Michael Jackson

[daleduke17]

Please, news media, shut the fuck up about this guy. He died, we get it. Yes, he was influential, but, I think the local news spending the first five minutes of the news about a record store running out of Jackson albums, a girl who was supposed to go to London to see Jackson and regurgitating the same stories from the last day is going overboard. Local news should start off important local news. A washed up 80's singer is not important.

Yes, he died. It is not some momentous occasion that needs to be rammed down people's throats endlessly.

[the_std]

Agreed. So agreed. The very first time I heard about it, all I could think was, "And here comes the deluge", because I knew this would happen.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

What I don't get is people running out and buying albums now that he's dead. What, they didnt' like him enough to buy them when he was alive and now he's dead they can't get enough of him? What is up with that?

[Rapscallion]

This is related to another peeve of mine. What's one of the most popular phenomenons is gaming of late? Guitar Hero.

What's heroic about playing a musical instrument?

A firefighter running into the WTC? Heroic - check.

A soldier braving enemy fire to rescue a wounded comrade? Heroic - check.

Someone getting on stage with minders between them and the people who have paid to see them, and then singing or playing an instrument? Heroic - nope.

Maybe I have no soul, but although I enjoy certain tunes on the radio I have to point out that the people singing and playing musical instruments are not heroes. I'm with you on this - he was a good showman and he entertained, but death comes to us all. It came to him. It also came to other people, almost to other people, and the result is contempt by chavs.

Funny old world.

Rapscallion

[Flyndaran]

Molesting children? DEFINATELY not heroic.

[Rapscallion]

Dude? Last I heard he was cleared of that by a court. While I don't think he really was a hero, I've yet to see anything other than such claims being the work of a money grab.

Rapscallion

[Flyndaran]

Dude? Last I heard he was cleared of that by a court. While I don't think he really was a hero, I've yet to see anything other than such claims being the work of a money grab.

Rapscallion

Found not guilty by a bunch of morons does not mean he was proven innocent. He admitted to numerous instances of sleeping and inapropriate touching of children, but oh no he never molested. Bull!
You know, I also think OJ did it. There was D.N.A. freakin' evidence.
It's not my fault jurors are often idiots and can be easily hoodwinked by celebrities with stupid stories.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Plus, from what I read about the last case, he was aquitted only due to there being insufficient evidence for a guilty verdict. One source said that had the trial been in Scotland, it would have been given "not proven"; which basically means "guilty as sin but we can't prove it". Plus the payoffs to stop the trial in the first instance are a bit fishy, as is the fact that there were three such incidents. One could be seen as just a malicious money grab, three is suspect. For the record, Lizzie Borden was aquitted, but it's pretty obvious she was the guilty party.

[Flyndaran]

... For the record, Lizzie Borden was aquitted, but it's pretty obvious she was the guilty party.

I have to disagree with you on that one.
There was not a single shred of evidence that she did or even could have physically done the double homicide of her father and step-mother.
You do know that during the trial the prosecution drugged her to get her testimony, right?
She never once wavered or messed up her version of the events.
Personally, I believe it was the painter maybe-boyfriend that disappeared after the murder.

People that commit violent axe murders rarely go through life without another single act of violence like she did.

[Slytovhand]

Someone getting on stage with minders between them and the people who have paid to see them, and then singing or playing an instrument? Heroic - nope.

Oh, I dunno... there are some really bad 'musicians' out there, and just getting up on stage to attack ppl with their playing could be considered 'heroic'

But, back to topic.. I totally agree (with the 'we didn't play him before, we barely acknowledged him, but now he's all over the radio).

[Nyoibo]

The first case was settled out of court, and no charges were filed due to a lack of evidence, in the second case in 2003 he was found not guilty on all counts. Given that the father of the first boy said this when asked how it would affect his son "That's irrelevant to me...It will be a massacre if I don't get what I want. It's going to be bigger than all us put together...This man [Jackson] is going to be humiliated beyond belief...He will not sell one more record" and that when the kid alledged MJ touched him he was under the influence of Sodium Amytal.

Funny how a lot of stories surfaced after the first trial started, all those people who instead of reporting to police, sold their stories to Hard Copy and the like.

[Estil]

To the OP: that'd be like saying shut up about when Elvis died.

[Flyndaran]

To the OP: that'd be like saying shut up about when Elvis died.

Though to be fair Elvis slept with an underage GIRL not boy.

[Cats]

While I understand what everyone means, with all due respect, the man's been dead for a WHOLE TWO DAYS. While yes, news spreads fast nowadays, there hasn't even been enough time to beat it (no pun intended) into the ground yet.

Everytime someone famous dies, you ARE going to hear about it for several days afterward. It's how the news world works.

What I find interesting though, is that NO ONE is telling everyone to shut up about Farrah Fawcett's death, only Jackson. So it's okay for one and not the other? Granted in the past few years, Jackson has found himself lower on the likeness scale, but still. If we can talk about one for a few days, then we can talk about the other.

[AdminAssistant]

What bothers me is that something I see as extremely important, "history in the making" type stuff - the protests in Iran - has been shoved aside to discuss an entertainer. A good entertainer, a troubled man, who died.

Let me phrase it this way: Is the death of Michael Jackson or Farrah Fawcett more important than those of anonymous Iranians being shot for peacefully protesting their governments?