Get a grip
From the comments at Us Magazine:
11:16 PM Anna Says:
Oh God!, Why Michael, why? I’m so speechless, i dont have words to explain how im feeling. When i think of Michael i cry, when i hear a song i cry, i just cry. He is the KING OF POP, KING OF MUSIC. He made it alive, from the dancing to the singing. I LOVE YOU MICHAEL,. Just reading that headline “Michael Jackson DEAD” OMG NO!!! It’s like a nightmare that i cant come out of. I LUV U MICHAEL JACKSON
Damn. Were people really that emotionally invested in Michael Jackson’s life? Really?
I’m reminded of when John F. Kennedy, Jr. (John-John) and his wife died in that plane crash. In short order there appeared at my local supermarket a glossy sort of magazine-cum-book, with big photos of the dead couple and bathetic remembrances of them.
I asked my boyfriend-at-the-time, “why do people buy things like that?”
“To feel sad,” he said.
There isn’t enough already to feel sad about? I thought.
I’m also reminded of the missionaries who accompanied the Spanish conquistadors to the New World. They tried to tell the indigenous people about The One who had suffered and died and then risen from the grave. “Do you know this man?” the Indians would ask, puzzled.
No, the missionaries should have said, but we like to imagine we do.
60 Responses to “Get a grip”
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Northwest rain says:
Comments are closed???
How come we don’t see that until AFTER we post?
June 27th, 2009 at 8:32 pm EST -
Northwest rain says:
What I wrote before is that how many women last week were murdered simply BECAUSE they were women and how many women were abused BECAUSE their abuser could get away with it? The abusers can get away with it because the justice system (male dominated) considers women as a sub-human life form.
Michael Jackson was alive for 50 years — and in that time not much has changed for women — not much at all.
I’m glad I don’t have a tv.
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myiq2xu says:
I remember the big hullaballoo when Princess Diana died.
I didn’t get it then and I still don’t get it now. Sooner or later, famous or not, everybody dies.
When somebody famous either ascends directly to heaven or comes back from the dead, then maybe I’ll freak out.
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donna darko says:
Princess Diana’s death affected me for a long time because she was so young and her life was just starting after she leaving that cheater. I remember sitting there stunned at Hard Rock Cafe in Shanghai with my aunt when I found out. This is like this but slightly less sad because he was older.
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donna darko says:
Sorry about the touchpad typos.
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anna says:
Off topic but cheereful: Giorgia Boscolo has become the first female certified gondolier in Venice as of yesterday. Italy is extremely sexist (I should know I lived there) so this is a big deal.
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Violet says:
I was much more shocked by Diana’s death. She was very young and at the height of her fame, and it was just completely out of the blue. Whether we wanted her to be or not, she was a constant presence in our lives, at least at the checkout stand, for the better part of two decades. Her death was startling. And Diana was more of a personage than any pop star just by virtue of being the Princess of Wales and the mother of the heir to the throne. Not that I’m a royalist; I simply mean she’ll be in the history books.
Even so, the wailing and gnashing of teeth at Diana’s death amazed me. It’s strange, this celebrity fixation.
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Cindy says:
The only celebrity death that really got to me was John Lennon’s, because the Beatles defined my early adulthood. I even taught “The Beatles” as part of a music appreciation course in a public school system (which was an unheard of thing to do in the ’60′s!)
But, the main reason his death was so very sad to me was because he was murdered. And like most murders, it was so senseless. -
Sis says:
That’s just great Anna. We need to hear about more of these ‘firsts’.
Last week I met a young woman getting her car serviced, and picking up some lunch, before she drove her little Toyota Echo (Yaris to Americans) over 1,000 miles north to the shores of Great Slave Lake, where she would put her canoe in the water to head down (north) the Mackenzie River. She is canoeing across Canada. Has already done most of the major rivers including the Churchill, the Athabasca and the Saskatchewan(s), south and north.
This is a first. She seemed so young, and just normally physical, not a hulk. “I’m not a conquerer” she said. I’m going to write about my experience, and I hope to bring a unique women’s perspective to the story.” Needless to say, my mouth was hanging open the whole time. I had to pry the story out of her, she was so self-effacing.
