Backing Down

[poliphilo]

I nearly got into a spat about Michael Jackson last night. I had my arguments all mustered- along with some neat turns of phrase-- but at the last minute I backed down. Getting into a spat about Michael Jackson is like getting into a spat about God. My friend is a believer and I'm an unbeliever and I'd only upset her by putting my case- and for what? 

Comments

[ron-broxted.livejournal.com]

There is a Michael Jackson in the retention of DNA samples case I am involved with, doubt it is the same one.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Probably not.

Come to think of it, it must be a very common name.

[ron-broxted.livejournal.com]

True story from 1969. Kids playing footie in park, one is given a yellow card. Name "Harold Wilson". Red card. "But it IS my F**KING name!"

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Don't suppose there are many young Harolds running around now.

[ron-broxted.livejournal.com]

Or was it Ted Heath? Oh f**k!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Coulda been. Actually more likely.

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

Probably not worth it, keeping tight lipped was probably the best solution. I could say volumes against him but i won't in case i upset a fan.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine being interested enough in Michael Jackson to argue about him. He was a truly unique individual and that's all I'd ever want to say about him.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Well, my friend is an admirer of his, and he comes up in conversation every once in while.

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

Think we should leave it there!!

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

When I am confronted face to face with someone who is paying homage to this little "god", I simply tell them that I am not now and never have been a fan. After all, our opinions count as much as those of the others.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's the cult that bothers me.

It's not healthy to put any human being (even a truly great one like Shakespeare or Einstein) on as high a pedestal as Jackson occupies in the minds of some of his fans.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

I don't like anything about Michael Jackson and never have. I didn't like the Jackson 5, when I was a child. I have no use for his music, the dance, the costumes, the idolatry or pedophilia. The only thing I liked was the joke going around back in the 90s that he was the Antichrist. Or was it the Beast?

My feelings about many performers has changed, over the years, and I have come to accept acts and entertainment that I could not tolerate at the time. If anything, my feelings against that freak have only hardened. I despise his followers for the fools that they are.

Also, am I the only one that thinks of Jackson each time I see Muammar al-Gadaffi?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've tried very hard to see some good in him.

Billie Jean was a nifty little song and the dance moves were cool.

Otherwise.....

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

You're too kind, I fear, but it suits you.

[algabal.livejournal.com]

Jackson took more cruel public abuse than nearly any other figure in modern history. It's by no means a particularly brave thing to take a stand against him, even if the same people that brutalized him years ago have suddenly decided to make him a secular saint.

Funny that figures like Keynes, Gide, Wilde and Crowley (European white men) are never taken to task for their pederasty and exploitation of boys, while Jackson is taken to be a sick, nasty pedophile.

As far as his music is concerned, only someone with absolutely no sensitivity whatsoever to black popular music of the last forty years could see nothing good in what was a very long and diverse career.