Patterico's Pontifications

6/27/2009

Priorities

Filed under: Dog Trainer,General — Patterico @ 4:29 pm



Take a look at this screenshot from the L.A. Times web page today. We have a news story titled Ex-wife Debbie Rowe expected to get custody of Jackson kids. Another titled Michael Jackson’s last rehearsal: ‘just beaming with gladness’. Another titled Fans worldwide grieve for Michael Jackson. Column One has a piece by music critic Robert Hilburn titled Michael Jackson: the wounds, the broken heart:

I’ll always regret that my last conversation with Michael Jackson ended with him angrily hanging up the phone — at least I’ve long thought of Michael’s mood that day more than a decade ago as angry. I realize now that a more accurate description would be “wounded.”

Michael was among the sweetest and most talented people I met during 35 years covering pop music for the Los Angeles Times.

Awww. Like many of the pieces, the fact that Jackson was a pedophile is relegated to a passing mention of accusations of child molestation — four words and move on. Some pieces don’t even have that much.

One of the few fairly legitimate stories: Jackson probe turns to prescription drugs.

Then the fluff and rubbernecking returns with a blog entry at L.A. Now titled Michael Jackson’s body released to family as funeral planning begins. We get to hear the 911 call.

There is a 104-picture photo gallery titled Fans Mourn Michael Jackson. A 10-picture photo gallery titled Hollywood Headlines: A crazy (and sad) week in review. A 14-picture photo gallery titled Michael Jackson and friends. A 10-photo picture gallery titled Michael Jackson discography: Major works from the King of Pop.

We have video titled Celebrating Michael Jackson’s legacy. A blog entry titled For Corey Feldman, the show — and music — goes on. [Corey Feldman? He was Michael Jackson’s friend. It’s about how he will deal with Jackson’s death. — Ed. Oh.]

That’s just the stuff listed on the front page. If that’s not enough for you, there’s this page collecting links on the site to Jackson-related items. I count no fewer than 15 articles and 15 blog posts related to Jackson. And you can leave your comments regarding your feelings on the Comments Blog.

And . . . oh yeah. If you look at the bottom of the image above, there’s something about the cap-and-trade bill, and something about Iran. Nothing important, really.

P.S. Oh, oh, oh — and my very favorite of all: Tim Rutten complaining about how Big Media is paying too much attention to Michael Jackson. His piece is titled Too much Michael Jackson?:

No reasonable editor or producer should ignore the kind of public interest we’re seeing. But surrendering utterly to it ultimately undercuts what’s genuinely valuable about serious news media.

Lucky thing your paper isn’t doing that, Tim!

105 Responses to “Priorities”

  1. […] They were obsessed with the recent death of a drug addicted child molester, of which more at Patterico’s,  who had a hit record a quarter of a century ago.  Good job, White House stenographers.  Even […]

    Gazzer’s Gabfest » House of Cads? (b98ad6)

  2. I processed all the devastating tragic loss and stuff already. Where I am right now is mostly I’m just glad it wasn’t Prince. You’d think they’d do a story on that but I guess it doesn’t fit with the Narrative.

    happyfeet (e8d590)

  3. Something over a thousand WW II vets died that same day.
    Eff celebrity worship.

    Richard Aubrey (aceaaa)

  4. Awww. Like many of the pieces, the fact that Jackson was a pedophile is relegated to a passing mention of accusations of child molestation — four words and move on. Some pieces don’t even have that much.

    Then again, the MJ jokes tend to focus on it. So it is not like people miss the obvious.

    MJ was a talented tortured soul. I am sorry he passed away, but I am not surprised either. Richard Aubrey makes an important point–the men who saved the world are leaving us and we do not thank them enough, this OTT worship of Obama is not justified.

    Perhaps a reread of American Gods is in order.

    Joe (17aeff)

  5. They know their audience.

    kaf (525681)

  6. Thousands of people were touched by this man’s talent, and his early passing is sad for many, but could the Obama administration receive a larger “gift” than this media frenzy right now?

    Oh look, something shiny…

    Em (b2bb53)

  7. I don’t think he was a pedophile really just a big goofball. Why? Just cause I think his biggest secret and most unremarked-upon shame is that he was stupid in a low-IQ sense. Really genuinely and seriously afflicted with dumb. Even dumber than Janet* I think, and she’s very very dim. But definitely, Michael was dumb enough to where he could implicate himself in pedophilia while being entirely innocent of it.

    Prove to me where he wasn’t appallingly stupid. Bet you can’t cause he was.

    oh. Here’s the Michael Jackson entry that corresponds with the Janet stuff. Breathtaking stuff.

    happyfeet (e8d590)

  8. This is one of those moments when I’d like to stuff the haughty and preachy pillars of journalistic standards mouths with their own damn product. Hello, Poynter Institute! Hey, Pulitzer committee – enjoy this turd of a paper!

