Saturday, June 27, 2009

Worship of another flawed hero

The TV is all Michael Jackson, around the clock. Iran, health care reform, the economy pushed off the news. What is it about our culture that makes us worship talented anti-heroes like Jackson? In sport, only the Giants fans worship Barry Bonds (but worship him they did); only Dodger fans are likely to cheer Manny Ramirez when he returns. Bot Jackson's appeal wasn't limited to ahome crowd. People from all over want to canonize this deeply unethical man.

6 comments:

Judith Ellis said...

Wow, Bob! What makes Michael Jackson "deeply unethical?" Do you know something that the rest of the world does not know? Do share, please.

Bob said...

He behaved inappropriately with children, and paid off the parents of one of them to drop charges.

Judith Ellis said...

Hmm? I didn't not know about the inappropriate behavior with children. Regarding the settlement, that may say something more about the parents than MJ.

Judith Ellis said...

A poet friend sent me this speech of MJ's Oxford address this morning and I'd thought I'd share it here: Michael Jackson at Oxford. I think it's worth a read. These are not the words of a mere entertainer, though being such alone is cool too.

Bob said...

Very good speech

Judith Ellis said...

I thought so, Bob.