All posts by Amok

The Media and Michael Jackson: Welcome to the Jackson School of Law, Public Health and Race

I had to stop watching. The orgy over Michael Jackson was deserved to a point, and then with 24-hour cable channels pumping out to a “Thriller” beat, it just got embarrassing with the media practically pandering to the mass audience the story is attracting.

Leave it to the Wall Street Journal to put things in perspective. Wednesday’s front page featured above the fold horizontal photos of Uighurs and Hans!  (The Uighars? Did they sing a cover of “I Want You Back”? )  Where was Jackson in the new hip Journal? MJ was in a small box, a photo of his coffin and a caption  on the left under the masthead.

A triumph of journalistic restraint!

The story now unfolds like any other emotion-filled  mega-story before it , i.e., the O.J. trial. that’s when the news became our de facto public school of law.  O.J  was our criminal law class.   MJ is our our  family law and probate class.

As we learn of the details of Jackson’s life,  you’ll be asking yourself if you have a will or an estate plan. You can count on that. You wouldn’t want to end up in the mess the courts are about to untangle.

So the news will become part law school, part business school case study , and potentially a seminar in the Jackson  school of public health; that is,  if we ever during the course of the next few months discover what killed Jackson, what tormented  him, and what he was running away to or from.

We have lots to look forward to!

Notice I have avoided taking the contrary approach like  one blogger on Alternet which called Jackson an icon of mediocrity who wasn’t a good dancer, singer, musician. Like what’s the fuss?  That’s an elitist approach, to which I’ll confess to using it in the past.  But save that tack for denigrating mass love shown for Donny Osmond. Or at the passing of one of the Monkees.

Jackson was far too complex and gifted.  And troubled.

His most complicated role that’s worth examining may well be the psychological toll race had on his psyche.

Jackson wanted to transcend race as if he were music and the dance, the universal forms that made him the King of Pop.

He couldn’t do that as a person, no matter how he tried. Jackson didn’t survive his fight against race and identity, no matter how he tried to transform himself.

But his music triumphed and that shall live forever.

Michael Jackson: America’s Princess Di?

I’ve heard the comparison today a few times, and as far as mass funeral media spectacles it appears appropriate–to a point.

But  I’d say Michael is getting short-shrifted  in the comparison.

Diana was born into her fame and dazzled the world with her beauty and humanity.

Michael was born with such immense musical  gifts that simply  had to be shared with the world. For once, here was a man whose overwhelming talent warranted extreme celebrity.  It was the music that fueled  his ginormous fame and touched all our hearts.  When the music  stopped, the notoriety and scandals took over. But all that noise is temporal, merely yesterday’s tabloids.

It’s the music that  will live forever, to be discovered by future generations. You can’t  stop the music.

That’s the tragedy with a life cut short.

Mere celebrity warrants 15- minutes of fame. No more.

But there was never a 15-minute clock on Michael Jackson.

With his infinite talent, celebrity truly was royalty.

The 4th of July: Celebrating the rebel in you

Proud to be an American of Asian descent? Or just proud to be here in the U.S. of A., free, but maybe not debt-free?

California’s giving out IOU’s, what can we give our creditors?

Before you blow off your safe and sane fireworks (from China)  this week,  or watch a replication of war played out in the night sky, just remember what a great thing revolutions are.

Where would we be without them?

Doing things the old way?

For some that could be a good thing, if you’re on the oppressor side of the equation,  you’re likely wringing your hands in exile somewhere, dreaming of counter-revolution.

For the rest of us though, July 4th commemorates all the good revolution has brought.

Celebrate it vigorously! Go AMOK!

Sarah Palin resigns? Horrors! I could see it coming from my backyard…. (updated)

Sarah Palin to step down citing a desire to affect change outside of government, reports the NY Times.

What does that mean? She’s going to be some kind of renegade activist type with some non-profit. (I assure you, it’s not PETA).

Or maybe she just felt tired of being the butt of comedians’ jokes the last year.

It was clear from last year’s campaign that Palin was both too unpolished for the GOP, but also too real.  She chafed under the limitations of handlers, talking points, and all the protocol. But who needs a loose cannon as your standard bearer? Palin isn’t the GOP’s answer. Unless she were  to enroll in the “Dick Cheney Charm School for Politicians,”  I doubt she would be viable for any higher office  in the Lower 48 anytime in the future.

Politics did,however, give her celebrity, so she’s perfectly positioned not for the White House, but for some kind of reality TV or a talk show.

What does Rachel Ray have over Sarah Palin?  Or “The View” girls?

Jay Leno called politics showbusiness for ugly people. Palin might have been too cute for the room. Ah, but showbiz. More fun. More money. Less explaining.

Power? Do you think Palin misses her chance to sit through sessions of Congress? Not unless she were able to shoot off a few shotgun rounds to wake up all the CSPAN viewers.

On the other hand, showbiz gives SP all the fame she wants , without any of the headache.

For sure, she won’t have to know how to say “Ahmadinejad” anymore.

And now she can market her  Tina Fey impersonation.

UPDATE: July 4

As Alaskans celebrate their independence from Sarah Palin, the rest of us in the lower 48 are wondering what that spectacle was called a “Palin News Conference.” Was that her audition for some cable show?

Wow. If she wasn’t a “political leader” it would be OK. I’d love to see her a hearbeat away from Kelly Ripa’s seat next to Regis.

But what has she done by quitting? I think she’s said goodbye to serious politics … for now. The people who were stupid enough to put her up for VP may be stupid enough to put her in play again.  But the country’s politcos  would have to sink to new low to do that.

What’s tragic is hearing SP’s tortured logic in thinking  she is doing some good for Alaska by quitting as a leader before her term is up. Now that takes some ballsy spin.

Either she’s running from something about to hit her hard. Or she’s running to something that is so lucrative and apolitical.

One thing, when the curtain rises on the next act, we will probably be watching.