Tonight:
8°c
It is exactly a week since the ridiculous mass hysteria first erupted over the death of MJ (as he is now being called). For seven days the nation has been deluged with little else but the ceaseless outpourings of grief.
From comparisons with Jesus (the most offensive), to Orpheus (the most erudite) and of course Diana (the most inane), to my favourite soubriquet, The People's Paedophile, the ensuing Jackson-induced global mental meltdown is at best deeply problematic and at worst reminiscent of his imploding, molten face.
Sadly, the sheer mawkishness of the whole spectacle is among the least disturbing things on show here.
Interestingly, in death, Jackson is being reclaimed by the very black community that in life he sought so symbolically to shun.
Jamie Foxx's cloying comments at the BET Awards show in LA last Sunday night, in which he said, "We want to celebrate this black man - he belongs to us and we shared him with everybody else" are the perfect verbal enema for this farce.
Tributes at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem and pronouncements by Spike Lee, Jesse Jackson and the Rev Al Sharpton have also reinforced this notion of reclaiming a prodigal son.
Are we, both here and in the US, so completely bereft of real heroes that we need to embrace a man whose life, seen in its totality, resembled much more the darker acts of a Shakespearean tragedy than an innocent fairytale, and whose every cosmetic gesture over the past 25 years clearly demonstrated a pathological hatred of his blackness?
Are we so desperate for role models that we now need to trip and fawn over the coffin of a man whose rabid self-loathing and glaring psychological imbalances made headline news for decades?
Never did Black Skin, White Masks - Frantz Fanon's classic book on the psychology of colonial racism - seem more appropriate for the title of Jackson's autobiography than the somewhat anodyne Moonwalk.
In fact, such slavish genuflexion before the Jackson altar actually debases us, and makes us look as devoid of a grip on reality as the man himself.
As a ground-breaking musician, dancer and popular entertainer, he was without doubt a colossus. That Jackson could "kick foot" like no other mortal is also a given.
To say that he danced as if clothed in the robes of God is probably a hyperbole we can just about allow. But there the idolatry must end. A venerable saint? A paragon of virtue and a shining bastion of purity and moral rectitude? Puh-lease!
Prophets, philosophers, philanthropists - truly great men whose lives have been a beacon to humanity and whose time on earth has served to elevate the human spirit - these are the real role models we should be craving.
People like Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Mandela, Bertrand Russell and Shakespeare - these are the people I would like the kids I mentor in Peckham to admire and emulate, not some bleached-out, gyrating, sexually ambiguous prima donna.
Surely the last word in pleasure
Relaxing in the park with a good book in the sunshine must rank as one of life's greatest pleasures. So simple and yet so satisfying.
So what a stroke of genius on the part of the Royal Parks to commission eight top authors, including Will Self, William Boyd and Ali Smith, to create new short stories for each of its vital, verdant lungs.
From Regent's Park to Richmond, and from Kensington to Greenwich, many of my favourite open spaces in the capital now have their own personal tributes.
Having attended William Boyd's reading by the bandstand in St James's Park on Tuesday, I now intend to buy the complete set and duly make the bucolic literary pilgrimage to all eight parks this summer.
I'm even going to get the regulation white handkerchief with knotted corners to keep my bald brown pate cool while I'm in my deckchair, and I'll remember to bring a dictionary when reading proud logophile Will Self's offering in situ.
Cherish the gift of the gab
Yes it does. You can almost hear the cadences of Obama's famous refrain in that bold and uncompromising assertion.
This weekend I am helping to judge the Institute of Ideas junior debating competition, where teenagers from around the UK and India will be gathering in London to compete for the kudos of winning the title.
The ability to influence public opinion by our use of language is a rare and remarkable gift. From Demosthenes and Cicero to Churchill and Martin Luther King, the way we speak and present intellectual arguments in public has always been important to the way we live.
Great oratory undoubtedly has the power to mobilise millions. And never has the way we speak in front of an audience been under such intense scrutiny as in today's sound-bite saturated media age.
Here's hoping the young debaters have been practising with pebbles in their mouths and that we are treated to some pyrotechnics to rival Denzel Washington's team of young stalwarts in The Great Debaters.
• A stone's throw from where the poet William Blake had his vision of angels, Rye Lane in Peckham has often been said to resemble mini Lagos.
But on Tuesday night the doyens of the art world, imperiously clad in their white linen suits and black-rimmed Hoxton specs, braved the local hoodies and the miasma of feral delinquency that they normally associate with the mean streets of SE9 (which is, of course, far from the truth) for the opening of a summer art installation on the rooftop of the Peckham multiplex car park.
