It didn’t take long for Twitter to get clogged with people (including myself) with news of Michael Jackson’s death by cardiac arrest Thursday afternoon. TMZ, of course, was one of the first to tell and, no doubt, this will be one of the fastest-spreading stories to date. If it’s one thing we love in America even more than a freak show, it’s a high-profile death.
Now we sit back and wait for garish tributes and even worse, conspiracy theories (Jackson faked his death, Jackson was killed by the government). What we don’t do is sit back and give his family a modicum of privacy. For a man who was larger than life, he was still somebody’s son, brother, father. …
I’m not shocked, and I’m not surprised, by news of Jackson’s death. Someone once said shooting stars burn out the quickest.
What I will have a difficult time doing is sorting out my own mixed emotions. Charges against Jackson, amounting to accusations of pedophilia, were leveled against him more than once. In one case, they were settled, in another, he was acquitted. The truth of what really happened has died with Jackson.
The fact that his behavior and appearance seemed to grow more bizarre with every decade fueled an already obsessive tabloid media and audience.
His impact on the music industry is unquestionable. What remains to be seen is what will last longer: The myth of the man, or the music.
—JS
