My wife and I were watching all the news coverage of Michael Jackson's death last night. She's always been a Jackson fan, but was concerned that the coincidental timing of the deaths would drown coverage of Farrah Fawcett. My wife wrote at her Facebook:
R.I.P. Farrah Fawcett. You will not be forgotten. I was so sorry to hear that Farrah had lost her battle with cancer on the same day that Michael Jackson passed. She will be lost in the circus of "Michael Jackson." She was a true hero in her fight with cancer. So instead of hearing about her life we are only hearing of Michael Jackson. Don't get me wrong I loved Michael Jackson but really who was he at the end???See also, Allahpundit, "Video: House Holds Moment of Silence for Michael Jackson," and Jonah Goldberg, "Some Quick Thoughts on Michael Jackson."
Related: CNN, "Jackson Dies, Almost Takes Internet With Him," and the Los Angeles Times, "Michael Jackson-related traffic doubled Twitter's update frequency, tripled Facebook's [UPDATED]." See also, Memeorandum.
Bonus: Jim Treacher on Michael Jackson, Carrie Prejean, and pop-cult hypocrisy.
I understand that this isn't the first time that this sort of thing has happened. A buddy of mine told me today that Groucho Marx died 3 days after Elvis passed in August of 1977. Groucho's death was hardly noticed, in spite of the fact that he was one of the country's greatest comedians.
ReplyDeleteTiming is everything, I suppose.
It is, Kreiz. Thanks for commenting!
ReplyDeleteit's sad that michael jackson died, as it is when anyone dies. however, i am floored that it is the media circus it is. it also amazes me that the media - and indeed the general public - puts more emphasis on mj's death than those of the fallen heroes whom stand in harms way for all of us.
ReplyDeleteall in all, farrah has been overlooked because a freak has died at the same time as her. timing IS everything.
I posted on Farrah but I think I'll pass on MJ.
ReplyDeleteThe MSM is covering nothing but MJ right now while we have the LARGEST Tax Hike in history before congress right now...
Sad...
AubreyJ.........
Yes a shame, way over the top.
ReplyDeleteThanks Heidi! Timing really is everything!
ReplyDeleteI'll check it out, AubreyJ!
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, Blazing!
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone should be surprised that Jackson's death is getting more coverage than Fawcett's. You have to admit that Jackson was a genius and became a megastar. Farrah, although incredibly beautiful and an icon of my youth, didn't really do too much with her life. His mark on American music will continue to be far greater than Farrah's mark on ... hair.
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to minimize her, but we can't "maximize" her either. Next to Jackson, her career pales.
Yes, Jackson was a very bizarre individual. But, so are most geniuses, and hence the media circus. Not only was he a megastar, he was a bizarre megastar. There is still a ton of money to be made off of the man ... not so much off of Fawcett.
Heck! They just reported on FoxNews that they've discovered over 100 songs Jackson wrote/recorded for his children that weren't to be released until after his death.
There's more coming from this guy ...
Dear Mr. Douglas: It was even worse for Aldous Huxley and C.S. Lewis who both kicked off on 22 November 1963: the day John Kennedy was shot.
ReplyDeleteFor KMacGinn: I do not admit that Jackson was anything but a pitable zany, badly battered by his predatory family, with a knack for stirring up the reptile press. Take away his pedophila, his fetish for bleaching his skin and performing plastic surgery (which really should have been done by a prestressed concrete man, forget plastics) on himeself, and what do you have? Compare him to, say, Richard Rodgers, and the difference between press manipulation and talent backed by hard work flares. Rodgers stayed out of the public eye in a way Jackson could not have understood. Rodgers's music, not Rodgers, was on display, and it will endure. Thirty years after his death, Rodgers music and plays are still performed. Thirty years from now, only MJ's videotaped antics will be on display, as talismans of a grotesque age, watched only by larval Ph.D's trying to make an academic career.
Sincerely yours,
Gregory Koster
I just can't grieve for MJ. Sorry. I had his 'Thriller' album, like everyone else. Sold it in a yard sale sometime in the early '90's (culled from hundreds I've kept to this day, much to my wife's chagrin) because the man-boy-love connection was just too disgusting to overcome.
ReplyDeleteFarrah, now, her death truly saddens me. I'll remember her for the rest of my life; MJ, no way. Wherever he is, he's happier than he was.
Farrah, child, you can live in my dreams forever.
Alas for CS Lewis... talk about being drowned out.
ReplyDeleteHave to admit that the wall-to-wall Jackson coverage has made me realize how iconic he was. For a while, he disappeared. But watching him- the moonwalk, the innumerable poses, the music videos, the lithe frame, the disturbing court appearances- makes me realize how many of these images are seared in the back of my skull.
Perhaps some of it relates to premature deaths- ala Elvis, Hendrix, JFK, Lennon. For example, just watched "Say, Say, Say" with McCartney, and realized that Paul's celebrity, while affixed, is more faded-largely as a function of his long life, while Lennon's images are more iconic. (Explains why, for the far left, Che's image will be more iconic than Castro's.) It's odd how we process and file these things.
Farrah's poster is a single image. No small cultural feat, for sure. But she wasn't as prolific as the King o' Pop.
But she wasn't as prolific as the King o' Pop.
ReplyDeleteNor as weird, disgusting, mentally unstable and unhealthy, completely witless and utterly (but fashionably) tragic.
Iconic for some. Personally, I try to select my icons while completely sober.