June 26, 2009
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Goodbye Michael Jackson
I’m sure you’ve heard by now that Michael Jackson died yesterday of cardiac arrest.
In fact, I’m fairly certain you know already, because a good portion of the world knew within 30 minutes of the event. Christy and I had a cup of coffee and checked our Twitter and Facebook accounts right around 3:30pm, and the world was a BUZZING about it all. By the time I tweeted and facebooked it, I had already read it from dozens of my FB friends.
Amazing.
We’re talking about mere MINUTES after he died (he was pronounced dead at 3:15pm PST, I think)–the whole world knew–well, at least those connected to the most popular social networking sites.
But let’s not forget the network news stations…oh wait…we can…because most of them didn’t cover the story until a couple of hours after the fact–at least on the west coast (which was an eternity later). And although we all were watching the 5 o’clock news to hear more of the story, by then it was old news. The world is just moving faster than that.
Hopefully you’re jumping on board, if you haven’t already.OK–enough of that…onto MJ.
Hmm…
Unfortunately, for folks around my age or younger, the only thing we really can remember about Michael Jackson is his reputation in the 90′s, which wasn’t great.
I’m hanging around with some older folks this weekend (heeheehee) who are all fans of MJ because they are old enough to remember the MJ of the 80′s–the HUGE pop star he was during that time…the time of BAD, and BEAT IT, and THRILLER, and BILLY JEAN, and so on, and so forth…
But not me. I only know of MJ from the 90′s…the strange era of his life. The child molestation accusations, the trials, the weird plastic surgery allogations…you know, the “Whacko Jacko” era.
Sadly, I understand the loss of the King of Pop for what it is, but it is not as emotional for me. I appreciate the event for its global magnitude, and I understand the fact that he was one of the biggest pop stars in the world, but I’m not devastated by it. I guess I was just born a little too late for this one…
…or maybe my heart is just an emotional meat locker.
Next on Daniel’s blog…”The Proposal”.
Comments (6)
In second grade if you didn’t have a cassette tape of the above album on the corner of your desk you might as well change your name, put a bag over your head, or just not come to school. I had to work for mine, but I had to have it. His releases between the Jackson 5 and Thriller are my favorites now: Rock with you, don’t stop til you get enough, working day and night. Makes me want to get out my bellbottoms and disco ball.
I heard the news during a commercial break on the Dr. Laura show yesterday- I was strapping Jeremiah into the car to go to Target, and I heard them tell that Michael Jackson was dead, and I bolted back inside the house to tell my hubby. By the time I got back to the car not even a minute later, Dr. Laura was back on hassling people about shacking up before marriage, and I was left scouring the radio for some story of what happened, or if it was just a mere rumor. 15 minutes later I heard another VERY brief snippet about what happened- the radio is really lagging these days!! I found out more about the event on Facebook than the radio when I got home, how sad!
Oh and I was rather emotional about what happened- I love his music! I’m not one of those die-hard fans but my husband and I were dancing to his tunes just last weekend. Michael Jackson is one of those people who you think are invincible and will never die. Oh well….
I wonder if his children will continue his tradition about namind their children after inanimate objects???
Before we bash the traditional sources of information, remember they are charged with actually reporting facts (for the most part). I applaud the news stations who take the time to do the neccesary research and exploration of the facts before just bombarding us with hearsay and rumors.
In reality, did it change anything whether you found out at 3:30 or 5:30?
BTW – I have some music for you, Dan. It was turned in at CFBC – but I think it belongs to Midway.
I have been around for most all of his music but I am not devasted or really that emotional about his death. Other then my heart going out to his mom, his children and the family, I am not that affected. Being a mom, I can only imagine the pain she feels right now. No matter his age, that was her son, her baby and to have to bury your child…that is just sad!
It was pretty shocking.