Patrick Goldstein's column from the LA Times (Michael Jackson: Dead By An Overdose of Showbiz?) remains one of the best articles I've read on MJ and his troubled legacy. I've linked to it at my signature.

Here are two samples:

Like so many child stars before him, from Judy Garland and Sammy Davis Jr. to Tatum O'Neal and River Phoenix and Lindsay Lohan, with about a thousand fifteen-minute one-hit wonders in between, Jackson never found himself a home in the real world.

...

His downfall is hardly unique. It happens in show business all the time, the insecurity and the neediness overwhelming genuine talent because that talent, especially when ripened at an early age, is so often smothered by the absence of any real self-worth.

I have a feeling Brooke Shields can relate.

May Jackson's story be a cautionary tale for doting parents a little too eager, for the wrong reasons, to rush their precocious darlings into a studio or onto a stage.

Michael Jackson integrated AM radio?? I don't think so. I'm 55 and I grew up listening to the Supremes, Aretha Franklin, Martha and the Vandelas, Otis Reading, Sam and Dave and a host of other African American performers on AM radio in the early and mid-60s long before Michael and the Jackson 5 came on the scene. Ever hear of Chuck Berry and Little Richard?

Oh, you're right -- Ghandi wasn't more important than MJ. Not at all. No one was. Not JFK, who called the national guard out to defend African Americans against violent bigots in the South. Not LBJ for introducing Civil Rights legislation. And especially not Nelson Mandela -- Michael Jackson REALLY topped Nelson Mandela, didn't he, Svutlov? So how old were you when you had your lobotomy, schmuck? Do you post from a toy laptop in a padded room?

Joan, this is the single best piece of work I've seen you write. Thank you for describing perfectly my own mix of feelings about Michael Jackson and for detailing the memorial service so well.

Here's your argument in a nutshell:

"negative behavior" gay. "negative behavior" gay. "another negative behavior" gay.

This is complete bullshit. Being gay is a positive, natural state of being.

Michael's problem is that he was abused, grew up in the biggest spolight there was, his dad beat him and thus he had no childhood, and was emotionally/sexually stunted in many ways because of ABUSE. All his surgery was to be NOT who he was - it has nothing to do with "gay." Gay people DON'T suggest boys masturbate in front of them. And it was never proven that Michael did any of that anyway. I think he spent his whole life trying to get his childhood back.

Your "gay" rant IS offensive. What Michael did has nothing to do with being gay - it had everything to do with his abuse.

so i didn't have to. my thanks to you for falling on that sword.

Bravo. You should publish that somewhere. Speaking of which, do you blog on Open Salon? If not, why not? Your refreshing honesty would be so welcome.

Because you jaw about how awful the MSM is, and how people should have "dignity", but you don't believe it, Joan. You make your living exactly the same way those MSM ghouls do; else why would you even address this subject in the first place? If you really did practice what you preached, you'd never have mentioned the guy's name on your site, and you'd have discouraged your writers from bringing it up.

But you didn't. You waded into the shit and the blood just like all the other jackals. You're smacking your lips over the "tragedy" just like they are, and in exactly the same spirit. You think the tsk-tsk you assume as your cloak against hypocrisy is any cover? If you really did feel badly about watching that circus (and not just the memorial), you wouldn't be writing about it. Because that's what people do with things that shame them - THEY KEEP QUIET.

But you're not ashamed, Joan. You're taking the opportunity to use this situation to your advantage. Sorry, but that's just as disgusting as what NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and all the rest of the vultures are doing. Beating your breast and bewailing only makes you look even more of a hypocrite.

Could you at least have a spot more dignity about the subjects you write your little confessionals about? Because this one is really, really sordid. I expect better of you, Joan - though the gods know why.

He's up in heaven with Princess Di now.

"...he apparently loved his children very much; and loved other people's children in a way that showed, at best, very bad judgment."

Very bad judgment... If any other adult male admitted to collecting young boys to sleep in his bed, it would be anathema to everyone. MJ was excused because he had a terrible/abusive childhood. Well, that sad story pretty much applies to most child molesters, who were often molested themselves. Why do we jail them?

It's stunning that MJ got a pass on this for decades, simply because he was a terrific dancer & extremely popular. He was also obviously disturbed ~ and had a gazillion dollars to pay off certain families, a la the Catholic church in the not too distant past.

I feel very sorry for his children.

It was so sad to hear all of those people get up and talk about the wonderful friend Michael Jackson was to them. Why where they not as good of a friend to him as they claimed he was to them. If they had been true friends he would not have been laying in that casket. If you truly care for another individual you don't stand by while they dope themselves into oblivion.

The honest truth, I believe, of Paris's speech is that the family was using her the same way they used Michael all of his life. She was clearly told what to say and was scared to stand up there and delivery that message.

The fact that so many people who recieved tickets to the event did not even show up, along with the fact that so many of the other cities who planned a big event with a big screen for people to watch ended up cancelling their events because no one showed up shows the press was more mesmerized by the whole spectacle than the public was.

Michael was a great entertainer, he lived a sad life, he is gone now and it is time for so many people to stop using him. Let him rest in peace. It will probably be the first time he has had any peace since he was a child.