Michael Jackson Performing

When sombody famous dies, it almost always makes news. If that person is also deeply flawed, and publicly so, it makes even more news. Michael Jackson left such an impression that my 7 year old said MJ was his favorite star, and I’m not sure he’s ever seen some of those famous music videos.

At any rate, there seems to be two types of news coverage of his death and the fallout. One focuses on the positives of his life – his talent and humanitarian effort chief among them. The other seeks to accentuate the negatives – his alleged (and ever more likely) presciption drug addiction, his alleged molestation of young boys, and many other things which I won’t go into now. I say “alleged” not because I’m taking sides, but simply because I truly don’t know if every allegation is true. One of the cons that comes with being that famous and wealthy is people tend to try to take advantage of you for monetary gain.

That brings me to something that fascinates me about those who knew and loved him talking about his life. Some of those people, including member of his own family, stand to gain a lot in the future from the MJ brand, and make no mistake about it, he was a real person, but will be a brand for some time to come. There are unreleased songs, videos, interviews and countless other itmes that could be made available to fans in the coming months and years, some for a price. That price is in danger of diminishing with every negative piece of news that surfaces. Admittedly, whoever controls MJ’s estate will still see millions in revenue no matter what happens.

On other side of the almight dollar is the image of MJ himself and the images of those he left behind. Besides wanting to keep out of legal hot water, who want everybody to think they were there but failed to stop a tragedy – even if they tried their best? Furthermore, who wants anyone to think ill of someone they loved? Nobody. I think that would be true of all of us.

So what do I take away from all this? I already know the guy was human and he paid a high price for the talent he was given. He made good and bad choices, some of which were made more public than the choices of the rest of us. About the only lesson for me here, if you can call it that, is the advice to use my talents wisely and not fall into traps that may accompany them. Rest in peace, Michael, and whatever happens, don’t worry about spinning in your grave. There are plenty of other people doing that for you.