Jonas Salk was never mourned like this - and he cured the world of polio.
No disrespect to Michael Jackson the pop star, pay him whatever tributes you wish, but I wonder how many other Jacksons live and die good ordinary lives and yet we do not call out their names. I wonder how many Michael Jacksons there are in our military, in harms way right this minute in Iraq and Afghanistan, who serve without recognition.
This wall to wall coverage, these mobs grieving over an entertainer, all of it, in such excess, approaches ghoulishness. The last time this happened was when silent screen idol Valentino died young and, as H.L. Mencken tells it, Valentino was startled by his fame and uncomfortable in his skin as a sex symbol -- so surely he would have been horrified by the multitudes who grieved his death.
Obviously many of us lead lives of "quiet desperation" (Thoreau), so we live vicariously, through the lives of others, mostly entertainers and athletes. Nathanael West covered this in his Hollywood novel "The Day of the Locust," about those lonely people who have turned fetish in their adoration of celebrities, alive or dead. Their sorrow becomes dangerous when it marches as a mob.
Let's not dwell on the value of Pop to our culture, nor of the public crotch grabbing (simulated masturbation) that taught us to accept and even to welcome vulgarity. Never mind all that, though it's true that another entertainer of that same period, Pee Wee Herman (Paul Reubens) was actually arrested for doing something like that in private. We get it from Wikipedia that "In July, 1991, Reubens was arrested for indecent exposure while masturbating during an adult theater performance in Sarasota, Florida."
Let's not touch on whatever urged Jackson to make song from such lyrics as, "Jew me, sue me, kick me, kike me."
There's that other business as well that is best left alone.
Let's give him his due that he was an entertainer blessed and cursed by an overabundance of talent - to borrow from what the writer John W. Cassell told me over the phone, "That he could never live up to what was expected of him. That's what destroyed him." I'm buying that because what Jackson is to others, Elvis was to me. Only I began to appreciate Elvis when it was too late, after he was gone.
At the time, back then, I thought he was all wrong. How I've changed about Elvis! Maybe one day I'll change about Michael Jackson.
Elvis came along when there was a cultural void to fill and I guess the same goes for Jackson.
But this is not about either of them. This is about adoration and adulation that gets out of hand. This is about idol-worship.
There is something sick in our culture when the earth stands still for a man who could sing and dance.
There is something misplaced in our priorities when our news media goes gaga over one Jackson above all the other Jacksons.
About the author: Novelist Jack Engelhard's latest thriller, "The Bathsheba Deadline," which centers on media deceit against America and Israel, is available in paperback at Amazon. Engelhard wrote the international bestselling novel "Indecent Proposal" that was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. The book version of "Indecent Proposal," that inspired the movie, is a microcosm of the Arab/Israeli conflict. Engelhard can be reached at www.jackengelhard.com
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Comments: 9
I am glad I am not the only that thinks that the public is over doing things.
I don't quite think the earth is standing still over this, Jack. It's news, and anyone who doesn't want to hear it can just as easily change the channel or turn off the TV.
I am amazed by the number of people who would presume to tell others who is (or is not) worthy of mourning, or for how long or how best to mourn. To trivialize the importance of anyone's contributions upon the news of their death or to criticize people for caring about it is in bad taste.
The true value of a person's life lies in their ability to touch others, and clearly, he meant something to many people. He also donated millions of dollars to charity.
The rest of the world's problems are not forgotten because of Michael Jackson or any other celebrity. No one said his death is more important than anyone else's- it isn't.
Sometimes people just need to feel a connection to something like this, just as they did with Princess Diana. I don't see why others caring brings out such negativity in some people. It's really quite disheartening.
Great article! What really upsets me, is that people "worship" Michael Jackson much more than they do GOD.........honestly, with the tons and tons and tons and tons of coverage (nothing else is ON t.v.), it's as though Michael Jackson IS/WAS God.......it really is appalling......and does get old after awhile......thank goodness, TRU TV doesn't have that coverage.......LOL!!!!!
Nora, why do you say that people who have expressed sorrow over Michael Jackson's death "worship him much more than they do God"? That seems a very presumptuous thing to say.
Exactly what Keith and I were just saying to each other. Gees, even Fox News is full of Michael Jackson coverage. We've seen no coverage of Farah Fawcett, zero, until 1 minute ago on "Dateline."
There was a one hour special on Farrah last night on 20/20.
I started to watdh 20/20, then fell asleep. I get up too early in the morning to stay awake for that entire show.
Why, is it that the other news takes a back seat...I still want to know what is going on in other parts of the country... We have some major issues going on here, but the news gets carried away one thing... I can see paying respect to someone but over and over and over again... They need to give it a break and its just not with him.. It seems they get stuck on one story and wear it out....
You know Jack, maybe our perception of the military is manufactured for us quite differently than that of Michael Jackson.
The governments own web site details the following information which you yourself can easily find.
There have been approximately (precise numbers on the U.S. government web site) 6.5 million soldiers since 2000. Of those 2.3 million have died. The normal death rate based on statistical analysis would have been closer to just under 1 million which means the death rate for veterans of the Gulf Wars is more than double the national averages and these were presumably healthy young men. So, perhaps the media prefers that we're focused on Michael Jackson and perhaps the government does too. Perhaps if we focused too carefully on the military we'd discover that our soldiers are dying mysteriously and in far greater numbers than the general population.
The media was complicit in forming our opinion about and promoting our decisions to accept two wars, fraudulently.
What else are they complicit in regarding the formation of public opinion?