![\"\"](\"http:\/\/attractwomenanywhere.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/mj-blog.jpg\" "\\"mj-blog\\"")
<\/p>\n\u00a0Unless you live in a cave in some remote part of the world, you’ve probably heard that Michael Jackson passed away a few days ago.\u00a0 I take that back.\u00a0 You could probably walk deep into some cave in Afghanistan and the first you’d hear from some grotesque mountain man would be, “Hey, did you hear Michael Jackson died?”<\/p>\n
\u00a0So, everybody knows and with that comes the 24\/7 round the clock coverage on every news channel, and tributes by everyone who ever had a piece of lint of MJ’s clothing land on him.\u00a0 Is it ridiculous?\u00a0 Yes?\u00a0 Is the news interesting?\u00a0 No!\u00a0\u00a0 Is our cultural behavior fascinating?\u00a0 Absolutely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u00a0Regardless of if you liked MJ or not (and I was definitely a fan in high school, and I could see how someone could like him as an entertainer but dislike him as a person), you have to be amazed by the sudden attention to his death.\u00a0\u00a0Just 2 weeks ago, he was a frail and wounded man, and no one cared if he was homeless on the side of the curb outside of a 7\/11 store drinking cheap wine out of a paper bag.\u00a0\u00a0 Now, everyone is interested in paying some sort of a tribute and discussing how sad it is.\u00a0 Jesse Jackson cannot wait to have the spotlight shine on him once again discussing the sad nature of this situation.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0(For the international Audience, Jesse Jackson is a reverend who likes to get involved in politics, and turn everything into a race issue; particularly if he can grab the spotlight.\u00a0 He’d make a national racial case out of why your ordered the “Pinto Beans” as opposed to the “Black Beans” at a Mexican restaurant..)<\/p>\n
\u00a0There are two issues that are a bit alarming to me:\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u00a0Very rarely, you see tributes to living legends, but moving out of the scope of celebrity, very rarely do people take the time to appreciate someone else they care about.\u00a0 They make take the time to write great eulogy speeches but couldn’t take the time to make a phone call.\u00a0 This isn’t even about Michael Jackson.\u00a0 We’ll get to that later.\u00a0 This is about tendencies of human behavior.<\/p>\n
\u00a0My father was never big on funerals.\u00a0 If invited, sometimes he’d attend, and sometimes he wouldn’t depending on the circumstances. He always said, “If you have something nice to say to appreciate someone, say it when they’re alive.\u00a0 Once they die, let it go.”\u00a0 It seems like common sense but you don’t realize or comprehend the tremendous magnitude of it until you experience it personally.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0I realized the effect of it personally when my friend Seth passed away back in March..\u00a0 I didn’t feel a need to write a speech that’d wow everyone to no end.\u00a0 Sure, it’s nice to pay tribute and commemorate someone, and I am all for paying tribute. From a personal perspective, there is some solace in the fact that you said what you wanted to say to that person while they he\/she was alive.\u00a0 While you can’t make up for the loss, there is a very tiny bit of catharsis in knowing that the person KNEW how you felt about him\/her<\/p>\n
It’s unfortunate that people don’t focus on that aspect of showing appreciation more.\u00a0 Upon hearing the news of someone passing away, people seem quick to want to offer a nice tribute, but the true impact would have been felt much more had the action been carried out while the person was alive.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Thus, you learn to show appreciation for people, as it difficult as it may be to verbalize your feelings out loud.\u00a0 Whether it’s a parent, another family member, friend, give them a call, take them out to lunch and tell them you appreciate them.\u00a0 OK, now that was the sentimental sweetheart part of the post.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0Paying tribute to someone is a nice gesture if words are congruent with your emotions.\u00a0 Whether it’s an acquaintance, a distant relative, or Michael Jackson, it’s common sense that you’d miss someone you genuinely liked.\u00a0 However, what if you didn’t like the person?<\/p>\n
\u00a0People often feel a need to say something nice about someone after the fact. Entire revisionist stories are written, and people suddenly develop selective memories about the events that occurred, or somehow they convince themselves to see the events differently.\u00a0 It often becomes ridiculous and if the person is remotely famous, the effects are that much more intensified.<\/p>\n