    The LAT is among the most pious of the pious when it comes to story ideas and placement. When they get called on their agenda and bias, they proclaim a higher calling that demands certain truths be printed and prominently featured. Today? They argue it is most important to give the readership LCD pablum.

    None of these reporters could have been assigned to Sacramento. Oh, no. No editor could insist that the LAT publish blow-out coverage of the rancid sausage that came out of the U.S. Capitol. Oh, no. Of course, the fact that the vote happened late in the evening and well past most readers’ news awareness and was thus actually fresh to them? Timeliness and relevance don’t matter – the ONE time in ages a newspaper could be timely?. Oh, no.

    Ed from SFV (dde255)

  9. Cable news is the same. I had hoped Jackson Mania would have dissipated by today, but alas.

    Another advantage of the Intertubes–I can find news when I look for it. There’s lots of important things going on. MJ was a unique entertainer, but that’s all. He did not have a profound impact on anyone’s future.

    Sad that votes of the foolish count as much as those of the intelligent sane.

    ManlyDad (060305)

  10. Typical of the LA Times (and most news outlets) to lavish massive coverage on a caricature humanoid like Michael Jackson. I guess they expect a good revenue by splashing our cultural excretions all over the public wall. Naturally, explaining something like the government’s voracious appetite for your tax dollars will never be examined. In their own way the LA Times is just as SICK as M.J. Just as weird too. A surreal publication.

    Todd (0c8993)

  11. One of the few fairly legitimate stories: Jackson probe turns to prescription drugs.

    The LA Times’ coverage may have minimized the molestation charges but it isn’t the only media source that seems eager to paint Michael Jackson in a favorable light. This AP article takes a sympathetic view on the subject of painkillers:

    “Thread of pain ran through Jackson’s career
    ***
    Jackson was descending a staircase in an extravagant, pyrotechnic opening sequence, dancing to “Billie Jean,” when a spark landed on his head. Jackson cried out. People nearby leapt on him to put out the fire, but Jackson was hospitalized for days with a burned scalp.

    Thus began a thread of pain that ran through a remarkable career — and made painkillers all too accessible.”

    DRJ (cdbef5)

  12. It is enough to weaken my impression that Fox News is a tiny half step above the MSM in common sense. Oh well, the weather is finally getting good and my boat was calling. It’s a good day to not be near a TV.

    Tomorrow, my sons and grandson and I are going to spend a half day on the Midway in San Diego.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  13. I had forgotten that, DRJ. At the very height of his career, where his music videos were the only life support MTV had.

    nk (d78a32)

  14. And, BTW, I agree with Patterico’s central point, that there are much more important stories out there, but now that Jackson is dead I would not mind in the least if nothing negative were said about him at all. What would be the point?

    FWIW, I do not like Michael Jackson’s “music”. I do not have any of it. Pink Floyd is my favorite brand of bubble gum.

    nk (d78a32)

  15. “People nearby leapt on him to put out the fire, but Jackson was hospitalized for days with a burned scalp.”

    Richard Pryor burned his scalp as well and I’ll bet he used painkillers too.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  16. Considering that he was freebasing cocaine at the time, it’s a fair bet.

    nk (d78a32)

  17. I feel sorry for child stars, both actors and athletes, and that includes Michael Jackson. Even the stars who seem to turn out fine have to grow up early and can be used by relatives, managers or hangers-on. It always seemed like Michael Jackson was trying to recapture his childhood but at some point it looks like he took a bad turn and ended up being someone who uses other people. For his sake and the sake of all the children in his life, I hope that’s wrong.

    DRJ (cdbef5)

  18. We report, you decide: Too much Tim Rutten?

    Any amount of the sactimonious endomorph is too much. Rutten should have been put out to pasture many years ago.

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R., (a4e9b7)

  19. Have we heard from Elizabeth Taylor yet?

    daleyrocks (718861)

  20. Really genuinely and seriously afflicted with dumb.

    Even dumber than Matthew Cooper* I think, and he’s very very dim.

    They were born three years and 24 days apart. And a more than an ocean separated the only child of a Kenyan father and a Kansan mother and the Gary, Indiana kid who was the seventh of nine children. It would be wrong to read too much political meaning into the career of Michael Jackson and that of Barack Obama. (No one is thinking tonite that Hillary Clinton owes a debt of gratitude to Farrah Fawcett.) But it would be myopic to say that Jackson had a huge cultural impact and no political impact, either.

