I don’t usually like to comment on topics currently in the media because I think that there’s already way too much useless banter about every topic and I don’t want to add to the clutter.  But I’m not crazy about the hoopla surrounding Michael Jackson’s death.  He was a pop star, not the second coming of Jesus.  Maybe he did some good works in his life, put out some fantastic music, and gave a lot to charity.  But does that mean that he warrants idolization? Not in my book, although very few things DO warrant idolization in my book.  It just feels like MJ was a negative energy during the past 15 years.  He didn’t really put out any music (although I think he had an album in the late 90s? The fact that I don’t even know for sure is telling about its popularity) but he did put out some pretty bad vibes regarding his clear opinions on what is beauty.  Originally, I think he was blessed with better than average good looks, but his warped sense of beauty made himself into a clown-like caricature. That would be fine, except if the billions of demoralized fans are any indication, MJ was a big influence on a lot of people.  And how dare he portray his former looks as unattractive?  Was he commenting on the possibility that black people aren’t as attractive as white people?  I would absolutely hate that to be the case, and yet it’s a subject everyone dances around instead of admits.  Personal acceptance is something that I take very seriously because I see people all around me denigrating themselves and making themselves look and feel worse about themselves due to unhealthy messages from the media.  And I don’t think MJ helped in that regard. I don’t think many people actually thought he looked good, but I also think that people give him a pass when, if they proclaim him to be a role model, they should be nailing him on that issue.  If our society doesn’t proclaim him a role model? Fine. But what I’m hearing is that’s not the case.

Personal acceptance is something I think about a lot, and it’s one of the reasons why I boycott Disney.  The characters in the Disney films I grew up with were not only anorexic but they were all saved by a prince.  Yeah, we all grew up with fairy tales, but in the old ones the herione wasn’t anorexic nor were the stories blown up on the big screen until thousands of screaming children wanted to be just like those characters.  Disney took a money-making scheme which was the manipulation of childrens’ minds under the guise of clean entertainment and made in into a generation-warping machine.  I’m STILL waiting for my prince to come save me from the prison that is my flabby ass.  And I cringe for the little girls who are now growing up with that same image in their heads. We are all the architects of our own lives and our own bodies.  We all make the choices that shape who we are.  I’m angry at Disney for taking a little fairy tale I would never have thought about and making it into a culture-bending event. And I’m angry at people who allow such things to affect them in unhealthy ways (myself included).  And I’m angry at the media for putting MJ on a pedestal which, in my opinion, he did not deserve.

And anyway, we ALL know Madonna is the greatest pop star of all time.  DUH.