Does Michael Jackson deserve to adulation he’s received post-mortem? Here’s my story:
“So the Jackson story’s pretty much run its course?” a friend asked me tonight. “No,” I said. “At least six months more. At least.”
He was flabbergasted. “What could they be talking about for six months?”
Well, we’ll talk about the biological parentage of his kids, we’ll talk about who gets what in his estate, we’ll talk about who whore what to court and whether they were late; people will from time to time bring up the whereabouts of Bubbles and a potential feature film, at some point Macualay Culkin will have to weigh in, and then every now and then someone will make a very, very horrible but pee-your-pants funny joke about his death and I will laugh. Like what just happened a few hours ago. No, I’m not repeating it. But seriously. This is going to last FOREVER, so hop on the train and get a seat.
It’s a fascinating phenomenon, this public outcry of grief we see when a major celebrity passes. These deaths are an opportunity for mass catharsis. It’s not that these people are crying over Michael Jackson or Farrah Fawcett specifically; they’re externalizing pain that’s probably needed a release for some time. You see a sort of mob mentality take over — the grief feeds upon the grief. In today’s society, how often do we get an opportunity to stand on the street with strangers and share a good cry? It’s not really my style, but I can see the appeal. There are certainly less healthy outlets for pain.
Michael Jackson died from an accidental overdose of the prescription pills he was abusing. He died of addiction, which is a disease. That disease doesn’t make him a bad person, or less worthy of adulation, than if he’d died of cancer. Bill O’Reilly thinks otherwise.
Accidental overdose? Are you frickin kidding me? You use script drugs on demand because you are in a very rare position to be able to demand them at will, or you are swatted away like a bothersome fly. $48,000.00 per MONTH is no accident. Get a clue.
“…who whore what to court…”
Hahaha Freudian slip much :D
That’s what I thought at first, but come on, Beet is clever. At second thought I’m certain the spelling is on purpose.
Best part of the hole post. :-)
Ha whoops, total typo, but it stays. :)
The 5th word of your piece is also wrong btw
wow, bill o’reilly is an asshole, but he’s actually intelligent in this video. that other guy is SUCH a toolbag. he sounds very unintelligent and is making blacks look bad.
You all sit and mourn Michael Jackson’s death in the only way you knew how to treat him; Exploiting him on the television, talking amongst each other about what you think he would have wanted like you thought you knew him. Long live your exploitable hero, hypocrites.
“Michael Jackson is dead don’t pretend you give a shit, you mother fucking hypocrites remember what you said he did.” – Jon Lajoie
Here, Here!!! From now on I’m going to pretend I give a shit what Jon Lajoie spews or thinks.
I’m pressing the “like button.” Well put, Miss Malice.
I just really want to hear this joke that you said was so funny, haha. Through all of this I could usually only think of the South Park episode of MJ and the many other spoofs on him. Mean? Maybe. Funny? Definitely. Tell the joke.
it kind of annoys me when people say that addiction is a disease. sure, it’s something that you can’t control, but it began because of conscious choices. michael CHOSE to begin taking drugs for whatever reason. he knew that it was bad, but he still did it. once he became addicted it was out of his hands, but initially he was very well aware of what he was getting himself into. cancer is a real disease that affects people who may even take preventitive measures. those people don’t choose a potentially fatal disease upon themselves. michael, however, did, and he paid the consequences.
i do feel bad for him, though. he wasn’t my icon and i don’t think he’ll ever be, but he led a life that people look up to, for a reason i’ll never understand. RIP, MJ.
Well said Ash.
Just like they say obesity is “a disease” oh please. Shoving food voluntarily in your mouth does NOT constitute as a disease people.
Just like pill-popping.
It is a disease, actually. It’s decided already in your brain how easy you can be addicted, what’s your drug choice, if anyone in your family has had any type of addiction problem, and among other things.
Maybe before saying crap like that, actually go to the medical field, and become a doctor. Obesity is a disease too, most people cannot help it, since I work at a hospital, I have seen people that rarely eat, but are obese. (That’s usually the case.)
Cancer wouldn’t be a ‘real disease’ if you think addiction isn’t.
Cancer can be caused by what you do, and genetics. (Same with addiction. Not so bright, are you? :/)
I don’t think I have ever seen someone like you talking about ignorant crap, and not actually knowing, or have any kind of clue what you’re talking about.
As I read these comments, I see most of you are very ignorant, and unknowing about most of the stuff you’re talking about.
I love when people say it’s not a disease when more then likely they have never been addicted to anything and have no idea what it is like. Nathanial is absolutely right. It is genetic and already predetermined in your brain. There could be people who are drug addicts who haven’t even taken drugs actually, and it’s just a matter of time before they take that first ‘hit’ then it’s all over from that very first second of feeling high. I know it sounds ridiculous, but one can have addictive behavior or the mind of a drug addict way way before they ever use. If you interview 1000 addicts you will see the same re-occurring behavior (even in adolescence) way before they started using.
