Soooo. You’ve heard the news. Michael Jackson is dead. Brought to the hospital under not-quite-clear circumstances, something about a maybe heart attack and a deep coma. Regardless of the circumstances, the media is all aflutter.
On the one hand, the neurotic in me is thinking “Why is everybody dying this week??? What’s going on???”
On the other hand, the sheer instantaneous nature of the announcement is a clear example of our changing times and manners of communication. My first inkling of the news was in fact not from the news, but from a coworkers changed MSN status. Nowadays CNN no longer has breaking information but is in fact trying to keep up with the likes of Perez. There’s good and bad to this. While it’s nice to know that the media machine is now open to more opinions than that of the right wing money based corporately driven illuminati, it also means that it’s open to all manner of others, credible or not. Not just to left wing extremism (which does exist, and can be just as dangerous when we like the think that we’re correct just because “we’re not them” – although I don’t hear any left wing Nancy Graces losing their mile-high shit over social injustice), but to anyone with a computing device and $30 a month worth of internet. Anybody can say anything and be taken seriously – how many times do we have to be reminded that Wikipedia is not a citable source?
Not to digress from the issue at hand. I just couldn’t help but get a little boggled at how fast the alternate-media world moves. Clearly I’m a part of it, with my itty bitty corner of the blogosphere. But never in a million years do I consider the possibility that someone reads my opinion and takes it as flat out truth. So while I’m all for free speech and the idea that more information is always better than restricted information, sometimes it worries me. When the bottom falls out of the legitimacy of our media sources (or when you realize that there hasn’t been much legitimacy all along – if you haven’t seen Wag the Dog, go do it now), are we all going to start believing everything Google says?
Because here’s the thing: I don’t believe it.
No, seriously.
It all seems a little too crazy. It could be that the quickly adultifying kid in me is outright floored by the sudden removal of a cultural icon. Because love him or hate him – and I do a little of both – you can’t deny his massive presence. It’s difficult when you reach the age where you start to realize that you have “your” music and all this crap kids listen to will never be as good as what you listen to. Or when you realize that this is only going to continue – people I knew of and followed and listened to will drop out of existence, and my eventual children will have no idea what significance it has. I can’t say it’s so much an existential crisis as an unpleasant reality check, but I’m not a fan thus far.
Or it could be that in these modern times with the advent of nano-second communication and hyped up media flurry, it would be all too easy to just disappear. One little tweet can rocket a myth through cyberspace with enough impact to shut down Google and Wiki. And while one could argue back and forth about MJ’s status in our popular culture, from regarded musical icon to tabloid freakshow, one certainly can’t deny his measure of bizarreness. Of all those recently departed, MJ would have more reason than any to make a grandiose departure from public life.
So maybe I’m just in denial. Or maybe I’m just tired of believing everything the internet says. Or maybe I’m a little freaked out at the undeniably bizarre coincidence of so many characters finding their ultimate end in such a short period of time. Either way, I’m still expecting years and years of ‘recently discovered’ singles to start filling the shelves. Burrito appearances shouldn’t be too far behind.
“Hello, Operator? Get me Tupac. Yes, Tupac. You see, Michael is on his way over to chill with him for a bit, and I just wanted to give him a heads up. Don’t lie to me. I know you have the number.”
800 Miles 
sleepyjane said,
June 30, 2009 at 7:22 am
I found out via twitter. I logged on before I came to work and it was everywhere. So I said to J: MJ is dead. He says: NO WAY! How do you know? ME: On twitter everyone is talking about it. lol
It’s werid because most of my news I get from links on twitter/a blog.
And yeah. Sad news.
Emerald said,
July 3, 2009 at 1:41 pm
I know of someone who went into Subway or Burger King or something like that, and there was a guy who overhead a conversation about it. And he had NO idea what was going on. It was five days later!! How do people even do that?
javajunkee said,
June 30, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Yeah I have to rely on turning on my laptop and seeing that is on the front page of yahoo or goole or whatver.
It’s all so freaky. I mean stars die right..happens all the time but to go in a batch like this and I really really reaaaaaaaaaaaally am afraid. I got bad vibes about who is going to be next. I mean we know it’s coming but I feel it coming ….PS…Mr Dirty Dancin man himself. 😦 I don’t have a good feeling at all!!!
Emerald said,
July 3, 2009 at 1:43 pm
The lady at the dry cleaners below my apartment died this week too! I’m freaking out man!
Josh said,
July 1, 2009 at 2:12 am
Don’t forget David Carradine, who didn’t die this week, but certainly seemed to spark the whole mysterious celebrity death plague of late. And in respect to “recently discovered singles”, I heard today on the Hollywood headlines segment of the Showgram, that Michael Jackson had recorded 100 unreleased songs and given them to his children in his will, so that they could live in wealth after he was gone. So apparently we won’t just have a few singles or an album, but multiple albums most likely stretching over decades, or even a lifetime?! Holy shit, could he ever top thriller? (A: no, no he can not. Unless he somehow molests children from beyond the grave.)
Great post btw baby, you really captured the feel of the crazy ass celebrity death curse hulabaloo we’ve all been experiencing. Can I cast a vote for that horse faced bitch from So You Think You Can Dance? God I hate that hideous creature. Her and Rosie. Oprah is safe for now.
Emerald said,
July 3, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that! Creepy. And of course there are hundreds of singles. Including the ones he’s working on right now – I’ve decided he’s holed up in a oxygenated studio under the Galapagos Islands. There, I said it.
And dude, Mary Murphy. My ears, my ears!
CuriousC at IdeaJump! said,
July 1, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Pssst! Elvis isn’t dead.
Emerald said,
July 3, 2009 at 1:47 pm
He is also under the Galapagos!
duffboy said,
July 3, 2009 at 5:54 pm
I understand the denial part. Couldn’t it be easier to just practice your moonwalk on an alternate address/universe, and not be bothered with health issues and pressures from everyone? Sadly, it isn’t so… he’s really gone. I hope to listen to at least one MJ track everyday, for as long as I feel I need to, in order to come to grips with his death.
Emerald said,
July 3, 2009 at 11:15 pm
I do expect we’ll be hearing more of him, so you may get your song a day wish. The unreleased materials are already on their way!
Wendy said,
July 7, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Yeah, I was thinking of the Elvis thing too… he liked him so much, maybe they are together hiding out now. Just what we need in the world… another conspiracy. 🙂
Emerald said,
July 12, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Perhaps he too is also under the Galapagos! Although I think Elvis would be dead now just by chronology, but perhaps time works differently when you’re in hiding…one never knows.