With due respect to ...

[blamebrampton]

... those of you who are mourning him, I am probably going to bite the next person who tells me that Michael Jackson was a revolutionary figure in the fight for equality by African Americans. I hasten to add that this has so far been three in real life and double the number of media foik: my flist has been a bastion of sanity.

Aesthetic irony aside, it belittles genuine revolutionary figures. And I am not even talking about political giants like Dr King; there were many entertainers who walked a far more difficult path earlier and with more grace and charity, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Paul Robeson, Josephine Baker, Sammy Davis Jnr and Nina Simone.

I'm all for people loving the heroes they choose, but I would love a bit of perspective at times like these. And perhaps a little sense of history.

Flistees who are just missing the singing and dancing, I apologise for intruding on your sad day. 

Comments

[empress-jae.livejournal.com]

i'm saddened about farrah too, but the difference is that we knew her time was coming. there had been news reports all over the place wednesday that her family and friends were gathering to say their good-byes. MJ is just shocking becuase he was preparing to tour again and then BOOM! gone. i am not placing MJ's death over farrah's, but MJ's was like a slap in the face. at least to me.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

River Phoenix was the only celebrity death that ever actually shocked me. I could not believe that he could die of an overdose surrounded by that many people; it just seemed ridiculous from a first aid perspective.

[empress-jae.livejournal.com]

river's shocked me too because it was before the media age that we're in now where we know EVERY LITTLE DETAIL OF EVERY SKELETON IN THEIR CLOSET. no one really knew that he partied as hard as he did, so to hear that he overdosed was just unbelievable. now a days, if someone like say, lindsay lohan died of an overdose (despite once having a cute, squeaky-clean tween image), would we really be shocked? especially knowing her past and (most-likely) present exploits? probably not.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I'm more surprised that she and Amy Winehouse are still alive ... His drug use was known back then (though I was working in mags, so perhaps it was only known among journos), but overdoses were things that happened at home when there was no one around to help. Not in crowded spaces where someone should have been able to perform CPR ... it seemed crazy ...

And yeah, not knowing everything about people would be better for us, and them!

[piratesmile331.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, the people by whom he was surrounded were probably almost as high as he was.