Why the facination with Michael Jackson?

I have several observations about the media and Micheal Jackson's adoring public. First of all, the media usually only produces what the people want (except when they are trying to get an unknown elected to national office). Lets face it, they are in the ratings business, and ratings drive profits. If the media didn't think that Jackson's macabre story would play then they wouldn't spend one minute on him.

The public fascination with Jackson has always intrigued me. Yes he was a very talented singer and performer, but is that what made people pay attention to him, or was it the soap opera that he created of his life. Everything from accusations of pedophilia (none was ever proved) to the multitude of plastic surgeries and bizarre behaviors that cemented in peoples minds what a harlequin this man had become.

It was liking watching a train wreck in slow motion as mounting accusations about his interactions with young boys and his economic downward spiral seemed to be the only things that you would hear about him. His concert tours, although well received, were probably only produced to stave off the creditors and his fall from the heights of fame only furthered his self destructiveness.

The morbid fawning over Michael Jackson is particularly galling when you think about the men and women in this country who truly deserve our adulation and respect. The coverage by the media and participation in his memorial service by thousands is a testament to our times and another piece of evidence that this country may have already seen its best days as people descend in to hero worship of an extremely flawed man who snuffed out his own life, not with a bang of glory, but with a pathetic whimper.