I can’t tell you what a thrill it was meeting her and imagining what she will experience.
1,738 km. One woman.
As if that’s not enough, when she’s done, she heads back south and over to north-east Manitoba, to canoe another river system, several hundred more kms.
What struck me was that unlike the ‘conquerers’ (men) who do extreme sports, she had this basic little car which gets 60 miles to the gallon, no fancy equipment, no sponsors, and no ego.
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angienc says:
Ha! If you think the coverage is over the top now, just wait until the funeral! I’m sure all shows will be preempted the entire day to cover the spectacle.
Oh, and Violet — sorry my ESP was on the blink the other day, but I’m so rarely ahead of the curve, I’m sure it will be the last time! :-) -
donna darko says:
This will make taggles happy if she sees this. I posted it at The Widdershins too, the latest post at the new NOW President’s blog:
We Must Foster a Culture of Choice
http://feministleadershipnow.w.....of-choice/
She’s worried about pro-life groups but I met plenty of pro-life individuals last year who are willing to work on other women’s issues. Critical mass, representation are too important to be hung up on the issue both Democratic and Republican men use to divide us.
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FLAConnie says:
This phenomenom of mass grieving is incomprehensible to me too. I’m reminded of the frenzy over the Caylee/Casey Anthony case here in Orlando. The coverage was nearly 24/7, as if there was no other news to report. It hit the national news stations too and Law & Order even did one of their rip off episodes of it. One of the area mega-churches held a gigantic memorial service for Caylee. Are so many people so out of touch with either their feelings or reality that the only time they can react to the horrors happening daily is via mass hysteria, with focus on a single face/name?
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Modem XX says:
FLAConnie said:
“Are so many people so out of touch with either their feelings or reality that the only time they can react to the horrors happening daily is via mass hysteria, with focus on a single face/name?”
I think you nailed it. I also think that when someone in our own lives dies that most of us are so focused on not “breaking down” that we don’t get to grieve so we take out our blocked grief for dead celebrities. I still don’t get it, though. And why a moment of silence for Michael Jackson in the House of Representatives? I don’t think any other celebrity has gotten that. Will this start a precedent?
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yttik says:
I wonder if we don’t have this belief that the wealthy and famous should be immortal? Many people seem to believe that wealth makes you moral, a king, a good person, you don’t deserve to die like us ordinary folks. It’s kind of a classist theme. This nation never mourns the loss of working class people, the inventor of some vaccine that saved millions of lives. We don’t even know the names of those people, but we all know who Britney Spears is.
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Alwaysthinking says:
True. It seems that if we see someone on television, we come to think of them as immortal.
My immediate thought when I read that Michael Jackson had died was simply that it was not at all surprising and obviously due to drugs and other aspects of his eccentric behaviors. I felt similarly when Elvis died, though my daughter cried so I knew it was a painful thing. Elvis’s autopsy also revealed “polypharmacy” (although, his pathologist knew more than was revealed).
Regardless of my own reaction, I don’t lack empathy when something happens to someone that I don’t know – such as a young mother dying of breast cancer or losing a child. I feel actual pain. When JFK was assassinated, we felt deep and utter shock and pain. Even the doctors, including those who cared for him in the emergency rooms and many who didn’t like his politics felt great anguish.
But it distresses me that today so many are so deeply encompassed by celebrity cultism that they cannot grasp that certain people, no matter how talented, are not divine.
I’m just old, old. That must be it. Because I can remember millions and millions dying in WWII and saw the pictures of naked, almost de-boned people being rescued from Nazi camps, saw the long post-war suffering of so many veterans (including relatives); recall the true fears I felt about brothers being drafted during Viet Nam and the huge numbers of people dying and suffering from that war. And again we witnessing the suffering of soldiers coming back from Iraq wounded horribly both physically and mentally. I have been at the bedsides of two brothers dying too young of cancer and one who suffered critical burns and was treated in a major Army hospital where burned Iraq veterans also were being treated (oh, the wrenching sights!) and they had other wounds besides burns.