My mother is an addict and her form of addiction is in gambling. I became a drug addict and my addiction was in pain killers. I was born with a problem that caused me to have many surgeries as a kid and I had my first pain-killer very young, and I became addicted at the age of 9.
You can even see it a different way… since most addicts use to cover up emotions they do not want to feel. So if a person is molested as a kid and they use drugs to cover up those bad feelings then does their addiction have no merit?
I honestly wish people would do a little bit of research before they talk and maybe just shut their mouth about things they know nothing about.
And Beet. What exactly is wrong with public mourning together as a society? Whether they are releasing some pent up sorrow and emotion, isn’t is good that they are releasing it? It doesn’t matter that it’s for MJ or anything else, I don’t see anything wrong with people coming together if only for a few months and if only it’s just ‘mob mentality’. Sorry it’s not on your cool list. Sorry everyone is just so stupid in your eyes.
Well said, Nathaniel.
Jesus, take some responsibility for your life! What a whining, cop-out, poor little me attitude- my genes made me do it.
I love when people who know nothing about him bash him. It’s just ignorant and just plain stupid. If you do not know MJ suffered severe burns to his head during the filming of a Pepsi Commercial back in the late 80’s. He has suffered from that ever since and also suffered greatly from insomnia. So he didn’t just start popping pills because he wanted to. He was on the medication for a reason, was he addicted, SURE HE WAS….HIS FREAKING SCALP WAS BURNED and I’m sure there was serious nerve damage done.
You’re a fool.
People don’t dislike him for popping pills. They dislike him because he slept in beds with children. The parents of those kids should have be arrested for negligence but that doesn’t make his desire any less perverted.
If he had died of a heart attack, or any natural cause, people would still consider him a pedophile.
There will never, NEVAH, be anything O’Reilly says that merits praise. He’s an egotistical bastard that causes more dissension than peace, more bigotry than solidarity, more assholishness than Kardashian’s hiney could produce in all it’s magnitude.
He and Rush Limbaugh should hie themselves to middle america’s epicenter of lurve, Iowa, and marry themselves. It’s all they want anyway…don’t kid yourself. Those that protest too much indulge, witness Rushie’s spouting off on others while he imbibed the ‘contin. Hypocrit.
They should be so luck to find someone to care…
Personally, I’m reserving a front row seat at the Book of Life reading…hope Orville Redebacher squirreled away plenty of popcorn…we will need it.
you must be black.. You cannot argue with the facts
NAH, I’m white as you can get, and besides, what facts are there to argue??O’Reilly and Limbaugh make up what they need to support their spewing. They are a boil on the ass of humanity but people are too afraid to lance it. Appalling.
But thanks for your “input”.
Do you have any facts to argue? Where in that O’Reilly segment did he come off the way you describe him? Stay off the huffpost, moron!
I just had a split-second mental vision of O’reilly and rush’s wedding night…now I have to go wash my mind’s eye with bleach.
Thank you Beet. What you say is correct. And I am glad to finally read an article on this site that isn’t bitchy or heartless about his death.
Amen Adum.
Retard alert.
Don’t get your hopes up on the heartless part. Beet’s already prepping us for the “pee your pants funny” jokes about his death. Until she get’s ramped up though……..
McDonald’s is bringing out the Michael Jackson burger. 50 year old meat between two 7 year old buns.
the official cause of death: food poisoning
from eating 10 year old weiners.
I don’t see O’Reilly saying that how he died made him a bad person… O’Reilly said “he’s a great entertainer, was a great singer, enjoyed his music… stop”… “that the bizarre actions, the sleeping with kids made him an unacceptable adult, and shouldn’t be praised for those actions”… He said nothing about how he died and how to view it. Just that the guy was an amazing entertainer period, don’t make him out to be Martin Luther King Jr.
Here’s the simple reason the story will go on…and on…and on..
Based on the ratings, about 31 million people in the US watched the ‘memorial service’ live. Add in international users and online watchers and 50 million is not an unreasonable guess.
When your potential audience of interest on the story is 50 million, you find a way to talk about it..
Michael Jackson won’t be cremated… Because of all the plastic surgery, he’ll be melted down into Legos so children can play with him.
Yeah, here’s another one;
Instead of being buried, Michael Jackson is going to be recycled into shopping bags. This way he can remain white, plastic and dangerous for kids to play with.
Tatertots…ahahahahahaha! That’s a good one.
great post, beet!
I understand that addictions are considered “diseases” but I feel as though labelling willful and compulsive actions as an illness rather than a choice denies the addict any sense of personal responsibility and accountability for their actions. I just can’t agree when a morbidly obese person or a heroin junkie says, “but, I can’t help it…”
Do they deserve help and support, sure, but, encouraging addicts to believe their sickness is not the result of their own choices only encourages them to blame outside influences or genetics for their condition.
Nobody deserves to die, but, it’s a fact of life and the way you live your life greatly contributes to the likelihood of an early death. That doesn’t mean we should reserve sympathy for only those were clean-living, but, the western world really needs to wake up and face the fact that young people are dying in increasing numbers each year, not from smoking or drug abuse but from food addiction!
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