Someone's Playing A Trick On Me

There are few times when I agree with Jonah Goldberg, but the man happens to be right in line here. Disgust is the best word for it:

Sure, I liked the Jackson Five. I liked Thriller, too, when I was a teenager. Michael Jackson was an “icon” for me too.

But let’s pause for a moment on that word “icon.” It seemed the consensus adjective for the news networks. NBC ran a special on two “American Icons” – Fawcett and Jackson. Every cable network (including Fox, for the record) used the word “icon” to describe him as if this was some sort of safe harbor, a word everyone could agree on. “Love him or hate him,” the implied logic went, “he was an ‘icon.’”

Yes, well, maybe so. But that doesn’t let you off the hook. Even though the term sounds neutral, it isn’t. An icon, technically speaking, is a religious symbol deserving of reverence and adoration. The networks may not have intended to use the word that way, but they certainly showed an unseemly amount of reverence and adoration for the man.

There are times when I'm disgusted by my country, and this is one of those times. I can't help but laugh as Wolf Blizter says in his most somber voice, "Now, let's watch this clip from Michael Jackson's thriller," as if the thing were the Mona Lisa. Michael Jackson does not deserve this much reverence. And, while Goldberg gets into the issues of Jackson's alleged pedophilia, that's not what I'm talking about when I say Michael Jackson was not a great man. I use that term in sense I use it for great novelists, philosophers, composers, men and women who lived morally questionable or emotionally disturbed lives and yet created something that has aesthetic value, something that persists. I like Michael Jackson's music, I really do. He has his own section in my mp3 library. But, he was a pop star. He wasn't John Lennon, he wasn't Robert Johnson, and he sure as hell wasn't Brahms. So, who are we sanctifying? Al Sharpton spoke of Michael Jackson as if Jackie Robinson didn't exist, as if Michael Jackson was the civil rights hero of our culture. No, Michael Jackson was a pop star. I've seen more minutes devoted to Jackson's death spent on MSNBC than I've seen spent on any other news story in the past few months. Concerned commentators discuss just how Michael Jackson will be remembered. Will it be for the controversy? Will it be for the music? Invariably they agree Jackson was a hero. No, he was a pop star. Yes, he was the King of Pop, but that's like being the best school president ever. Excuse me while I etch your visage in the side of a mountain and burn your name into the surface of the moon.

Did you hear? Brave Iranians are putting themselves in danger, some are sacrificing their lives, to revolt against an oppressive regime. Please, don't waste my time with that, Michael Jackson died. Did you hear? An important debate is going about a new health care system that has the potential to change the lives of millions of Americans. Please, don't waste my time with that, Michael Jackson died.

Did I wake up psychoville? Because I'd swear someone is playing a trick on me. The fact that a fifty year old pop star died cannot be the most important news story in this country. It really cannot.