    That’s the sort of stupid what I think can cause anaphylactic shock. The Atlantic is a joke as bad as Newsweek I think just with a lot more history and pedigree. How sad.

    happyfeet (e8d590)

  21. From what I’ve heard/read about Jackson’s childhood, I would guess that rather than re-capturing his own childhood, he was continually attempting erase it by creating a new one free of the horrible abusiveness of his father. Sadly it can never be erased or redone, no matter how hard he tried.

    Dana (8d88ef)

  22. Sadly it can never be erased or redone, no matter how hard he tried.

    Argh. Sadly it can could never be erased or redone, no matter how hard he tried.

    Dana (8d88ef)

  23. I once rented the Jackson family’s house at Big Bear Lake. We were there for a January group event. I suspect the entire family lived off Michael, just as the Carpenters’ parents lived off them and the Brown family lived off OJ. It has to be a sad life to be a child star. I’ve heard stories of Elizabeth Taylor’s mother (many forget she was a child star) but Shirley Temple seemed, against all odds, to have turned out a normal person. Her first marriage to John Agar, an heir to a Chicago meatpacking fortune and actor in many John Wayne movies, was her only serious misstep.

    Michael Jackson was doomed from the first although he turned out worse than Sammie Davis Jr. Too bad but not deserving of all the worshipful TV coverage. At least Jimmy Buffet is a sailor.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  24. happyfeet @ 21,

    After reading that piece of stupid, I had to borrow an EpiPen.

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R., (a4e9b7)

  25. but Shirley Temple seemed, against all odds, to have turned out a normal person

    FWIW, probably helps she appears to be rather down-to-earth philosophically, even more so compared with — and uncommonly among — most others affiliated with Hollywood and the entertainment industry:

    newsmeat.com (Campaign contributions of):

    Shirley Temple Black , 81
    child movie star; US diplomat
    WOODSIDE, CA 94062

    CAMPBELL, TOM (R)
    Senate – CA
    CAMPBELL FOR SENATE Lost
    $1,000
    general 11/27/00

    Black, Shirley T. Mrs.
    Woodside, CA 94062

    John McCain (R)
    President
    MCCAIN 2000 INC
    $750
    primary 02/24/00

    BLACK, SHIRLEY T HON
    WOODSIDE, CA 94062
    DIPLOMAT/AUTHOR/ACTRESS

    George W Bush (R)
    President
    BUSH FOR PRESIDENT INC.
    $1,000
    primary 06/17/99

    BLACK, SHIRLEY
    WOODSIDE, CA 94062
    CAMPBELL, THOMAS J (R)
    House (CA District: 15)
    TOM CAMPBELL FOR CONGRESS
    $1,000
    primary 04/26/99

    BLACK, SHIRLEY TEMPLE
    WOODSIDE, CA 94062

    US GOVERNMENT REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE (R) –
    $500
    primary 10/19/92

    BLACK, S T MRS
    WOODSIDE, CA 94062
    George H W Bush (R) President
    GEORGE BUSH FOR PRESIDENT, INC
    $650

    Mark (411533)

  26. Shirley Temple seemed, against all odds, to have turned out a normal person

    The alyssa milano is a good person and relatively well balanced I think except for that Barack Obama fetish she’s got going and some unfortunately not-infrequent hippy dippy peace and love goofyness what pops out of her mouth more tourette’s-like than I think consciously.

    oh. Sorry. It’s Peace, Love, And BASEBALL*… but seriously for a child star I think she is good people and not-unattractive really. And also her mom runs everything and the lady has for real business sense to where the alyssa is in very good hands.

    Did you know alyssa was the model for Ariel in Disney’s The Little Mermaid? It’s true.

    Here is how I mean about how a lot of times when you see the alyssa she is not at all unattractive even though when you stalk her she hardly ever looks as good as in the professional photos.

    happyfeet (e8d590)

  27. It would be wrong to read too much political meaning into the career of Michael Jackson and that of Barack Obama.

    Even more so since the writers or media types most likely to see some sort of connection (psychic, symbolic or otherwise) between those two particular people mainly because they’re (1) both black (or whatever), but also, far more importantly, (2) of the same ilk politically, would have no interest in adding the names of, for example, Clarence Thomas or Thomas Sowell into the mix.

    Mark (411533)

  28. It is enough to weaken my impression that Fox News is a tiny half step above the MSM in common sense.

    I never saw this blogged anywhere but I think it feels troofy. We’ll see how the lawsuit turns out I guess.

    happyfeet (e8d590)

  29. happyfeet is in epic form today. Thank you Allah, for listening to my prayers.

