He's Dead, Get Over It

Most mornings, the first web page that I see is Google News (its like my morning paper of yesteryear). This fine morning I counted 5 front page stories talking about the 'historic' Michael Jackson and his memorial service. Five, cinco, 5, V. Are you kidding me?

Let's forget for a moment that the last decade this 'man' has been surrounded by accusations of multiple counts of child molestations. In the 1970s and 80s, he was a pop icon. I will be the first to admit that, growing up in the 80s and 90s, I LOVED his music. I saw his Captain EO 3D show at Epcot numerous times as a kid (and I do not fault my parents with letting me see it, I would have let my kids). He was a trendsetter. His music was groundbreaking (Black or White is one of the best race songs of all time). His dancing.... there are no words to describe how amazing it was (I remember practicing the crotch grab as a lil boy. Never could nail the moonwalk though). So he was a pop music star, no arguing that. He dies and the nation stops to mourn, WHY? Farrah died the same day (cue the joke about Farrah asked God to save the kids of the US) and so did Ed. Now I can understand why people my age felt more towards MJ than the other two but there's one other person that died that should be recognized over all three of them put together: Robert McNamara. He died two days ago and the coverage of the MJ Memorial still got more air time. You have to be kidding me! This is the guy that decided the fate of the entire world, not just the US, in the 1960s and 70s. He brought us back from the brink of nuclear annihilation during the Cuban Missile Crisis saving (most likely) millions of lives globally. I have a feeling the majority of people my age have no clue who he was which is a sad realization.

So back to MJ. Now let's pull the whole child molestation accusations back into the equation. I know he was acquitted of all charges but let's be honest here, that does not mean that he was innocent, it just means a jury of US citizens (who I increasingly find to be pretty thick) could not bring themselves to believe that the holy MJ could do it. Let's also remember that he paid out large sums to the families of the children to settle civil suits (if that isn't an admission of guilt, I don't know what is). So, in my mind, he was a predator and a freak. Now flash forward to this past week where people were singing his praise (pun intended) dubbing him a "hero" (maybe I should start touching children inappropriately, will I be a hero then?). No one had the balls (save for one Congressman) to speak the truth and say that he was, on the whole, a negative force in this world. Spare me Al and Jesse, he was a slime ball. I don't care how many chart-toppers he had, all the good his music did is outweighed (BIG TIME) by his crimes against humanity.

With all this being said, I will continue to listen to his music (probably only when drinking heavily) but I am also happy that my children will be born into a world without that 'man'.

MJ, rot in hell.