More on Wacko Jacko

In Response to Michael Jackson Article

The following was submitted as a comment on my July 2nd piece, “Jacko Wacko Bites the Bullet, Re-locates to a Toasty Neverland,” http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1092. It is followed by my rebuttal and a brief dissenting point of view.

“In your article you repeatedly bash, berate and then label as idolaters those who hold the musical accomplishments of Michael Jackson in high esteem when for many nothing could be further from the truth.

I take offense to your generalizations and am amazed at how many of your assertions, not just those concerning the fans who you perceive have given themselves over to idolatry, are based on your feelings, personal preferences and tastes and not on fact.

It is apparent that your knowledge of music and music history is lacking, but you, instead of giving ear and some credence to the opinions of others more learned in this area of knowledge, choose to instead to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater and refuse to attribute any talent to the man and castigate others who don’t feel as you do.

Perhaps you’d do well to receive education on the matter of how Michael Jackson’s talent indeed played a great roll in the evolution of pop music. Your personal tastes in the arts may not be in line with what he has to offer, but that doesn’t negate the fact that he has talent. I do not like the German composer Richard Wagner’s anti-Semitic and Nazi-leanings, but I can appreciate his immense skill and ability and cannot deny that he influenced the development of European classical music.

There are actors in Hollywood who may possess a lifestyle which some fans may find abhorrent yet regardless the admirer cannot deny the veracity of the actor’s skill and that some actors have even impacted society.

Concerning the above, we can choose not to listen to the music or watch the films which display these artists whose lifestyle and political opinions we detest — we can even seek to sway others to boycott their expressions of their craft as it’s a free country, but to deny their abilities is just plain ignorant.

Don’t get me wrong, people who hold Michael in high esteem in his musicality doesn’t mean they necessarily approve of his lifestyle, choices, and yes, of course horrific acts on children (of which he was found not guilty). These are issues open for individual decisions. You cannot generalize about the group of supportive fans, as you have done. However, you must appreciate that many believe he was one solid hunk of talent, fans or no.

Please be not so quick to cast dispersions upon the masses who find that Michael’s life, for better or for worse, did greatly affect the history of music. His title The King of Pop, though perhaps disregarded by you and even by some his supporters, seems to me to be a designation which consolidates and acknowledges all that he has offered pop culture.

Some fans extract the musical contribution of Michael, while others accept the entirety of who Michael Jackson is. You can’t paint the many shadings of Jackson fans with one brush or deny the bedrock fact that Michael’s small frame housed one big talent.”

Rebuttal: I never intended in my article to detract from the talent that was Michael Jackson nor did I offer myself as a pop-music expert nor a judge of his talent which I concede was remarkable. So, too, has his influence and popularity been remarkable, comparable to Sinatra with his bobby-soxers and to Elvis with his fans of my generation and beyond.

Instead, my focus was on Jacko’s far less than admirable qualities and issues and referenced his father as quite possibly responsible for some, not all, of them. I pointedly referred to Jackson’s talent a number of times and conceded my gross lack of qualification to evaluate Jackson the Performer.

However, I still have to stick with my contention that most, not all, but too many of his devotees can fairly be described as idolators. How else do we explain their easy dismissal of such things as payoffs to victims of his pedophilia in favor of their unfailing support for him and his music?

How else do we explain their acceptance . . .

(Read the rest at http://genelalor.com)