    JD (3138f3)

  30. There are those who look upon the first issue of “People” magazine which took celebrity worship into the mainstream as a positive. The destruction of so many celebrities lives caused in part by media over exposure is a terrible price to pay for “journalism”.

    tyree (21111a)

  31. The implication of this post seems to be that it would be more journalistically reponsible to call a man a pedophile who was found innocent of the charges. That’s hardly ethical. Good newspapers do not publish hunches as facts. A blog or tabloid might, but those are different animals. His legal problems and charges have been well-documented, as they should be.

    Myron (a5d1ef)

  32. Hey Myron,

    Did you hear about the charity Richard Pryor and Michael Jackson founded? “The Ignited Negro College Fund: Because a mind is a terrible thing to baste.”

    nk (d78a32)

  33. “Good newspapers do not publish hunches as facts.”

    Myron – I guess you are in agreement with me that the New York Times is a biaseg piece of shit rag based on your comment. Remember that hit piece they published on John McCain at the beginning of last year all but stating he was having an affair with a lobbyist? That was basically publishing hunches, innuendo and asspulled gossip.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  34. I still think that Myron is the second shift for a certain spammer. Exact same M.O. — seemingly reasonable comments to take you off guard and then sticking in the knife.

    nk (d78a32)

  35. The worldwide media response to Jackson’s death is equally as nutty and widespread as the LAT. Longtime friend to some of us who comment here, Charlotte in South Africa writes today,

    Although the peccadilloes of Gov. Sanford made news down here it was nothing compared to the media frenzy after the demise of the lamé gloved paedophile. The African language media seems quite fixated by his appearance; one radio station went as far as to have a panel discussion with a dermatologist and a witch doctor over the ways of acquiring an uMlungu (white person’s) complexion. Only in Africa!

    Dana (8d88ef)

  36. nk – I don’t think Myron has the chops to be able to stick a knife in unless it’s a butter knife.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  37. “The worldwide media response to Jackson’s death is equally as nutty and widespread as the LAT.”

    Dana – I plan to continue wearing one glove in mourning until next Thursday. I figure a week of mourning is enough. I got some strange looks at work Friday with that.

    I won’t tell you what I am doing to mark Farah’s passing since this is a family blog.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  38. The implication of this post seems to be that it would be more journalistically reponsible to call a man a pedophile who was found innocent of the charges.

    Wrong, Myron–the point of this post is that there are far more important stories to cover than Michael Jackson, criminal charges or not.

    Paul (creator of "Staunch Brayer") (0fb776)

  39. I won’t tell you what I am doing to mark Farah’s passing since this is a family blog.

    Layer your hair?

    Paul (creator of "Staunch Brayer") (0fb776)

  40. Paul – Lower

    daleyrocks (718861)

  41. Pose in a one-piece?

    Paul (creator of "Staunch Brayer") (0fb776)

  42. Paul – Lower
    Comment by daleyrocks — 6/27/2009 @ 9:55 pm

    layer your hair? 😉

    Stashiu3 (ed6467)

  43. Paul – I don’t wear two piece swim suits.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  44. Darn html… was supposed to be subscript. 🙁

    Stashiu3 (ed6467)

  45. Heh.

    Paul (creator of "Staunch Brayer") (0fb776)

  46. When you had people like Farrah, Cheryl Tiegs and Cheryl Ladd saying good night to you every night you have to honor the memories.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  47. nk: By putting “music” in quotes, re: Michael Jackson’s work, it only exposes your ignorance on yet another topic.

    Adults know that just because we don’t like a certain kind of music, that does not negate its value as music. Fifth-graders, however, are unclear on such concepts.

    Pink Floyd — real musicians — would likely be embarassed to claim you as a fan. I’m sure they wouldn’t cotton to their music being branded “bubblegum.” Or maybe you don’t know that term itself is a particular kind of music? Probably not.

    Oh, and I’m still waiting for you to say the word you want to say and quite all the dancing around it. Come on. Free yourself.

    Myron (a5d1ef)

  48. Paul: Since you didn’t read the post, let me publish a portion:

    Like many of the pieces, the fact that Jackson was a pedophile is relegated to a passing mention of accusations of child molestation

    Read the post before commenting on others’ comments. Blogging 101.

    Myron (a5d1ef)

  49. daleyrocks: I am not in agreement that the NYT is the name you called it. I am in agreement that the John McCain hit piece was an inexcusable case of bad journalism.

    Myron (a5d1ef)

  50. “I am not in agreement that the NYT is the name you called it.”

    Myron – How could you disagree, I used your own criteria? What if I omitted the word biased?

    daleyrocks (718861)

  51. “Oh, and I’m still waiting for you to say the word you want to say and quite all the dancing around it.”

    Myron – What word?

