Almost Too Painful

[poliphilo]

I expected LJ to be full of stuff about the Jackson trial and it isn't. At least this corner of the LJ universe isn't. I wonder why.

My reason for steering clear (until now) is the difficulty of writing about it with dispassion. Jackson has been getting me all stirred up for decades now. Love the music (some of it.) Hate the preening and self-deception.

I wish I didn't care, but I do. There was a moment- a very brief moment- when Jackson was not only the greatest singer and dancer in the world, but also the most beautiful human being. Bille Jean. That's a fabulous song. And Michael is a vision, a visitation, an otherworldly androgyne, a god.

And then....

And then the decline, sinking deeper and deeper into freakishness, into Messianic fantasy, into a candy-coloured porno-heaven. It's been like watching a self-exiled Caesar go to the dogs.

Tiberius on Capri- all alone with his flatterers and pimps.

Yesterday, he turned up at the courthouse an hour late in his pyjamas and nearly got his bail rescinded. He doesn't seem to realise how serious this is. It's as if there's no-one in his entourage with the balls to tell him, "Er, Michael, you're not actually writing the script any more."

Comments

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

I'm just one of those who never got the cult of celebrity that built up around him, even in the Thriller years. And even now, when the man (?) is at best mentally ill, and at worst a pederast, there's still a throng of fans gathering outside the courthouse chanting "Innocent!" I'm not naive to the possibility that there are plenty would would exploit their own children for a slice of the Jackson estate, but c'mon!

In the end it's just gotten tedious, hearing about him year in and year out. Your line pretty much says it all:
And then the decline, sinking deeper and deeper into freakishness, into Messianic fantasy, into a candy-coloured porno-heaven. It's been like watching a self-exiled Caesar go to the dogs.

[darlax.livejournal.com]

there's still a throng of fans gathering outside the courthouse chanting "Innocent!"

I remember a special on TV that talked about this throng of people always around Jackson. Apparently the numbers have been dwindling for years and they (the news) keeps cutting the angle closer and closer so you can't see that in fact, there are very few people there. I guess they do it under Jackson's direction. Pathetic, really. But also, it says he's fully aware of his dwindling popularity AND is aware enough to try and manipulate that perception.

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

That almost gives me a sense of hope about my fellow man ;)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's not so long ago that he floated a gigantic statue of himself up the Thames and under Tower Bridge.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

There have been others, I believe, shouting abuse.

I'm not sure which is worse.