And we see women dying and belittled and beheaded but we are not shocked enough to do anything about it. Farrah’s death is tragic, too, because we couldn’t cure her cancer, yet, she seemingly died with courage.
Michael Jackson’s death, of course, is tragic because of his own bodily abuse and because too many think that, as a “divine” celebrity, he could escape the results of such abuse.
As I say, I am just old, old. (Old I am, Dr. Seuss, I wish you were around to put our media and our cultism into perspective.)
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Sandra S. says:
Honestly, I think it’s a cohort thing. I was born in 1980, so frankly, I’m a bit too young for this to hit me quite so hard. I only got into him in his come-back “Black or White” era. My husband, on the other hand, had MJ as a major influence in his life due to being a bit older.
Especially when we’re young, we identify with people we see a lot of, including celebrities. That includes Elvis, John Lennon, Princess Di, Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett. That strong personal identification means that we respond emotionally when they die.
Although I do think that celebrity cultism and vicarious cathartic emotional responses have something to do with it, too.
There are plenty of boring, formulaic movies that people love simply because they’re tear-jerkers. It gives them the opportunity to be sad, and to cry. We like experiencing emotion. It’s odd.
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Sameol says:
I think we need to remember, too, that while the US Magazine comments section is a cesspool of racism, sexism, and various forms of scariness, the average poster seems to be about pre-teen. They’re emotionally raw, they’re going through tough times, they’re looking for something to hold on to to feel better, a prominent death just adds to the sense of hopelessness. It doesn’t really indicate any kind of emotional attachment IMO.
As for older people, I think we don’t want to appear insensitive so we often pretend to be affected more than we are thinking everyone else really is deeply affected.
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Jeff says:
Truly bizarre. I don’t get the depth of reaction to celebrity. Sad, sure. Loss is terrible. But suicides after Diana made my jaw hit the floor.
http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/con.....2819759865
I have a running bet with my wife whether CBS Sunday Morning can go a whole broadcast without referring to a Kennedy. 5 out of 7 WITH so far – 6 years and counting.
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ekittyglendower says:
I don’t know how to tell if this is real or not, but look:
http://sandalsandsocks.typepad.....that-.html
10 million smackers for a Michael Jackson dot com site.
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Beet says:
I think we like to shock ourselves with what, we, collectively, are able to feel and do. Part of the emotion with Princess Diana’s death was just seeing how many people went to lay flowers in her memory. Many people’s lives are missing excitement and to them, an event like this provides a little excitement, a little sense of going through ritual emotion with the community.
I have been pretty insulated from the MJ hysteria, due mostly to not watching much TV and not reading many popular magazines or celebrity gossip sites. His music isn’t even that good; for someone my age (born 1983), he’s mostly known as a cultural icon. He never meant that much to me personally.
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Violet says:
Overrating Jackson’s importance and impact on music seems to be part of the hype surrounding his death.
For heaven’s sake, he was an 80s pop star. Thriller was one of the best-selling albums of all time, but that doesn’t make it particularly important otherwise. It wasn’t. By that reckoning, Frampton Comes Alive is one of the most important albums of all time.
I think Michael Jackson is most noteworthy for having effectively integrated MTV and the charts. His immense popularity made it self-evidently ridiculous to classify him as just an “R&B” artist (the ghetto for black music).
But his music itself — eh. Quincy Jones was a great producer. I was an adult when Michael Jackson was so popular in the early 80s, and I was never a fan. His stuff was too disco-ey for me. Actually I find it more listenable now.
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cellocat says:
I laughed out loud seeing your new blog title and byline. Thanks for the wicked humor.
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Briar says:
According to Germaine Greer, he was a greater dancer than Nijinski and Nureyev (one of whom at least she won’t have seen) and, like Orpheus, torn apart by his fans. Positively mythic, and that is the last time I will read a GG piece unless I want to savour purple prose targeted at Pseud’s Corner, but I am sticking with this blog!
As for why people react in this totally unhinged way – a very angry comment on a forum I frequent offered a clue, maybe. Someone had remarked on the fact that real news is actually happening now and the person in question snapped back that she was mourning her mother, who died a few months ago, and so she was mourning Jackson, and so any harsh words about the hysteria hurt her *personally* and dissed her *personal* mourning.