    Share your telepathic gifts with us.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  52. Wrong, Myron – the point of this post is that there are far more important stories to cover than Michael Jackson, criminal charges or not.

    For example, Wrong Myron, here you will find a “recreation in LEGO of childrens’ drawings of village attacks in Darfur by the Janjaweed and Sudanese government forces.” Which, you missed seeing this didn’t you because of the surfeit of attention give to Janet’s dead brother, admit it. You clicked and clicked but you totally missed this. And that is not right.

    happyfeet (e8d590)

  53. that is not right and also this is not right

    Okay. So Wrong Myron, how many wrong things does that make?

    Two. That’s how many.

    happyfeet (e8d590)

  54. Lucky for him he was still considered a “minority”, for whom the lefty press provides ample “coverage”.

    Ray (3444e6)

  55. daley: You are talking about one story. If you expect me to say I think the NYT has no credibility based on one rotten story, that’s not going to happen.

    And nk knows what word I’m talking about. No telepathy needed on his part.

    Myron (a5d1ef)

  56. oh. *given* to Janet’s dead brother is what that should be.

    I got distracted by the Ting Tings. No one told me about the Ting Tings. I like them very much already. Based on just one nonrotten song I like them very much. I bet you think I’m judgey Wrong Myron but damn they really are groovy I think.

    happyfeet (e8d590)

  57. Read the post before commenting on others’ comments

    I read the post, Myron. The post title is Priorities. The post is about the coverage of Michael Jackson in exclusion to other topics..

    That’s just the stuff listed on the front page. If that’s not enough for you, there’s this page collecting links on the site to Jackson-related items. I count no fewer than 15 articles and 15 blog posts related to Jackson. And you can leave your comments regarding your feelings on the Comments Blog.

    And . . . oh yeah. If you look at the bottom of the image above, there’s something about the cap-and-trade bill, and something about Iran. Nothing important, really.

    Before you accuse others of not reading the post, you should understand it yourself. What you wrote is only a sidebar:

    The implication of this post seems to be that it would be more journalistically reponsible to call a man a pedophile who was found innocent of the charges.

    Not only should you review Blogging 101, but Conversation 101 and Intelligence 101. Oh yeah, Reading Comprehension 101.

    Wrong again, Myron. Wrong again. Or should I call you Myrong?

    Paul (creator of "Staunch Brayer") (0fb776)

  58. No reasonable editor or producer should ignore the kind of public interest we’re seeing. But surrendering utterly to it ultimately undercuts what’s genuinely valuable about serious news media.

    Priorities? Valuable? Serious news media? Seen Fox News lately? What faux outrage. Patterico, do yourself a favor and rent the DVD of the film, ‘Network.’ It’s about 95% accurate an incredibly prescient. Or Ron Howard’s ‘The Paper.’ The news biz is a fricking carnival with assorted side-shows soliciting audiences and readers for advertisers just like the NFL, MLB, the NBA and Wheel of Fortune. You want snooze news that isnt a profit driven, switch on PBS and CSPAN. It’s called the free market. How utterly laughable to see any conservatives whine at all about profit-centered media companies chasing dollars and cashing in on any big buck story like Jacko’s demise that falls into their laps. At the start of summer no less, which is normally slow for news. Ka-ching! $$$$! — especially a hometown paper where the murky death occurred that’s in bankruptcy and desperate for cash.

    If there wasnt a ready market for MJ coverage, they sure as hell wouldnt waste resources churning out the product. Jacko sells papers, magazines draws hits to websites and gets TV ratings. And will for months. So did OJ. Jacko’s trial did. So did Elvis. Iran doesnt. Congress doesnt. Healthcare doesnt. Bankruptcies and war don’t.

    So you go, LAT, KTLA, TMZ, CNN, FOX. MSNBC, et. al and get the ballyhoo boys to wring bucks from these suckers and milk this for every dime. Sell front page press plates of Jacko’s death for $50; reprints of the paper for $20. T-Shirts, make DVDs putting all that old, dated, once worthless MJ news footage on the shelves to use, picture coffee mugs, CDs, repros of the Walk Of Fame stars. Reissue the candy bar!! It’s great!!! Cut exclusives with the Jackson family. They know how to play the game. And the book deals will come! Hell, The 6/27/09 ABC Evening News reported that Elvis Presley was worth $5 million when he died. His estate now earns $50 million a year. Elvis is literally worth more dead than alive.

    If you get 500 channels and some form of Jacko media or merchandise is on many of them over the next 60 days, it’s a sweet sign that a free press and free market capitalism is alive and well in the good ol’ ‘socialist’ USA. The top ‘priority’ of a proft-centered media outlet is to its stockholders, and nobody else. And if you want to source a soul for the acceleration of the cheapening of what you think is, “what’s genuinely valuable about serious news’ read up on a huckster named Rupert Murdoch.