The view across the city was truly spectacular - one of those Damascene moments where cityscape and soulscape seamlessly merge, and which illuminate your perspective on our great metropolis.
Call me a philistine but I just wish the art and the painfully monochromatic crowd - in Peckham of all places - had had the same effect on my soul as the peerless vista.
Reader views (17)
Even though, like some of your first commenters, it's not our job to "judge" Michael Jackson, I agree wholeheartedly with you that he had a need, expressed in his lifetime of surgery and appearance-alterations, to be white. Or just perhaps to escape his origins.
I could never understand it. I am roughly the same age as "MJ," and throughout "our" lifetimes, it was apparent to my generation that Michael was, among other bizarre twists, turning white.
I hope that he is at peace where he is. He WAS a colossus as a dancer, singer and entertainer. But he wore his deeply troubled life on the outside. That could not have been more clear.
And he clearly left his culture and race behind.
Thanks for your refreshing, truthful take on MJ.
JD in Atlanta
- Julie D., Atlanta, Georgia
My heroes include and are not limited to greats like William Shakespeare (whose house I havevisited in England), Mozart (whose piano I have seen with my eyes, Mandela (who spent time in an apartheid sponsored South African prison), Martin Luther King (who did not bleach his ski), Stevie Wonder (who fought for the USA to have the Martin Luther King birthday and for Mandela to be freed from prison and for apartheid to end), Jesus Christ (who fed thousands of people and taught billions about LOVE)and more great ones.
But Michael Jackson will never be a hero of mine, my family and all that respect me. All those cosmetic surgeries surgeries, thinning of the nose and adding artificial dimples here and there took it away from me. He could not even speak properly in public, let alone like to have a man voice.
Thoe who think he is great and should be compared to the greats have no read about what makes a person great. It is not about dancing. It is not about cosmetic surgeries. It s not about breaking the MTV barriers. What about Prince he is better. But also he is not a hero of mine. Betrand Russell was great philosopher. AdamSmith brough the economic theory of the division of labor. Walt Whitmann wrote LEAVES OF GRASS. William Butler Yeats was a grea Irish Stateman and a poet. The Beatles and Bono of U2 have done more to the world than Michael Jackson. Cosmetic surgeries and the thinning of the nose took it away. He was not that great. I am sorry. The buck stops here.
- Temba Hubert, Minneapolis
It's amazing how people take upon themselves the roles that actually will NEVER be theirs. What is sooo wrong with letting God to be the sole Judge of human kind???
- Polinna, Nairobi Kenya
The press claim ceaseless outpourings of grief. In truth many do not give a hoot. Over kill as per usual.
- James, Putney
In death as in life, Michael Jackson remains a monumental tower of musical colossus inviting goodwill from the world over. And these are precisely while I profoundly disagree with Lindsay Johns comments on Michael Jackson. It makes no sense to receive MJ as a musical colossus who “could kick foot” like no other mortal” as Johns admits and turn around to condemn him for that part of his life that Johns, along with millions of others, fails to understand. Could it be that Michael Jacksons’ refusal to adapt or succumb to our own expectations of what the life of a global pop icon should be - multiple marriages and retinue of beautiful girlfriends- led us to view him as a total weirdo? Perhaps, here is where that sexual ambiguity starts, yet that is where it must end. But if we looked closely, we shall come to see that the same devotion that Jackson extended to children, young girls and young girls, was the same that his many animals and birds enjoyed and yet no one ever accused him of animal cruelty of any kind. Was he a kind man? Certainly. Was he a bleached-out, black skin hater? Perhaps this is another ambiguity that simple minds fail to understand. For a fact, MJ did not bleach his skin to be acceptable to Whites. By the time of his first experiment, he was already the King of Pop, admired, loved and idolised the world over. Surely, had Michael Jackson found a way to turn his skin to green through permanent make up, Lindsay Johns would possibly see him simply Wacko Jacko
- Rev Mi Umealo-Wells, London, UK
Michael Jackson did not just change the colour of his skin. From what we know, he changed his nose, his voice, his cheekbones...and that is just things we do know. How can you say he was only changing his skin colour? The man was clearly doing more than that. He was not changing himself because he did not like being black. He changed himself because he did not like being himself. His former self was far more than just being black.
- Smb, London, UK
No one can dispute the immense talent of Michael Jackson and the pleasure his brought to millions through his music but I have to agree with Lindsay on the points raised regarding being a role model! The abuse he and the rest of the Jacksons endured at the hands of their father are well documented but yet the others have not gone to the same lengths to change their appearance!
How are we supposed to teach our kids that colour, race etc does not matter and to be proud of who they are when faced with these images. I have to disagree with Smb, London when they said "he wasn't getting rid of his blackness but his former self". Well if I'm not mistaken his former self was 'Black!'.
