- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
The book by music critic Dave Marsh is kind of old; it covered Michael Jackson up to the point where his popularity blew up, at the end of the "Victory Tour." But there are 29 copies on amazon.com for under $6 plus shipping, so it's not hard to get.
In the end of the book, as he recounts the wreckage of Jackson's career, Marsh points out how the media loves to build up celebrities that don't deserve it. Then they suddenly break, print every bad thing about them and give the celebrity's career a funeral. The book is one of the best looks at pop culture ever published, since Marsh actually likes Jackson and some of his music.
To the other letter writers, it isn't simply a matter of the press on the attack. You, the public, want to read this stuff. And that fact alone - that it's grabbed so many people's attention, rather than global warming or George Bush - that makes it important.
People love these conceited, rich, spoiled idiots. But deep down, they're ashamed that they like them. So when the hysteris curve reaches the right point, they snap. Norman Osborne said it in Spider-Man: "The only thing that people love more than a hero is to see a hero fall."
I'd only add that the hysteris curve seems to depend on how much real talent or contribution the particular celebrity has. Elvis Presley did awful stuff, but he had some level of honesty about his music, so he didn't fall as far or as fast as Jackson or Hilton. (Some say he hasn't fallen at all.)
And if this was a "simple" article to write, why did Havrilesky need a co-writer...or supposedly a "co-" writer...to finish this article in time? Well, the answer is obvious, but I'm not going to go there right now.
