Michael Jackson

Posted on November 21, 2003 in Blogging Crosstalk Hatred Justice

It’s almost getting to be too much already. chari’s posted the photo that’s been making the rounds of Michael Jackson’s “escape” and bloggers are commenting about this as if it merited the attention of the Chandra Levy affair, the O.J. trial, or Clinton’s sexual apparatus (none of which merited much attention).

What I’ve missed in all the discussion about Michael Jackson is reference to his pathetic self-destruction aided and abetted by American attitudes towards people of color. At some point in his life, Michael looked in the mirror and decided that he didn’t like the rolling cocoa butter face he saw there. He decided to make himself over, first into a grim parody of a white person and finally into what some describe as a living cartoon figure.

I think it is possible to both pity Michael Jackson and hold him responsible for his actions at the same time. There is no doubt in my mind that his trial will command the airwaves for weeks at a time — once the endless pretrial motions conclude and the prosecutor can begin to press the case in a courtroom. But must we watch it?

This time there may not be opportunity for playing the race card: Michael Jackson may have alienated jurors of all colors with his endless, bizarre cosmetic adjustments. He has set himself off in a class all of his own, a creature neither white nor black, a crazed and disturbing glimpse of a future where our skin and features become cheap fashion accessories.

Michael paid dearly to be what he is today and it may be his undoing.

My question is “Michael, where were you lost?”