This week we experienced the passing of the Gloved Wonder, The King of Pop, the musician and performer extraordinaire, Michael Jackson. I am saddened by his death and extend my sincerest condolences to his family. I was very disappointed and dismayed with the conduct of the news media. The Wordbead words for the week is hyperlinked below.
For the entire week the TV press coverage and stories was Immoderate. They lost sight of all of the other issues and news that impact our world and our neighborhoods. For about 4 days it seems like every station I landed on, and I kept surfing, had an extensive report on the death of Michael Jackson and not much else. No doubt this is huge! Michael Jackson was such a power house; such influence, such a big part of our lives, our world for so many years. Perhaps for too few years, after all he was only fifty years old, taken away from us in his prime. I loved him so, and I miss him.
He was like family; irregardless of how you felt about him or his shenanigans, his music and entertainment value had touched us all and we appreciate that. We may not like his metamorphoses or the fact that he didn't seem to be always on the same planet with the rest of us, I think that was overlooked. We turned a blind eye to all those things when he stepped on stage. Unfortunately, I think this, his genius and his ability to rake in money, is also the reason he didn't get the support and 'care' he needed to deal with his physical and mental ailments. They were all obvious to anyone looking but maybe, leave well enough alone was the modus for his 'handlers' and his entourage.
I don't care how much money you have or how powerful you are, somewhere along the line one of your allies, advocates, someone in your inner circle need to step up, bite the bullet, stand the ground and say, hey dude we need to work on.... There is enough resources there, figure out how to do it, just do it for the love of the kid.
Any how, we always had to give him his props when we see his musical prowess. Michael Jackson; just the thought of his name brings on a warm fuzzy, Snug feeling of comfort and pleasure. There is always a strong emotional response to his music or a particular song that hold some important or sentimental value for you. His music and extraordinary performances and music videos mollify our disdain for those of his actions we found unacceptable, if even for a brief while.
Like astrology, we interpret a song and intertwine it with our personal issue, experience or affairs and it becomes our theme song, our favorite song or most intense song, the one that defines the relationship, the mood, the thriller!
So, finally it seems that the media has shifted the world back into focus like the moon's revolution around the earth and the sun is now on us again. We can see and hear reports about the fall-out over the election in Iran and the human suffering, the economy and unemployment, politicians behaving like kindergartners or forgetting their marital vows, the Obama financial bail out, insurance reform plans, the one who Madoff with the savings,etc., and we can put it all into perspective. For one thing we are here suffering through the troubles of life and have to carry on remembering that, as my grandma used to say, death is a part of life. We have to embrace it and keep it moving.
This is a big loss, for sure. It rocked our world and has left an eternal void. But while we sit in awe, sadness and pain, we have to keep our attention on the world we live in, the real life line and life stories and how to help each other find our way. We will put everything into perspective. Give us some credit we can do the sifting or editing or censoring with our remote and cash but allow us the option. You are not allowed to indulge in your own concern or need to keep up with ratings. What about your audience. Yeah we are inquiring minds we want to know, we want to know everything.
As I said before, death is a part of life and it hurts. It cuts like a knife; he/she's out of our lives. No matter who it is, death is big, it hurts. But when it happens again in this magnitude, let us live the life that is normal - a smorgasbord of stuff, like always, because we'd rather stay in the moment than try to catch up or start over. Let us keep everything into perspective.
I pray that every one will have their full life, what ever their God has ordained. I pray it is long, productive, peaceful, healthy and full of love. Don't short change us when the eventual happens. Try to find a happy medium with the hot news of the moment tempered - balanced- with the everyday, essential life stories. It's not about ratings because folks surf around anyway. It should be about meeting the needs of your viewers and providing the service you are in the business of; giving information, all the information, timely and completely.
Rest in Peace.
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