Comments on: On Michael Jackson

By: Tablesaw

Tablesaw — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:02:35 +0000

What depresses me about the 24-hour news cycles is that they can only fill their 24 hours with one thing at a time.

By: G. Williams

G. Williams — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:21:13 +0000

“they can’t fill all 24 hours with MJ”

Though for a little while there, it felt like they were.

I feel kind of disconnected from the event, even though as a child of the 80s he’s definitely part of my cultural landscape. Maybe it’s that I’m not particularly shocked or surprised? It feels like a case of massive talent, massive ability, massive price paid…

(I swear I wrote this before reading your ABW post.)

By: tempest

tempest — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:24:09 +0000

This.

Reminds me of the stupid troll comments one sometimes gets during discussions of racism or sexism in media. You always get some jerk saying “God, it’s just a MOVIE. Don’t you know there are children starving in India?” as if I can’t be concerned with racism in media AND starving children. It makes me wonder if people who say these things are some strange breed of creature that can only focus on one thing at a time, and that one thing consumes them totally.

By: Mris

Mris — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:02:13 +0000

I can walk and chew gum at the same time.

I can care about the death of a single person and the death or misery of many at the same time, too.

It’s really not that hard.

By: Nick Mamatas

Nick Mamatas — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:45:01 +0000

I especially enjoy the link between “OMG the REAL dead people!” and the amount of carrying on (and warm comments) these same people who complain about celebrity deaths get when their cats die.

By: Emily

Emily — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:19:47 +0000

Someone on my f-list summed it up well last night: you can’t tell other people what they’re priorities SHOULD be, and you can’t tell other people how they SHOULD feel. If you want to mourn the death of someone, celebrity or not, that’s your right, and if you don’t, that’s your right too. The problem is these people telling us what we SHOULD care about, which is just silly.