    DCSCA (9d1bb3)

  59. #5 Kaf said “They know their audience”.

    No. Not really, Kaf. How do you explain the continuing downward direction of the Times’ circulation figures?

    the friendly grizzly (4b8360)

  60. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

    nk (02f7b1)

  61. The company is in financial trouble. People like this sort of thing. I don’t think you can blame the Times for given them what they want.

    hortense (aka horace) (3b0705)

  62. Myron, I think your tender sensibilities are far too refined and fragile to be subjected to the barbaric indignities of this blog, like a beautiful rose found in a patch of nettles.

    nk (bef3ab)

  63. You know, I live in England and heard about this on the BBC, and the great thing was that Al Sharpton managed to get hisself interviewed on the story, outside UCLA medical center, about 2 hours after the “King of Pop” was wheeled in. (BTW Patterico, he too was complaining about the media coverage, maybe you two should get together)). Anyhoo, you have to admire the man’s (Sharpton’s) energy and, as they say here, cheek. The more dignified Jesse Jackson took days to get hisself in as spokeshole for the Jackson fambly , ironic he is now looking after the interests of a man who spent two decades making himself look more causcasian.

    hortense (aka horace) (3b0705)

  64. Iran’s rhetoric is heating up amidst growing protests among the Iranian people.

    North Korea continues to agitate and threaten missile launches.

    A new tax-and-regulation scheme that is going to cost the American People thousands of dollars in increased costs passed the House of Representatives on Friday.

    Obama’s Healthcare plan is in trouble and is being watered down significantly.

    And the important story of the day is Michael Jackson, so much so that all of the above is relagated to the sidelines?

    Don’t get me wrong. He did influence pop culture and his death has a place in the news. But to engage in this kind of fawning coverage? Western Civilization is in trouble.

    Sal (48f931)

  65. But to engage in this kind of fawning coverage? Western Civilization is in trouble.
    Bingo, Sal. An astute observation.
    Not to mention “fawning coverage” by obviously subjective media of a president who thinks a “law & order” approach will work to fend off those whose foremost goal is to destroy Western Civilization.

    chuck

    dhmosquito (4d02d2)

  66. Come on, Myron. You know you want to call everyone a racist. Say it with me.

    RACISTS

    Feel better?

    JD (5b1232)

  67. […] The Los Angeles Times, is giving to the death of Micheal Jackson. he entitled it, appropriately, Priorities. The article includes a screenshot of yesterday’s Times’ website, and how its just […]

    Common Sense Political Thought » Blog Archive » Michael Jackson gushfest (73d96f)

  68. Hey, The fabled NY Times, former paper of record, had 10 MJ stories on the front page of their website. Brian Williams led with the story. Geeesh.

    glenn (2d382b)

  69. My Sunday NYT is a mess with these stories about the Gloved One – using Myron’s standards, they are indeed a POS.

    Prove to me where he wasn’t appallingly stupid.

    I don’t think he was all that stupid – seriously disturbed, no question. But in some cases his business acumen was brilliant, particularly regarding his purchase of all of the Beatles copywrights over two decades ago. Most serious people considered that to be a huge economic folly, but it turned out to be remarkably prescient. He sold it much later for a profit of many multiples.

    Dmac (f7884d)

  70. Given the rocky, shaky condition of the newspaper industry, you have to give some slack to businesses like the Los Angeles “declared-bankruptcy” Times, and the New York “Jayson-Blair” Times too. Some slack and, well, a lot of snickers.

    Plus, both DRJ and Pat felt various angles on the Jackson story interesting or important enough to create 2 postings for it. Hopefully, no more than that.

    Mark (411533)

  71. Mark,

    You are too generous to the LAT, considering the deadwood it continues to carry, such as Tim Rutten, and the ethically challenged “business” writer Michael Hiltzik, not to mention James Rainey, and I’m sure many others. These could all be axed, decreasing expenses, and the LAT would actually improve.

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R., (a4e9b7)

  72. Cooper had a boat-load of stoopid in that column hf referenced, Brother Bradley. Don’t forget to include him on that list of incompetence and perfidy 😉

    JD (d45d96)

  73. Myron – Come on. You know you want to say it. Let it go. You will feel better.

    RACISTS !!!!!!

    JD (d45d96)

  74. SHOCKA!!!! Now Debbie Rowe is claining that Prince and Paris were not fathered by Michael. She was turkey basted and that she and Michael never had sex.

    Truly hard to believe!!