- Michelle, London
"The People's Paedophile"?
I thought that he was tried and found innocent of any charges of child abuse.
- Manny Goldstein, London, UK
I totally agree with Dee. I can only presume that Lindsay was not born in the era when black artistes, however talented, were routinely treated as inferior by those in the music and entertainment industry. Michael Jackson certainly changed that by becoming the first artiste that successfully crossed the divide by bringing black music into the mainstream.
Although I don't agree with certain parts of his lifestyle, credit must given for the way he paved the way for other black artistes to be given the artistic and commercial recognition they now enjoy.
Perhaps Lindsay should read about the historic oppressive and discriminatory treatment most well-known black artistes then suffered before writing such a glib and puerile article.
As for Squiz, until a person is seen for themself and not their colour the so-call divisive organisations will remain. Did anyone ever comment on George Bush's colour?
- Sonia M., St Albans, Herts
His face was scary though !
- Joe, Swanley Kent
Though I do disagree with MJ's very unorthodox ways slating him in the way you have done just seems cowardly and very unnecessary. No one will ever know the real depth of Micheals self loathing, its too easy to speculate from what the media choose to put out there.
And Squiz please don't think on behalf of the black community. What you've written is a load of rubbish! Anyone with half a brain cell will know OJ was guilty and I'm pretty sure I know allot more black people than you do and not one has claimed him to be otherwise but let’s not digress. Black Americans are very different when it comes to embracing their own which i think we Brits could learn from so we don't end up with more articles like this one.
- Dee, London
Lindsay - exactly how dumb are you??
I have to laugh as you really have no idea what you are talking about. You know nothing of the man apart from what has been reported over the years. Of course reading your opinion it does beg the question.
Have you still not gotten over when you were abused?
What were you doing from the ages of 5-12? You surely weren't the star he was. Can you not understand how his life could have been affected?
You think he was ashamed to be black? Let the fullness of time and medical records show what the truth is, not what you purport to be the truth.
Perhaps you could even do some research? I think Michael Jackson was called MJ for quite a while - simple mistakes like this lose your column credibility.
Lindsay a little bit of empathy will serve you well.
Shame on you bro for turning on a brother like this without all the facts. Please don't research from TMZ in future.
- William Bailey, wgtn
The community that has the most right to 'claim' Michael Jackson as one of their own are those with mental health issues. He clearly, it seems to me, suffered from body dismorphia and other mental issues which lead to him feeling compelled to change his own body so completely (compare to otherwise healthy people who want to have amputations, or people who self-harm, for instance).
It is an incredibly sad case and I'm not sure we'll ever know what his state of mind really was over the last 20 years, other than that he was clearly a very troubled and disturbed person.
- Alison, London
Sadly I think the black community itself feels it has been bereft of any real heroes which is why we see the ridiculous lauding of Mary Seacole, the absolute blinkered belief in the innocence of the wife-filleting OJ and the speedy exoneration and reclamation of Liz Taylor wannabee MJ. Black Music Awards, Black History Month -month ! - and the Black Police federation are all so divisive and largely unnecessary. There is so much to celebrate in black culture now ingrained globally but black society lacks the confidence not to praise any success or achievement. Barack Obama - it's his black persona celebrated globally but if it had been left to his dad he'd be a goat herder. And if it all goes belly up for Obama in the most heinous manner black apologists will STILL sing his praises as the best president ever.
- Squiz, Islington
Well said Lindsay.
- Joanna Carling, london
Thankfully you are not a victim of abuse, or you perhaps would have recognised that "MJ" was not getting rid of his 'blackness' by his extensive surgery/lightening of skin, he was ridding himself of any trace of his former self, such was his self loathing. Could it be his excessive fame and wealth that makes you less sympathetic, or perhaps the disproved child abuse claims? If it were the average Joe doing this, I suspect you would have had more sympathy.
Michael Jackson is a good example to any parents forcing early fame upon their children as the extreme example of what price that fame comes at. And despite what you say, he will still continue to be a role model for many young people - his music will continue to inspire millions and his dancing will be imitated and appreciate for generations to come.
- Smb, London, UK
Finally!
Somebody has actually wrote an intelligent, honest and factual piece about the freakshow that was Michael Jackson.
Thank-you!!
Unfortunately, the saddest part about all this is not the tragedy of his death, nor his life for that matter.
Nor is it the hysteria of the circus that will no doubt ensue.
The REAL tragedy is that this piece had to be written by a black man as it is such now in this country that it would have been deemed racist had it been written by any other..
- Andi-M, London innit!