My question is: Where do you draw the line?<\/em>\u00a0 Seriously?\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0We know that people don’t have pleasant eulogies for those who commit genoiced or those who are mass murderers.\u00a0 Certainly, there is no positive tribute for Joseph Stalin, Hitler, or the Zodiac Killer.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Where is the cut off line, however? Where is that arbitrary line where we decide to not champion somebody?\u00a0 If someone went on a rampage, stormed into a government building bent on going on a killing spree, but ended up killing dangerous escaped convicts, and in the process died himself, what happens then?<\/p>\n \u00a0“Well, let us remember Bob Smith for saving the children who were playing outside while on a fieldtrip from the school.\u00a0 The children’s lives were spared from being slain by the dangerous convicts Bob shot.\u00a0\u00a0 Of course, Bob went in to the building with the intention of just shooting random people, but by miracle, ended up taking out bad guys.\u00a0 God bless him<\/em>.”<\/p>\n \u00a0Where do we draw the line?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0In the Michael Jackson case, the same media that vilified him is now paying tributes to him.\u00a0 Where is the consistency?\u00a0 Yes, I get that much of the media is a collection of whores who want to milk the story for what they can.\u00a0 They like to exploit what they can.\u00a0 Anyone with reasonable intelligence can see that pattern of behavior.<\/p>\n But then, even in the case of someone not famous, you see the same trend of behavior, the trend of lionizing what used to be a contemptible character.\u00a0\u00a0 The guy who was an asshole suddenly is recalled with fond memories.\u00a0<\/p>\n It doesn’t work that way.\u00a0 A prick is a prick, present or past tense.\u00a0\u00a0 Joseph Stalin was a prick. We should be glad the motherf*cker is dead.\u00a0 Just because he dies, doesn’t make him a saint.\u00a0 Consistency!<\/p>\n That brings me to another point:\u00a0 Why is it sacrilege to rejoice when an asshole dies?<\/p>\n It makes no sense.\u00a0\u00a0 It only makes sense to be sad when a good guy passes on.\u00a0 So, yes, I was pretty bummed out when I recently logged on the Internet to see the news that George Carlin died of a heart attack.\u00a0 It sucks!\u00a0\u00a0 He was 71, but still, George Carlin is the kind of guy you’d want to see live to be a 100.\u00a0 I think he was a brilliant comedic mind, an astute social commentator, and a genius of an artist; plus an all around good-guy.<\/p>\n It makes no sense to mourn the loss of a prick.\u00a0 A few years back, ex-president Gerald Ford “Passed Away”.\u00a0\u00a0 My initial gut reaction?\u00a0 One less scumbag on the planet!\u00a0 My second reaction?\u00a0 “Why couldn’t he die in 1963 during the Warren Commission, or before it?”\u00a0 Over all reflection on the situation: Just one less scumbag the planet.<\/p>\n All human beings die.\u00a0 When the ones whom we care about and admire die, then naturally we are saddened by it because we feel that void in our hearts.\u00a0 When a prick dies, then we ought to celebrate.\u00a0 Dick Cheney is one evil son of a bitch, and he is almost 70 years old.\u00a0 One day, Dick Cheney will die, as do all living creatures. You don’t hold a memorial service for an evil fuck like that. I think you should be allowed to rejoice in such instances.\u00a0 You ought to be commended for pulling out your old Van Halen CD (or MP3 now days) and cranking out LOUD the song:\u00a0 “Dancing in The Street”.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is how it’d go:<\/p>\n Newsflash:\u00a0 Dick Cheney died today while Hunting.\u00a0 An Elk shoved his horns up Dick’s rectum puncturing his colon as well as his sternum.\u00a0 His loss is being felt, but we can’t figure out where.<\/p>\n Reaction: Happy People Start blasting Van Halen’s cover of\u00a0 “Dancing in the Street”…..<\/p>\n \u00a0There’ll be swinging , swaying, \u00a0\u00a0 ———————————————————————–<\/p>\n \u00a0OK, I am getting sidetracked a bit.\u00a0 Back to the issue:<\/p>\n \u00a0Anyhow, this phenomenon will continue.\u00a0 Granted there will be individuals who will sorely be missed by a lot of people.\u00a0 There will be various inspirational figures who will touched people through actions, art, or just every day personal interaction.\u00a0 Yet, there will be the Dick Cheneys of the World, despised by most of the planet, and when they pass away, you are assured of seeing round the clock tribute on CNN and every other news channel.\u00a0 The same people who couldn’t stand the guy will release a statement about the sad loss of having lost that person.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0If there is anything to take away, it’s that when it comes to making statements about someone’s character, human beings are consistently inconsistent<\/strong>.\u00a0 They’ll attempt to mourn a Cheney type, when in fact, their true gut feeling would be to rejoice…..\u00a0 Speaking of celebration, here is Van Halen once again…..<\/p>\n Enjoy….<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/attractwomenanywhere.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/cheney-evil.jpg\" "\\"cheney-evil\\"")
<\/p>\n
\nrecords playing
\n… Dancing in The Street…..\u00a0
\nWhoaaaaaa,
\nIt doesn’t matter what you wear,
\nJust as long as you are there,
\nCome on every guy, every girl, everywhere,
\n\u2018Round the world. They’ll be dancing.
\nDancing in The Street.\u00a0\u00a0
\nIt’ just an invitation,
\nAcross the Nation,
\nA chance for the folks to meet,
\nThere’ll be laughing, singing,
\nMusic Swinging,
\nDancing in the Streets……\u00a0
\nThere’ll be dancing in Chicago,
\nDown in New Orleans,
\nUp in New York City…<\/p>\n