On the other hand, I remember feeling vaguely disgusted by the mourning for Diana, a woman I hadn’t respected. My mother had just died, and all the hysterical histrionics for a glossy media construct seemed to make a nonsense of real mourning.
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Kiuku says:
When cultural and pop icons die it makes people think about their own mortality in ways that “regular” people dying doesn’t.
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Fredster says:
I think Diana’s death hit some people hard partly due to the fact she was just getting away from the influence and eyes of Queenie E and company. I think a lot of people thought she got screwed over by the Royal Family and certainly by Charles. People were thinking she was finally getting her freedom and then the car accident.
MJ on the other hand…to me it was a rock/pop star trying to stage a comeback because they can’t stand being out of the limelight. (and he needed the money) Supposedly he admitted to pain med addiction somewhere along the line. Add up all the enablers and sometimes this is how it ends. I was sorry to see him die but I’m not pulling my hair out.
However I **did** love this little comment by Liza with a Zee:
In a interesting new twist, actress Liza Minnelli reveals “all hell’s going to break loose” when Michael Jackson’s autopsy results are in. During a segment on The Early Show, Minnelli reflected on her long friendship with the ‘Thriller’ singer, adding that his autopsy results will change everything. “All those who knew him well really know what he was like… So thank God we’re celebrating him now,” she said.
Meowwwwww.
Like Angie said, just wait for the funeral. I heard they’re thinking of putting him at Neverland. I wonder if they’ll have him on view like Lennin? :-O
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Luckynkl says:
Well, I for one, am rather disgusted at the comments from feminists about MJ’s death. I find it rather tacky to act like ho hum, MJ was no big deal and his music and dancing wasn’t all that and a bag of chips, even tho he had the biggest selling album in history. Music touches us in a way that few things do. That’s what the big deal is. MJ wasn’t just an 80′s pop star. He was singing and dancing into people’s hearts back in 1969 when he was just 11 years old. You should have so much talent and give so much of yourself at age 11. Or at any age for that matter.
The way this young boy and his talent was horribly abused, exploited, commercialized and capitalized on, not only by the media and the capitalists, but by his own family — is it really much different from what feminists have raised their voices and marched against for years and years? The abuse, exploitation and commercialization of women and children? MJ’s tragic life is testimony to the insurmountable damage that was done to him by such things. He is a poster child for why we fight so hard to free women and children from men and their patriarchy. His own horribly abusive father, a man who robbed MJ of his childhood for his own benefit and greed, a portrait of patriarchy.
That said, I will forever remember MJ as that 11 year old boy who danced and sang his way into my heart when I was just a kid myself. I grew up with him. I associate his music with so many important events in my life. And that’s what the big deal is about music. Not only the way it touches your soul but the memories and associations it triggers. And the way MJ could defy physics and gravity and express himself through dance, he is paralleled by none. His artistry spanned more than four decades. That is incredibly difficult to do in the music industry, where so many are just one-hit wonders and their fame, fortune and popularity, fleeting.
I didn’t have much use for MJ, the man. Child-like, my ass. MJ was a very intelligent and shrewd man. He created the image, much like the songs he composed and dances he choreographed. I do believe the allegations against him with regards to pedophilia and child abuse, true. Someone couldn’t have been abused as much as he was and for it to not have repercussions. The irony being, the apple didn’t fall very far from the tree, and he became the very man he despised. Hopefully, it’s not too late to stop the vicious cycle with MJ’s own children.
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votermom says:
When Mother Teresa & Diana died, we were having a wake for a family member, so I will always remember that. Diana’s death I felt was outrageous when it came out how the paparazzi were hounding her — I don’t think I had known about how the paparazzi work before that. It was also an object lesson in the value of seatbelts.
I think the Brits were entitled to their public mourning for her — she was royalty, after all. There is a political dimension to that.
The public death with the most personal impact on me was Ninoy Aquino’s assassination. That led to the overthrow of the Marcos regime, something I had despaired of ever seeing. -
SYD says:
Michael possessed a strangely hypnotic persona. It is difficult to describe, but he was able to cast a sort of spell on people.
