Michael Jackson is Dead. Move On.

Being a guy who doesn't give a rat's ass about what goes on in Hollywood and celebrity gossip in general, you can imagine that the constant media focus on the death of Michael Jackson has grated on me. You see, when I turn on the news, I am hoping to hear about various items, whether they be news, business, sports, etc. But the incessant coverage of everything Michael Jackson since his death, has been excessive at best.

Now, you have to realize that growing up, I listened to a lot of Michael Jackson music. But you see, unlike the majority of people, I can differentiate between a product and the producer. I would go out and buy a new camping tent, but I really don't care about the day-to-day goings-on with the tent's inventor or the person who holds the patent for the tent. I view music and movies the same way - it's an end product of an artist and the end product can be appreciated. Perhaps even the artist who produced it. But the simply god-like treatment of a celebrity is something which I have never understood.

It culminated in today's Michael Jackon memorial. My wife watched it and was glued to the set. I refused to watch it. And why would I? Michael Jackson was a talented singer, nothing more. Somehow the media seems to think he is the returning messiah, the way they treated him like some sort of deity. I guess this is what happens when one lives in today's media-saturated world, where the goings on of celebrities seems to pique people's interest (why, I don't know - maybe their own lives are so dull that they have nothing else better to do). I was meeting with one of my customers today and ended up chatting with him about car auctions for a good hour. It was great, and I was thinking, while most people sat in front of their TVs, watching a glorified memorial of a celebrity they have likely never met or do not know personally, I was interacting with a real live person.

It seems to be lost on people that Jackson wasn't exactly a shiny example of an upstanding citizen. His numerous child molestation challenges will likely forever haunt his memory, if you are looking at his biographical sketch objectively. It was telling that the performers at the memorial all had very public affairs, divorces, etc. Kind of fitting, considering the type of person Jackson was.

Also, while I didn't watch any of the coverage, it's kind of hard to ignore it if you are reading the newspaper or going on any news website today. There are pictures everywhere. You ever notice that almost all of the performers were black? For all the media seem to suggest about Jackson breaking down racial barriers, you really don't see that at all, based on the demographics of the performing artists. Further, ever notice that on the day Jackson died, all of the coverage of the "mourners" were undoubtedly almost all black, whether they were in California, Harlem, or elsewhere. It would seem to me that Jackson did not make as big of strides as people thought.

One other thing to mention - and I suppose this is typical of today's pluralistic mindset. Even in curiously persuing some photos of the coverage, it seems that in numerous parts of the ceremony, they were flashing different religious symbols on the screen, as if to suggest all religions were the same or that there is no different in faiths. This is the ultimate moral relativism, which perhaps contributes to why Jackson is so popular - he believed in the age-old "I'm OK, you're OK" type of approach, the "all faiths lead to the same place" type of mentality, in an effort to not offend anyone. What a fallacy this is. No wonder so many people conveniently gloss over the fact that he wasn't exactly someone you'd be comfortable leaving you children with. But that is the world we live in, where character flaws don't seem to matter.

For me, Jackson's death is no different than any other. I grieve for his family, who have lost a dear family member, and I'm sure it's tough for his parents, but you know, all that plastic surgery, drugs that he took and the lifestyle that he chose - well, I can't say that I'm surprised he died at the age he did. But let's be objective here. He's a singer, an artist, an entertainer. Let's not lose sight of that.