Michael Jackson and the Cult of Celebrity

As everyone in the world with exposure to the media knows by now, Michael Jackson is dead. You will not find me shedding any tears for a number of reasons. The first is that I did not know him, and I find it curious that so very many people in America do seem to feel that they know celebrities to the point where they grieve their passing as if a close friend or relative had died. I believe that is symptomatic of a host of things, among them our isolation and loneliness, our lack of social skills, and the Cult of Celebrity wherein we worship celebrities as if they were gods. If you doubt that, consider one impudent clergy candidate from a sister denomination who took me to task publicly not once but twice for a tweet I sent upon hearing of his death that said that with his passing little boys everywhere could rest easily. If it were only this particular fool who had reacted I would say it was an anomaly, but one other woman removed me from her contact list - and that woman had seemed to be rational.

I am not saying that to be rational you have to agree with me. I am saying that Michael Jackson was, for me, three things: A brilliant musical talent, a tragic example of what can happen when financial success and fame come upon the chronically unstable, and a pedophile child abuser who should have permanently lost custody of his child when he dangled him outside of a hotel room window for the benefit of the press. He was, in my opinion, both a tragic and a reprehensible human being. Now he has died, and we see what happened in the case of countless celebrities who died at an age the culture considers "too young" happening again - he is being canonized by the masses, and it makes me want to puke.

People die. That is the reality of life, and nobody gets a pass. As a culture we need to consider that, pray about it, meditate on it, and come to accept death as a natural part of life and not some frightening enemy. My wife's best friend, a vital woman who worked as a forensic nurse - caring for those whom the Michael Jacksons of the world caused to need her services - died last January at 51 of a particularly aggressive cancer. Helen will be missed, and has been and continues to be remembered and honored by her community and friends. This is the kind of loving, service filled life that should be honored by all people while the Michael Jacksons of the world are seen for what they were - sick, twisted individuals - and perhaps pitied, but not worshiped and deified.

I will not miss Michael Jackson, nor do I miss Elvis, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, or any of the scores of others who have been deified solely by virtue of their dying before society has arbitrarily decided it was time. May they rest in peace, and may God have mercy on them. Michael is going to need it.