RIP Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson was an excellent performer. A dancer and singer of world acclaim. He died at age 50.

He had also been accused of various heinous things like being a child molester. But this is America, and here in America you are considered innocent unless you have been proven guilty by a jury of your neighbors and equals. By this definition Michael Jackson was never convicted of this sort of thing, so we should treat him as completely innocent. But I guess that only applies to those people who are patriotic and believe in what America really stands for.

Jackson clearly used vast amounts of “medication.” I call this being a drug addict.

These addicts prefer to say that it is a disease, and refer to it by more pleasing words like dependency or alcoholism. Elvis Presley, Betty Ford, Rush Limbaugh, Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Lenny Bruce, Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Paul Butterfield, Kurt Cobain, and a great many of the current famous performers who have not yet died from their addiction.

I have no doubt that some of the criticism one is hearing about Michael Jackson is coming from people who are really just closet racists. People who really see criticism of Jackson as a surrogate for criticizing Barack Obama.

Fifty is really pretty old. Lots of wonderful people died in Vietnam or Iraq or of cancer or heart trouble when they were much younger than 50. My little brother fits into that category. A half a century is plenty of time to leave your mark on society. As a philosopher, a musician, a valued friend, or a good parent.

Good luck Michael Jackson. It’s a pity that you had to live such a troubled life.
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