    OMG!

    http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/06/shocker-jacksons-ex-wife-says-michael.html

    daleyrocks (718861)

  75. “. . .the LAT, considering the deadwood it continues to carry, such as Tim Rutten. . . and I’m sure many others”

    . . . David Lazarus! Meghan Daum! Patt Morrison!

    Official Internet Data Office (b61283)

  76. #64- Buy a few papers and take some time and photograph a few kiosks plastered with British tabloids on Jacko’s demise. Some twisted fan will buy it from you someday. I unloaded a couple of papers on the Beatles break-up for quite a few quid. Those Fleet Street tabs are all over this. Most of the reporters asking questions at these pressers are from the international press.

    DCSCA (9d1bb3)

  77. Dmac – when I say Michael Jackson was a stupid stupid stupidhead, it’s the kindest summation and explication of his life I can offer. But did you just accredit Michael Jackson with financial acumen? That’s exceedingly kind I think and sort of unusual.

    happyfeet (e8d590)

  78. feets – Some people might consider pissing away a huge fortune on animals, carnival rides, a huge retinue of handlers, plastic surgery, bizarre clothes, and out of court settlements related to child molestation charges incredibly stupid. Who am I to judge?

    daleyrocks (718861)

  79. #66- But to engage in this kind of fawning coverage? Western Civilization is in trouble.
    Bingo, Sal. An astute observation.
    Not to mention “fawning coverage” by obviously subjective media of a president who thinks a “law & order” approach will work to fend off those whose foremost goal is to destroy Western Civilization.
    Trouble? The free press peddling papers and pusing programming in the free market is trouble?? Hmmm. You might want to look back and review the ‘fawning coverage’ (print and broadcast) and side bar programming measured not in hours, but days BTW, devoted to the passing of Ronald Reagan. If there’s an audience for it, they’ll keep pumping it out.

    DCSCA (9d1bb3)

  80. International Man of Parody – Is there any topic that does not cause you to just babble?

    JD (fb876d)

  81. The obession with Michael Jackson on the part of the “Mainstream” media (of which the LAT is just a tiny portion) is almost as sick as Jackson himself — a thoroughly enabled pedophile with a few pop hits and massive publicity machine behind him who spent the better part of his life trying to turn himself white.

    David Ehrenstein (2550d9)

  82. “a few pop hits”

    Nice minimization of Mr. Jackson’s achievements you loon. Jealous?

    daleyrocks (718861)

  83. Mr Ehrenstein wrote:

    The obession with Michael Jackson on the part of the “Mainstream” media (of which the LAT is just a tiny portion) is almost as sick as Jackson himself — a thoroughly enabled pedophile with a few pop hits and massive publicity machine behind him who spent the better part of his life trying to turn himself white.

    Other than his poor use of the adverb “few,” I agree completely with Mr Ehrenstein.

    Mr Jackson had more than a “few” pop hits, and pretty much made MTV and changed the course of the music and video industries in the 1980s. But I wonder whether, in his more lucid moments (I assume here that he actually had them), he wouldn’t have traded in all of his money and all of his talent and fame just to be normal.

    The Dana who wonders if Hell has frozen over (474dfc)

  84. Like I wrote farther up (and Dmac expressed also), much of Michael Jackson’s pathologies can be blamed on his father, who used a five year old boy a cash machine.

    The joke is that Michael Jackson was trying to turn into Diana Ross. The truth is that he was trying to turn in Peter Pan, to recover the childhood he never had. In addition, he had so much money that he couldn’t rely on anyone to tell him something wasn’t a good idea.

    And step by step, the madness increased.

    Of course, the awful decisions that Michael Jackson made were his own. But they had a genesis.

    Eric Blair (acade1)

  85. But did you just accredit Michael Jackson with financial acumen?

    My answer was in response to the earlier commenter who claimed that he was stupid 24/7, and challenged anyone to give him just one example where he was not – I did so, that’s all.

    Some people might consider pissing away a huge fortune on animals, carnival rides, a huge retinue of handlers, plastic surgery, bizarre clothes

    Again, no argument – but that’s not what I was responding to originally. Why it’s so hard to understand the context here, I have no idea.

    Dmac (f7884d)

  86. who used a five year old boy a cash machine

    Not to mention using him as a whipping post every evening, along with his brothers. That bastard beat all of them to a pulp with his whip and assorted belts, sometimes during practice sessions and even after some performances. Truly evil.

    Dmac (f7884d)

  87. Even with my typos, Dmac, I agree with you. No wonder Michael Jackson was, as my father would put it, “as messed up as a soup sandwich.”

    There was genuine musical talent, and a great deal of self-loathing, as well. And for the reasons that you mention.