If you look at crowds that were there to see him live, the world over, this is clear. He wasn’t just another 80s pop star.
Who knows why folks possess that kind of charisma? There are many theories about it…. but I don’t think we really know. Some say Bill Clinton had the gift as well. Many feel B.O. has it.
One thing I will say about Michael is that, for the most part, he used that gift for good. More than I can say for some….
(Oh, and I also agree with the former comments here about collective grief being the result of suppression of normal grief. That is the other half of the equation. We are finally allowed to be sad…. so we are letting out years of pent-up emotion.)
SYD
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DancingOpossum says:
Hmmmm…perhaps this is a safe place for me to voice my amazement at the mass hysteria that ensued at the death of John Lennon. I never thought much of the guy (although I was and am a staunch Beatles fan) but yes, it was sad and terrible that he was murdered but HEAVENS TO BETSY the mania! The weeping and wailing and rending of garments! And the canonization goes on — I read a poster on a blog not long ago who said Lennon’s death affected him as much as the death of his own father. WTF?!?
Glad to get that off my chest.
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sister of ye says:
Sorry to blast your opinion of me, Oppossum, but John Lennon’s death hit me hard, too. Besides liking his music, he was identified with and involved in the idealism and turmoil of the 1960s. I think it hit many of us as an echo of the murders of Kennedy, King and Kennedy. On some level, I don’t think we were totally surprised that someone else who aired inconvenient political opinions died that way.
That said, I never engaged in wailing and rending of garments. But then, I didn’t exactly do that for my parents, either. Not too much leisure for that when economics demands you get right back to work the day after the funerals.
I had my “existential grief” at 20 after the suicide of a friend. I vowed then that the best tribute I could pay her was to live my life trying to continue the positive things she meant to me. I’ve continued that philosophy with my parents and others. Only the fates will judge, I suppose, whether I succeeded.
It seems to me that people contributing teddy bears, etc. to memorial tributes would be doing more good giving them to a shelter for abused kids. Hope the stuff ends up somewhere like that eventually.
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run_dmc says:
I certainly was not crying or wailing over Michael Jackson’s death, but I confess to feeling sad – still do a bit. It’s not because I knew him or cannot place his contributions in the correct context. It’s more just a feeling of pathos about the passing of the youth of my generation. I grew up on Michael’s music and it was particularly prevalent during my high school years in the 80′s. With him, Farrah, even David Carradine also passing in quick succession, it makes me sort of sad for the passing of time and youth gone by more than anything.
Nothing obsessive, just nostalgia. I think people should let people grieve and not be overly critical or contemptuous of it. They are never really grieving for the celebrities, but more for the passing of something that felt comfortable or conjured good memories for themselves. It’s pretty human.
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Joan says:
Reclusive Michael Jackson Leftist! Ha!
I must admit I felt not a thing about Michael.I liked his music back in the day but never felt any connection to him because of it.
I felt sad for Neda and her family but her death was truly tragic. Tragic being cut down in your prime with so much possibility ahead. Tragic not being an easily anticipated result of your choices. After last year, I just don’t have much emotion left for public figures. I feel healthier focusing my emotions on those I actually know and love. The family and friends of celebrities should do the grieving for them, ideally in private.
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Monchichipox says:
Music may touch all of you but nothing touches me more than laundry and getting stains out with Oxyclean. So what about Billy Mays? WHAT ABOUT BILLY MAYS!
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Ciardha says:
Dancing Opposum, John Lennon was very different from your typical celebrity- Michael Jackson included. John Lennon along with Yoko Ono were political activists for causes they got a lot of nastiness directed at them- Peace and Women’s Equality. Nastiness from all directions- governments (Nixon tapped their phone, had them followed, tried to get John deported, etc…), the media- nasty sexist and racist attacks on Yoko, and the “fans”- they regularly got death threats in the mail and lots of vile sexist and racist letters from so called “Beatles fans”, even other rock stars made sexist and racist comments on Yoko, and sneered with sexist comments when John decided to be a househusband because he vowed to take care of Sean like the way he should have Julian.
