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What? You expect a sense of proportion from the media? This is one reason why we don't have any kind of TV feed at our house. On the internet I can pick what I read. I certainly don't need a rehash of scandals, tragedies and "celebrity" news 50 times a day. Whatever happened to dignity and compassion - Oh, right, they don't bring in ad $$$. Meow
How dare you do this on the day of a funeral! Yer just a dumb whit girl anyway.
Bwahahahaha!
AMEN, SISTA! I went home at lunch yesterday and every channel was broadcasting the memorial service. I just don't get it!
So now America's had it's Princess Di moment with all the over the top media coverage. Nothing more to see, let's move on.
Meow, I hear ya. That's why we don't watch the news on TV, or any kind of information program. I can't stand watching that kind of thing, it's all so hyped up. We only use the TV for entertainment. (You don't have TV feed in your house? Girl! You are missing out on some entertaining stuff! It's not all crappy, truly)
Kaya, AHAHAHAHA! Well, at least I didn't bring Hitler into it! Like SOME people I could mention. AHAHAH! *winks and grins* :D
Catrina, I turned on the TV yesterday while feeding little Lily, looking for something to pass the time and yes, I was shocked to find all those channels showing the Michael Jackson thing! I tuned in to a music station instead. That's part of what brought on this post; just the sheer tastelessness of it all. Mind boggling.
Jocelyn, I vaguely remember the Princess Di thing but wasn't it at least a tad more tasteful? Maybe not; as I said, I didn't watch that.
I guess the majority of people enjoy this kind of thing. But it never made sense to me. I think funerals and memorials should be for family/friends who actually knew the person, and it should be discreet, not a glittery show for the masses. And I don't understand people's fascination with royalty, anyway. Or ex-royalty, whatever. I'm sorry Princess Di was killed that way, tragic, but I mean...I didn't *know* her, she didn't do anything for me personally. Yeah, sad. Okay. But all that intense grief from people all over the world? Over someone they never knew? Yeah, doesn't make sense to me. Baffling.
To me, the media circus and the remembrance ceremony are two completely different things, and the remembrance ceremony itself was anything but tacky or over the top. It was a funeral, plan and simple, full of joyous music and beautifully expressed eulogies that helped me to better understand who Michael Jackson was to the people who loved him the most.
In reading between the lines, I gather that you don't think he deserved a grand-scale memorial nor the ensuing media coverage, because he was just like everyone else and we are all going to die. Let me tell you a story: My husband and I and our two-year old daughter attended a Fourth of July party last weekend. My daughter is usually shy and clingy around large groups of people, and this particular party was no exception. Four hours into the party, our host turned off the piped-in Sirius music station that was playing and put in the Michael Jackson Greatest Hits CD. My baby girl jumped out of my lap and onto her feet and started dancing like I've never seen her dance before (and I'm her mother, so I should know). She was completely oblivious to me and the crowd that had gathered around her to watch. It was the perfect example of what great art does -- it pulls you out of yourself and opens you up to experience the pure sensation of happiness. Not to sound corny, but at that moment I understood what "God-given talent" really means.
Only a select few possess the ability to produce truly great art, and when that artist is gone, the world stands up and takes notice and wants to say "thank you" and "your music/writing/painting touched me so and will be missed". Michael's music belongs to everyone now, hence the degree of grieving we've been seeing over his death. And where the people go, the media will follow.
The media circus -- how he died, his drug addiction -- well, I will just continue to tune that out.
I don't for a minute think I'm going to change your view on this, btw. Thanks for letting me share...
Amber, I do catch up on the good TV things via Netflix, Amazon on Demand, iTunes,etc. I'm just a lot later than most people. The whole Princess Di thing really bugged me because Mother Teresa died at that same time and was completely overshadowed because she wasn't young and glamorous - never mind the work she did! Sorry - it's my pet peeve! Meow
The MJ craze makes me sick. Before he died, none of us were listening to him. Except, maybe, occasionally on an oldies station. None of us cared what was going on with him. Hell... I didn't even realize he had more than one child.
And I was a fan once upon a time. I tend to lose interest when they stop producing new stuff.
It is sad. It sucks. He was a kick ass guy. As the Congresswoman said, innocent until proven guilty. I regret screwing up my audition to sing "Beat It" on stage with him now (I was ten). Lol.
But that funeral? Was a concert. I kept expecting MJ to jump out of the casket. That's awful to say but it's true.
SwanSong that was very well put, thank you. I do understand what you are saying and I realize that many people feel the same way you do about the death of a famous person. 
But you're right, it doesn't change my mind. It's not that I don't think Michael Jackson didn't "deserve" such a send-off; I don't think anyone does. Artist or not. Just because he was an artist and made your daughter dance doesn't mean the world should be acting this way about him. My entire family is filled with artists all of types, good ones. My sister is an opera singer, my SIL is a respected painter, my brothers are awesome musicians, my dad was a fantastic musician, too.