    Eric Blair (acade1)

  88. He may have begun by wanting to turn into Diana Ross, but in the end she’s much too black for his taste.

    The musical talent belonged to the “Funk Brothers” at Motown, and when he became a “solo” act at Epic, to Quincey Jones.

    When the restored Lola Montes gets to DVD be sure to purchase a copy — both on general principles and because it will tell you precisely who Michael Jackson, and all other “celebrities” really are.

    David Ehrenstein (2550d9)

  89. DE is correct about the hallowed “Funk Brothers” being primarily responsible for so many of the better – known hits out of Motown; there’s a great doc available on DVD detailing their amazing and mostly unrecognized contributions, and it ends with them performing a concert in downtown Detroit about 15 years ago. Jones was also the main driver behind Jackson’s breakout albums, beginning with “Off the Wall.” However, not every Motown act relied entirely on the Funk Brothers, and that would include performers like Marvin Gaye when he recorded his auteur hit album “What’s Going On.”

    Dmac (f7884d)

  90. Well Marvin Gaye was genuinely talented. Genuinely messed-up too, but in far more traditional ways.

    David Ehrenstein (2550d9)

  91. DCSCA, Devoting days to an ex-President who happened to be responsible for ending a major conflict in world history (the cold war), and had a major impact on the course of history. I would expect similar coverage for other major historical figures, even those I don’t like (Clinton) and those that I do but don’t always agree with (Tony Blair). Heads of state deserve fawning press coverage. Pop icons, no matter how successful or famous, do not.

    Sal (48f931)

  92. #91- Legitimate news coverage, yes. Side bar infotainment spots, no. But stockholders at major media outlets disagree, though. There’s a market for the pop icon media hype and if it draws a crowd and advertisers buy space and time, go with it. Free market capitalism at work.

    Devoting days to an ex-President who happened to be responsible for ending a major conflict in world history (the cold war)… And, of course, this partisian silliness is an insult to every American president between 1945 and 1981. Even Reagan and GHWB knew that. But then if you look you’ll find conservative postings on this blog insisting the cold war wasnt a war at all.

    DCSCA (9d1bb3)

  93. But then if you look you’ll find conservative postings on this blog insisting the cold war wasnt a war at all.

    Conflict isn’t the same thing as war.

    Steverino (69d941)

  94. Are you guys seriously engaging a Demented C___ S____ who compares Michael Jackson to Ronald Reagan?

    nk (bef3ab)

  95. DSCSA, the famous International Man of Parody, is likely to be a bit agitated since his girlfriend put up that post about him over @ HuffPo.

    JD (29405c)

  96. DCSCA writes, incoherently still: “Devoting days to an ex-President who happened to be responsible for ending a major conflict in world history (the cold war)… And, of course, this partisian silliness is an insult to every American president between 1945 and 1981. Even Reagan and GHWB knew that. But then if you look you’ll find conservative postings on this blog insisting the cold war wasnt a war at all.”

    This is the kind of dishonest twaddle that DCSCA every produces. Misrepresentations of others’ writings, strawmen arguments and transparently obvious rhetorical tricks of the kind a sixth grader would think witty.

    Grow up, DCSCA, your twaddle got old a long time ago.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  97. a) I never stated that it was a war. I said it was a conflict.

    b) I don’t see it as an insult at all.

    c) It has been demonstrated that Reagan’s actions directly escalated the fall of the Soviet Union.

    Sal (48f931)

  98. #97-

    a. Cold War. I guess you meant the Cold Conflict.

    b. You may think it isnt. But others know otherwise.

    c. I has been demostrated that the previous administrations between 1945 and 1981 did so as well.

    DCSCA (9d1bb3)

  99. #93- I’m happy to credit Ronald Reagan with winning the Cold Conflict since nobody knows what the hell that is. The rest of the world credits American administrations from 1945 through 1991 with winning the Cold War.

    DCSCA (9d1bb3)

  100. Gee, more ahistoricity from the troll. What a surprise. Reagan’s refusal to accept the permanent division of the world into slave and free; “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” the hysterical rhetoric of the DCSCAs of the time that Reagan was a warmonger and that the Soviet Union’s survival was a fact … down the trollish memory hole. They just can’t stand that Reagan was right and they were wrong.

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R., (a4e9b7)

  101. Sorry I (evidently) stirred the pot, gentlemen.

    chuck

    dhmosquito (4d02d2)

  102. Nothing is more predictable than the posts of the troll. Fortunately, I can skim the longer ones as soon as I notice the source. Maybe we could all ask him to start each post with his signature to make it easier to skip by them.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  103. I remember all those glorious battlefield scenes from the War On Poverty

    Steverino (69d941)

  104. Steverino, and the monuments too, those brought a tear to my eye.

    SPQR (26be8b)


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