John was killed by one of those “fans” because of his activism.
I was fourteen when that happened and it was like losing a parent, particularly since John strived to be the type man that my intellectually liberal but barely enlightened on women’s rights father never could be.
I became a fan of John and Yoko when I was 12 (1978) because they were two adults who shared my dreams and ideals. They were my psychological mentors. I also knew from their mistakes (drugs mostly, all too common for anyone under 50 in the 1960′s and early 1970′s…) what not to do.
I did get to meet and become friends with Yoko eventually. I consider her an often wise women, sometimes naive, but always well meaning. She’s still a passionate activist for peace, even when that’s an unpopular sentiment. She’s a feminist too, she goes through periods where she is more activist on that, and periods where she is less. She said to me personally about women’s rights that just aiming for equality isn’t the goal, the goal is justice.
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Sis says:
What happened here early this a.m. I repeatedly got “site has exceeded bandwidth”.
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Nina M. says:
@ Briar, wrote ” According to Germaine Greer, he was a greater dancer than Nijinski and Nureyev (one of whom at least she won’t have seen)…
lol. But I’m one of those few people – maybe the only person – who doesn’t think much of Michael’s music, but thinks he was a great dancer. He really was. I finally gave in to the hysteria and pulled up the clip of him performing Billie Jean at the Motown 25 show in 1983. (I remember watching the show when it aired, but I was more focused on Adam Ant’s catastrophic performance).
I wound up watching it at least a dozen times. The guy was amazing. He always hit his mark – always – in even the smallest ways. That characteristic move where he swings both heels outward, then inward – he holds the position where his heels are most outward just a half-second long, so the image of that move registers with the eye. He is so smooth when he moves laterally – no matter what his legs, arms, hips, head are doing, his center always stays level. And best of all, I think, in the choreography, is the point at which the song reaches its first crescendo and for the last three beats, instead of “dancing,” he simply jumps straight up and down – its a fantastic moment of built up energy about to explode. And he’s so fast! Jesus, he was so fast. And he had a dancer’s sensibility – I’ve read somewhere that he chose the camera angles for that performance, and you can see how it might be true – the camera holds back for what by today’s standards is an eternity, keeping his whole body in the frame so you can see him move, then focusing in on his feet so you can see particular steps, and so on. And the costume – the too-short pants and sparkle socks so one can easily visually follow his feet. Good stuff.
I’m not saying he was Nijinsky or Nureyev, or Astaire or Kelly, but to the extent that he chose to dance, and had good choreography, he was beautiful. And yes, good god Germaine, dial it down a notch.
“….and, like Orpheus, torn apart by his fans. Positively mythic…”
This I agree with, though it has another mythic dimension – the tyrant father. It is a tragic story, because he was an incredibly talented kid who became the goose that laid the golden egg. And they kept squeezing him for eggs well past the point where he was emotionally and physically exhausted. I’m sure there were scores, maybe hundreds of people who knew about Joe’s abuse and knew how unhappy Michael was, but no one stepped in to stop it. No one stood up to Joe and said – let him take time off, send him to school somewhere, let him be with other kids, without so much pressure. They felt sorry for the goose, but at long as it was still producing eggs, they weren’t going to interfere.
And then there’s the kid himself – without him, not only does his family lose income, but all the people around him – all those people who worked on the recordings and the shows and so on – they’d all lose their income. I’d bet real money that Joe told him that if he slacked off, all those people would lose their jobs and not be able to feed their families. (And the mother – ugh. At a minimum, she was enabling the abuse… she was no safe haven.) When it came to the child Michael’s own welfare, he really did not have a friend in the world. He was too valuable as a commodity.
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Nina M. says:
Also – I think some of what we see in public grieving like this is analogous to “cutting” – people wanting to feel something, even something negative like pain, or grief. Provides some emotional release and confirms that one can still feel something.
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thistle says:
Just noticed the name change Dr.Socks. lol
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votermom says:
Violet, have you seen the latest anti-Palin rant on Vanity Fair “It Came From Wasilla”? Wondering if you’d do a post on it.
