On Michael Jackson

It’s crazy and unfortunate that people are so fascinated with the ugly side of life. People crave the particulars, more so the bad than the good, of a person's being without a thought or care of what that level of pursuit does to the pursued. Maybe its the news culture of - if it bleeds, it leads - that's been created where people are conditioned to seek out the most intimate and inane details of a person's existence which they choose to label “interesting” and follow with pseudo investigation, pseudo meditation, or even a pseudo discussion of why a person (the pursued) has become whatever they (the pursuer) perceived or otherwise, has become. It’s deplorable that a person cannot live and engage in the life they wish, but sadder yet is the irony that pushes those to the ultimate extremes, extremes that continuously fuel the pursuers and thus creates a never-ending cycle of lunacy that’s not even broken in death. A cipher that begs the question; is life even appreciated in the first place.

We appreciate you Michael Joseph Jackson, and may you finally get some Peace.

Below are a few well thought comments on Michael Jackson’s life. It is with hope that these written and spoken comments can be used as tools to combat the negative and allow us to hold on to the essential spirit of the man who, since childhood, brought so much joy to a multitude of lives around the world.

James Baldwin on Michael Jackson from "Here Be Dragons" (1985)

The Michael Jackson cacophony is fascinating in that it is not about Jackson at all. I hope he has the good sense to know it and the good fortune to snatch his life out of the jaws of a carnivorous success. He will not swiftly be forgiven for having turned so many tables, for he damn sure grabbed the brass ring, and the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo has nothing on Michael.

All that noise is about America, as the dishonest custodian of black life and wealth; the blacks, especially males, in America; and the burning, buried American guilt; and sex and sexual roles and sexual panic; money, success and despair--to all of which may now be added the bitter need to find a head on which to place the crown of Miss America.

Freaks are called freaks and are treated as they are treated--in the main, abominably--because they are human beings who cause to echo, deep within us, our most profound terrors and desires.


This clip is about 50 minutes long, but check out the comments by a caller and the hosts in the first 10 minutes.

“You can’t use the same ruler we use for ourselves to measure their inches.” -- James Mtume on artists like Michael Jackson, Miles Davis, et al., The Open Line 98.7 KISS FM, NYC - June 28, 2009 - Part II












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