel down or feel high or, in Michael Jackson's case, feel dead pharmaceuticals.
But god forbid you are young and/or black and/or poor and get caught with some all natural herb known as marijuana. You'll have the ever righteous conservative hypocrites screaming " DRUGS!!! HORRIBLE! DANGER ! DRUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and unless daddy is a lawyer and you are well connected, odds are you'll be sent to jail in most states.
The whole insanely unequal " war on drugs" is an issue that screams the truth: THE INMATES ARE RUNNING THE ASYLUM!!!!!!!!!!
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The views expressed in this
article are those of Sherry Baker only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Sherry Baker is
solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an
employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
My, my, my. For a self-professed writer of hundreds (or was it thousands, I forget?) of articles for publication, you ramble more recklessly than Jay Leno doing the Moonwalk! Get a grip on yourself girl (woman? older lady?). This isn't rocket science, it's just a public information tsunami like many others we've had. Do you remember OJ Simpson, or Sarah Palin? Surely you aren't shocked by speculation over the Superbowl or American Idol, are you?
You seem to greatly mistaken SPECULATION for FACT. Speculation is what occurs BEFORE we find out about something while fact is what we find out AFTERWARD. To berate "the MEDIA" for speculating on the cause of death for Michael Jackson is like berating the media for speculating about who will win the Indianapolis 500, or what Sarah Palin will do next. I think someone just got their sensitivities stepped on and they're screamin' bloody murder!
Then, to pick on poor Congressman King, who's only trying to represent an unaddressed constituency of people who think that Michael Jackson's legacy is not being fully and properly discussed, you attempt to chastise him for giving his opinion. Oh, that we might do the same to YOU, Ms. Brazen Hussy (which is the name of your blog, isn't it?).
For someone who claims immersion in the speculative media, you sure seem sensitive to that restless herd of sensation chasers who make their living from it. It's no different than all the HYPE for the next TWILIGHT movie, or to continuously read about Jon and Kate; will they break up, or have they already?
Try to calm down a little, Ms Baker. It isn't a travesty of justice to speculate. We all do it, and we all need it as a way to vent our opinions. You should respect that, because you're doing it, too! I only wish you could do it with the sense of HUMOR that you boast of but don't seem able to demonstrate.
Although, I think you might have slid into the murk of imprecise metaphor with the phrase "vomitous amount of coverage". Isn't it rather difficult to determine HOW MUCH is involved in a vomitous amount? Is that a little or a lot? I suppose it depends upon who's doing the vomiting. I guess it's a lot like that "blubbery speculation" that you thought emphasized your point so well. I guess I don't see how either fat or skinny speculation is much different. It's all just speculation, isn't it?
To Master C (jeez, now that's a moniker that raises all sorts of possibilities of what the C stands for),
You need to get a grip. My point was that , indeed, the media report as fact what IS speculation.
And, yeah, it is thousands , not hundreds, of my articles that have been published. I'm a pro and I will write what I damn well please, thank you very much.. Sometimes I write humor, sometimes I don't. You are really flailing around a lot trying to find ways to attack me.. it's sort of pathetic.
Show me ONE report where there is an article that says "this is a fact", and I'll believe you. No one is purporting to report facts about Michael's death. You just PREsume that their speculation is FACT. The rest of us know that it's just SPECULATION.
And, your ribald sense of humor seems suddenly to be wearing thin (like that bustle on your dress) if the best retort you can offer is "I'm a pro and I will write what I damn well please." That's like Lady Ga Ga telling us she's a STAR when some of us have never seen any reasons to believe that she is. If I had to conclude from your article that you're a professional writer, I'd wonder how many Letters to the Editor you were counting as publications?
Master(ful) C ~ yes, there are other ameliorative aphorisms, too. Although your SPECULATION about them wouldn't be as clever as my SPECULATIONS about what kind of "hussy" you are! Want to try me?
O.J. Simpson was also aquitted of murder, but nobody believes that either. The sad thing is if anyone else actually admitted to sleeping with young kids in a court of law, do you think a jury would convict him? Of course they would! But since it's Michael Jackson and a member of the "privileged", he gets away with things that you or I would never get away with (kinda like Simpson, or Ted Kennedy or Name-Your-Actor/Singer/Politician here).
You're supposed to be a Libertarian, Ms. Baker. Please, start acting like one.
When Michael Jackson was accused of pedophila twice, did he sue for slander for either accusation? No! He paid what most people would classify as "hush money" to the parents on the first occasion. The second occasion, he was arrested and put on trial. Although acquitted, he lost later in a civil suit! Between those facts and the fact that he hadn't scored a hit song in so many years, it seemed bizarre to me the fanatical adulation and media circus following his death! After John Lennon's violent death, his fans held a candlelight vigil but they didn't dance at it in front of tv cameras nor was there all this media hype! What were the worst things critics said about John Lennon? In the song "Imagine" he proclaimed to be a One World socialist utopian, he was addicted to heroin in the late 60's and he once stated that the Beatles were more popular than Christ! He was never accused by his critics of being a child molestor or even a washed-up has been! Will people wax nostalgic for Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 decades from now the way people do now for John Lennon and the Beatles? I hope not.
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