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angienc says:
Well, just when you (or at least I) thought it couldn’t get any stranger, the British press (well, at least the Sun) is reporting at least 12 distraught fans committing suicide after Micheal’s death. Oy vey!
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angienc says:
Luckynkl — I don’t disagree with you about how sad Michael’s life seemed to be, especially as a child. But, if I may be so bold, do you know what is really tacky? Telling other people they are tacky.
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Fredster says:
Luckynkl says:
Well, I for one, am rather disgusted at the comments from feminists about MJ’s death. I find it rather tacky to act like ho hum, MJ was no big deal and his music and dancing wasn’t all that and a bag of chips, even tho he had the biggest selling album in history. Music touches us in a way that few things do. That’s what the big deal is. MJ wasn’t just an 80’s pop star. He was singing and dancing into people’s hearts back in 1969 when he was just 11 years old. You should have so much talent and give so much of yourself at age 11. Or at any age for that matter.
I could cry tears when I see a child willfully exploited for his talent by his father and warping him for the rest of his life, and I have. His name was W.A. Mozart.
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Sameol says:
In addition to the Palin article, there’s also a frenzied warning in the London Times that Axlerod and the Dems are hysterical over the idea that America’s Favorite Stepford Wife might not be as properly deferential as was thought. Apparently, she’s caught the dreaded “Hillaryitis” and might get involved in policy, the kind of thing that “tarnished Hillary’s reputation” (except among all the women of the world who admire her and the 18 million here who voted for her) and “set back healthcare reform for a decade” (because President Harry and Louise Ads and the Democratic supermajority have now given us single payer, it’s obvious she was the problem there). Amazing article.
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yttik says:
Yes, I saw that! There is concern that Michelle may be trying to go rogue! Apparently the joy of being a fashion accessory is beginning to wear thin. I can’t stand the woman, but I certainly empathize. She knows her husband, he’s an empty suit and they made him leader of the free world. Meanwhile her education, her experience, is reduced to being qualified to do nothing more than host tea parties in the white house.
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Sis says:
I think somehow you have to keep reminding the public that health care reform (etc.) is from Hillary, although sifted through Obama et al. Press releases from Pumas? If they come into e-mail inboxes and cross media desks with that big PUMA logo, media will pay attention. They may not write about it, but they will not be able to just bury the source of these initiatives.
Comment sections in news online sites are pretty much meant to bleed off dissention.
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sister of ye says:
From what I’ve read, it seems that Michelle Obama, like Nancy Reagan, was happy to play the “power behind the throne” game, rather than get into the nitty gritty and test herself in the political game. Her own campaign statements fed into that image – and not-very-veiled criticism of Hillary Clinton.
Sounds like Michelle Obama may have decided she could renege on her implicit deal. But the Village isn’t going to give her the same pass they’re giving her spouse on his flip-flips. I wouldn’t be totally surprised if it turns out the meme was encouraged by Barack Obama’s own staff.
I can see where, between the Clintons, they decided that Bill should take his chance to run first. Hillary had it hard enough in 2008. She wouldn’t have had an ice cube’s chance in hell in 1992. But even while supporting Bill, Hillary was very involved in non-elected community and political work.
If Michelle Obama has anything like that on her resume, no one seems very anxious to get it out before the public.
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sister of ye says:
To be clear, I think Michelle Obama should be defended against sexist attacks. I just don’t have any personal sympathy for her. I have more for Sarah Palin, who ran in her own right and on her own qualifications and record.
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Sameol says:
I wonder if Michelle Obama does have any ambitions in the policy realm. She’s clearly much more intelligent and capable than her husband, but she’s out of her mind if she thinks she’ll be welcomed with anything but savage attacks from the media and political establishment. Of course I think she should be defended from sexism, but I must admit my patience with women who happily do their little bit to make things harder for other women and then are shocked and pained to discover it’s actually now a bit harder for themselves as well is running a smidge thin.
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femina says:
How is it that Michelle is more intelligent than her husband?
In my high school, 3 mispelled words in a paper earned you an “F”. I counted 4 mispelled words in her senior thesis.
And that thesis wasn’t so great either.