My eldest brother is touring Europe right now, he was semi-famous in the 60's and is going through a resurgence in popularity at the moment. I'm very happy for him.
And I don't know your daughter but I think perhaps she would jump up and dance at hearing my brother's music, too, he's an exciting performer, even now. And his CDs still jump and jive.
But I would have been mortified if there had been some huge media to-do over my brother's death; every TV station covering it, etc. I mean, obviously that isn't going to happen because although he writes and performs and is multi-talented and very charismatic, he isn't very well known.
But I would hate it if my brother died and the media went nuts the way it did for MJ.
Every time a celeb dies, I cringe for the family. I just think that stuff should be private. I think such demonstrations are in poor taste.
Elizabeth Taylor said she would not attend because of all the attention, even though she loved MJ very much. I'm with Taylor (even though the last time I saw her, she looked like she'd lost her mind).
I just find such displays distasteful.
To me, it's unseemly. That's just my personal opinion.
Rayne, agreed. Before he died, who was listening anymore? Now his death is big news and everyone is in a frenzy over it. I think I was the most upset about his family crying onstage; that was what I saw when I turned on the TV, his daughter crying and her aunt (?) holding her and crying too. At a regular funeral in a church, the family used to be in a more secluded area so if they could not contain their grief, they wouldn't be embarrassed.
It's as if people want to ogle them. Voyeurs at what should be a private moment. I'll never forget the Columbine shooting; I was sharing a hotel room with another rep and she insisted on having the TV on about it in our room. Reporters sticking mics in people's faces, "How do you feel?" and the shock on everyone's faces. I asked her to turn it off and she said, "What? Don't you care?" Yeah, I fucking care, but I don't want to look at the friends/family anymore in their grief. That should have been private, not for TV watchers to gawk at.
The media, like vultures.
I guess I'm in the minority when it comes to this. *shrugs*
I just know when I was at my mom's funeral, I surely didn't want TV cameras filming me bawling. *shrugs again*
Meow, we're currently watching Mad Men. It's a GREAT show about ad men in the 50's/60's. The third season is coming out this August. See if Netflix has season 1 and 2. It's so fascinating watching how things were different back then and how changed everything is now.
ugh!! my niece had no idea who MJ was until he died... now she's in love with him!!
but she keeps asking me "why did he used to be brown and now he's white?!" haaaa
Kitty, I know, it's annoying. All of a sudden, instant fans. Like an artist's work becoming more valuable after they died, ugh.
This kinda sums up the (what I think is) unhealthy aspect:
http://tinyurl.com/ktrmxv
hmmm i don't know...i watched it, recorded it even while i was at work. he was huge all over the world. no i wasn't a crying wreck but i didn't think the memorial service was too much, but that's my opinion. it wasn't a funeral for the family, they already had theirs, privately. they wanted to do something for the people, the fans because of how popular he was and still is, not just here but everywhere. it has been a long time since someone that big, meaning that well known and even worshipped in some senses, died. i think it was expected that it would be huge, everything about him was. i get it. just my two cents.
AMEN Amber!
I actually tuned out of the news - written, aural and watched over the past week - it was making me VOMIT - scuse' me - he was a f'ck up, psychotic and yes, I believe pedophile, PLUS he probalby has permanently damaged his OWN children (hello- he called ALL of them AFTER himself - egomaniac anyone>).
I'm sick of it.
Itswhoiam, I hear you. I understand the "fans" wanted that kind of thing. I just don't have that need to worship a stranger like that and it's always repels me when I see anyone gushing over a stranger like that. All this outpouring of emotion from millions of people who didn't know him. They say they know him and love him through his music and dancing and that's just bullshit.
Maybe it's because my family has been involved in the entertainment business all my life. I know they are just people, flawed just like anyone. They all have their secrets, feet of clay. No one should worship another that way. I've met a few famous people over the course of my life and I don't care that they are famous, I don't understand people who want their picture taken with someone famous or who freak out when someone famous is around. "OMG I just saw so-and-so!" So what? I mean, who cares? This whole media frenzy about what celeb is doing what; who the fuck cares?
They are all just people. No matter how talented. Talent is just an expression. It can be a beautiful expression but that doesn't automatically make the *person* beautiful too. Assholes can do beautiful work too. They very VERY often do; geniuses are usually fucked up and often arrogant pricks.
I just wish all that effort and emotion and time and money spent on Michael Jackson's death would have gone to different areas in the world that could have used some of that energy and money.
You know what? I'll bet if Michael Jackson could have chosen, he would have preferred it not gone down this way either. It seemed to me he really wanted privacy when it came to his family and himself. And apparently he gave a lot to charities.
Selkie, I'm sick of it too. Dan is convinced he was a pedo as well and was not sorry a whit that he died. And maybe that's partly why I'm being so cynical about it.
But even if it were someone I thought the world of, I still wouldn't like the way it's become a media sensation and the way people are gushing over it all. It's embarrassing.
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