Comments on: Michael David: Michael Jackson: A Strange Life and Death

By: Michael David

Michael David — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:29:45 +0000

I realize a will or two have ben found but my concern was about custody rights not anything else. I respect that you consider MJ the greatest entertainer of all time but that is subjective and I could find many more people that would not consider him the greatest. Quoting Al Sharpton does not strengthen your argument. Barrack Obama was elected because, fortunately, ou society has progressed. MJ did break the color barrier on MTV I will grant you that but he had no more to do with Obama being president than James Brown, Michael Jordan, or Stevie Wonder did. Also Sharpton was factually wrong when he said “We are the World” came long before Live Aid. WATW was recorded in Jan 1985, Live Aid took place July 1985 but Bob Geldoff had recorded the Band Aid record in Nov 1984 before MJ and Lionel Ritchie put together USA for Africa. You have no idea if he gave “more than any pop star in history”. If he did I applaud that put he also profited more off of children than any pop star in history. Also we don’t know how hard MJ did or didn’t work to make the world a better place, plus what does that even mean. Better for whom? I really don’t know if he deserves the world’s gratitude or not. Do we owe Bob Geldoff the same gratitude for inspiring MJ?

By: Michael Wood

Michael Wood — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:57:50 +0000

First of all, Michael Jackson did leave a will for his kids. It’s been in the news a lot.

And as far as how he’ll be remembered, all you had to do was watch today’s memorial service at the Staples Center in Los Angeles to see why he was more than a pop star, a cultural icon or a “deified” freak. His artistry and his personality touched millions all over the planet Earth. He was the greatest entertainer of all time. But beyond that, he was an amazing human being.

“It was Michael Jackson that brought blacks and whites and Asians and Latinos together.” said Rev. Al Sharpton today. “It was Michael Jackson that made us sing ‘we are the world,’ to feed the hungry long before Live Aid.”

“It was that comfort level that kids from Japan and Ghana and France and Iowa and Pennsylvania got comfortable enough with each other so later it wasn’t strange to us to watch Oprah on television,” the reverend continued. “Those young kids grew up from being teenage comfortable fans of Michael to being 40 years old and being comfortable to vote for a person of color to be the president of the United States of America.”

“Michael did that,” Sharpton said. “Michael made us love each other.”

( http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24646.html#ixzz0KehO6LZA&D )

Michael Jackson did a lot of things he never publicized. He gave his money - more money than any other pop star in history - to humanitarian causes. He visited orphanages in third world countries. He lobbied congress - IN PERSON - to do more to help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa. He worked hard to make the world a better place; much harder than probably you or I or almost anyone ever will. He deserves our gratitude for that and we owe him some thanks for inspiring others to act similarly.

And in the mean time, any man in America who is not proven guilty of a crime in a court of law is always - 100% - innocent.

And as far as how one should feel about the life, legacy, damaging media coverage and personal tribulations that made up the story behind the man named Michael Jackson, the best argument of all was made by Dave Chapelle:

“He made Thriller!”

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36sKMwbwfWc)

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:49:17 +0000

Really though he was more than a pop star…
he ended up being a global icon