I don’t detect a high intelligence…just most everyone giving her a pass these last 6 months. Down here in the South, I’ve known strong, creative, and intelligent women, particularly in my mother’s generation, who could have run circles around Michelle.
Nope — haven’t found intelligence yet.
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femina says:
Michelle works in her East Wing only 2 and a half days a week. She’s not anywhere close to being a Hillary Clinton First Lady.
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Sameol says:
I didn’t say she was clearly the world’s most brilliant human being, I merely said I suspect she’s far more intelligent and capable than her husband, as I suspect Laura Bush is far more intelligent and capable than hers. Considering who they’re married to, that’s not necessarily saying that much. However, I wouldn’t say that being a poor writer (or at least being a poor writer during college years) means that someone isn’t bright. Many highly intelligent people can’t write very well, it’s a skill.
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gxm17 says:
I’ve been on vacation visiting the famed wild monkey children of Panama City so I missed most (I hope) of the MJ postmortem media mania.
The “fans” who are aggrandizing MJ in death are merely a symptom of a culture that subsists on superficial narrative. These celebrities are not real to US, they are the actors in our modern day myths. And myths are not supposed to die. But when they do, they take on a life of their own.
****
The death that I’ve been mourning is of a young man most folks have never heard of. He was just a kid when I met him about 10 years ago and he was such a dynamo, and so young. The thought of him dying is something I still can’t wrap my head around. He will remain in my heart long after MJ has left the front page.
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gxm17 says:
It’s going to be interesting to see how the Michelle Obama story plays out. I was surprised to see tabloid headlines calling out MO as nasty and vindictive (a real “B” word). Well, well, well, that didn’t take long. Let’s see if she backs down or whether she takes them on. This could be a rocky ride. And as much as I despise Michelle and her hateful (and sexist) attitude towards Hillary, I’ll be rooting for her if she has the guts to push back.
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Violet says:
What happened here early this a.m. I repeatedly got “site has exceeded bandwidth”.
I had exceeded my bandwidth for the month. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.
For some reason my host didn’t send me a warning ahead of time (they usually do), so the site went down before I could buy more bandwidth.
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Sis says:
Not necessary to apologize for the “inconvenience”. My heart skipped a beat or 12, because that ‘exceeded bandwidth’ note was the first warning of the An*n hits a while back. Glad to hear you’re just broke. I guess.
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Sis says:
So but while we’re on the subject, what can you or we do to conserve your bandwidth?
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Violet says:
Thanks, Sis. But it’s no problem; I’m happy to have lots of visitors. If my host had sent the usual warning I could have easily bought another $10 worth of bandwidth.
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Violet says:
Violet, have you seen the latest anti-Palin rant on Vanity Fair “It Came From Wasilla”? Wondering if you’d do a post on it.
I just wrote a post on it. I was planning to write on Michael Jackson’s funeral, but it didn’t happen today. Then I saw the Palin piece (a bunch of people emailed it to me), so I wrote on that. Also went ahead and changed the name of the blog back, since I haven’t been doing a very good job with the 24/7 MJ coverage anyway.
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DancingOpossum says:
Ciardha, your post is an example of what I’m talking about. John Lennon and Yoko Ono didn’t do any more for humanity/philanthrophy/charity than any other celebrities, and they did considerably less than many (including Michael Jackson, for that matter). They were very good at marketing themselves as these humble, self-sacrificing idealists but the reality wasn’t that different from most celebs — indeed, as you note yourself, Lennon didn’t even see fit to take care of his own first child.
Almost every celebrity receives death threats and has stalkerish, crazy fans. That’s why most of them have bodyguards.
And Lennon wasn’t murdered for his activism. How do you conclude that? He was murdered by a fame-seeking whackjob. That is terrible but it doesn’t make him a martyr for some noble cause.
I’ll leave it now because I have found the Lennon Phenomenon to be just like the Obama Phenonmenon: People can’t be objective about him. Peace out.
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Sis says:
I think you’re both wrong about why Lennon was killed. The man who killed him had schizophrenia. He was not a “whackjob”. He was mentally ill and delusional.
