HYPNOTIZING MEDIA FUNERAL

The Media is controlling me, telling me, showing me, bombarding me what to think, to feel, and how to react.

What is this madness? Yes, people love Michael Jackson, his movements, his music and his story. Having seen him and enjoyed his singing and dancing as a child, seen and felt his powers grow, change, develop, twist, turn, his story became ... a little weird, weirder, downright strange ... yes. marvelous, magical, but... disturbing ...

Take the trip with me, and remember how you felt about the Jackson Five's number one, featured boy... Flash over to the marvelous tumbling jivey dancing of M.J. in the "Wizard of Oz" -- jump to the first time the look of him changed ... remember the glove... the glossy epaulets on his military jacket, the lock of straggling hair, then more and more wet straggling locks on his face.

I remember how it was something girls and boys and men and women of all ages imitated. His changing face had to be ignored, but couldn't be ignored -- the nose -- the oddities, predilections.

What was his sex life? Okay, we speculate privately on just about everyone's most private self. but Michael Jackson's face, the fragile almost feminine look of him, his pink lips, his skin color changing the way it was changing ...?

The clear-eyed, honest, believable way, he explained it away was ... acceptable, almost, but it made us uneasy. We backed off -- I backed off -- it made me uneasy but I still curiously, eagerly, watched. And watched -- interested, enjoying the important, HUGELY, TIMELY extremely important ideas he chose, like "bad," like."black and white" ... while I was blinking away, we were all blinking away the crotch grabbing, and offensive rumors of offensive behavior ...

Because of the universal ideas in his songs -- "We are the World" and not only did he sing it -- he showed it. I remember the huge stadium -- was it for the super bowl? I don't' remember what international event it was for, I just remember the enormous stadium, filled with children of all ages, all sizes, all colors from all over the world.

But M.J. wasn't Princess Diana, or the Pope, or a JFK, RFK, or MLK.

I vote for letting him go into memory, into wherever, whatever part of yourself you keep quietly, privately there for YOU ...

The media is a greedy insatiable hungry blob that will eat everything in sight, including you and me. The brightest, truest most trustworthy commentators commenting, (who are in control of what they feel), seem to me, to be expressing curiosity, amazement, approval of M.J's success. And guilt.

I think there's guilt because they, like us, like me, saw perversion, distortion, sick behavior, and laughed, gossiped, and condemned it, while continuing to be amazed and touched by his talent. And so they reverse gears. And turn around the bad thoughts and love the guy who indulgently and probably accidentally ended his life.

Long live the good feelings, respect, admiration we have for Michael Jackson. I say put away the guilts. The media will keep eating us and nibbling away on him till we let him go and go on with the ordinary important things in our own lives.