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• Tuesday, July 7, 2009 07:34 PM

  No comparison needed

  I'm not sure the comparison is all that useful, except maybe to put "American" culture in stark relief. Michael Jackson was a child molester, and our entire mainstream media, including NPR and PBS's News Hour, gave him the coverage one would expect for an assassinated president. No comparison with anything alse is needed.

  I felt sad when Michael Jackson died, and was surprised at my reaction. I was never a fan of his music, but could at least recognize his great talent. The sad thing was his descent into drug addiction, pederasty, and general weirdness. I suppose his decline is a matter of vague general interest in showing the perils of fame and hyper-talent, but that kind of study is for someone other than me.

  The folly of our involvement in Afghanistan is likewise a tragedy that needs no comparison. "Americans" may be to some degree a gaggle of escapist morons, but I suspect the percentage of people mourning Michael Jackson is no more than 25 to 30, maybe even lower. When one imagines the archetypal cattle rancher or longshoreman, getting all blubbery about the King of Pop doesn't quite fit the image. No one where I work mentioned him even once.

  We will reap the whirlwind on both "Iraq" and "Afghanistan" whether we mourn Michael Jackson or not. The real focal point of our downfall is in our power structure, a cohort of genuine psychopaths, who would kill their own mothers if it fit into their schemes.

  —HappyJack Read HappyJack's other letters
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