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URL: http://www.collegian.com/index.php/article/2012/02/whitney_houston_michael_jackson_deaths_forget_whole_legacy
Current Date: Wed, 23 May 2012 12:54:28 -0600
Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson deaths forget whole legacy
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If I ever somehow become a celebrity, and if I ever manage to do something just flat-out stupid, I really hope that I die young. At least that way, I can be assured that t-shirts with my face on them will be able to support my family for generations, and all of my sins will be forgiven.
Take, for instance, fallen King of Pop Michael Jackson.
In the Jan. 31 Michael Jackson tribute episode of “Glee,” (yes… I’m 21 and I still watch “Glee.” Deal with it.) to motivate fellow glee club members to take a stand against injustice, protagonist Finn poses the question: “What would Michael Jackson do?”
“Be brave! Be strong! Not take ‘no’ for an answer!” The glee club members exclaim, without a hint of irony, as they use Jackson’s timeless music to give a moral conscience to a rival glee club.
Now a few years ago, if you had asked me, “What would Michael Jackson do?” in any situation, “Be brave!” and “Be strong!” probably would not have been the first responses to come to mind.
Instead, my response — and I wager a lot of other people’s responses too — would have been something inappropriate: probably something lewd involving touching children, transforming from black to white or dangling a blanket-clad baby off of a balcony.
It wasn’t until after he died that Michael Jackson transformed from “Wacko Jacko” back to the King of Pop. While he was alive, they didn’t sell posters with his head on it at the Renaissance Festival. It wasn’t socially acceptable to publicly admit that you listen to his music.
Now, he is a deity worthy of a “Glee” tribute episode. Just prior to his death, he was basically a human Saturday Night Live skit.
It’s not like his years spent dangling kids off of balconies, getting enough plastic surgery to look like Lord Voldemort or extensive legal issues didn’t exist.
But by the way society has started to lionize Jackson after his death, you would almost think the last 20 or so years of Jackson’s life never happened, and he died tragically in his sleep in the midst of his “Thriller” heyday.
It’s not like every celebrity gets this treatment. Take Amy Winehouse, who passed away this summer.
Articles about her still speculate on her drug and drinking habits, months after her death. Granted, she wasn’t the icon that Jackson is, but her death has hardly received the amount of respect that it deserved, and it doesn’t at all fit the precedent left by memories of Jackson.
And this brings me to Whitney Houston, who, for those of you who live under a rock, passed away this weekend.
While literally a week ago, if you would have told me that Houston was going to hijack the Grammys and that my friends would think losing Whitney is the most tragic thing that has ever happened to them, I would have asked if the two of you had been smoking crack together.
That’s definitely not remotely acceptable for me to say now.
Even normally fearless comedienne Kathy Griffin, whose cracked-out Whitney Houston impression used to be one of the best parts of her act, issued an apology on her Facebook profile, saying that she would stop making fun of Houston in light of her passing.
I’m all about respecting the dead, and I think that both Jackson and Houston left incredible legacies worthy of celebrating.
But the way things are going and the way Houston and Jackson are being portrayed, it kind of concerns me that future generations might look back at their legacies and not see the whole picture.
Yes, they both left us with incredible music, but they also left us with some pretty important lessons about how not to act.
And future generations should probably be allowed to learn these lessons instead of simply being taught that Houston and Jackson were divine inspirations just because they were lucky enough to die young.
Maybe when they do a “Glee” tribute episode for Whitney Houston, her legacy, unlike Jackson’s, will at least try to acknowledge a little bit of the truth.
Content Managing Editor Allison Sylte is a junior journalism major. Her column appears Tuesdays in the Collegian. She can be reached at letters@collegian.com or on Twitter @AllisonSylte.
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15 comments
sn’t it the same with Elvis?
Few years before he died he was on the downward spiral including his celebrity status and charisma.
The flame was sparked again when he died.
And Michael Jackson’s legacy is way bigger than Whitney or any other artist in the music industry.
Instead, my response — and I wager a lot of other people’s responses too — would have been something inappropriate: probably something lewd involving touching children, transforming from black to white or dangling a blanket-clad baby off of a balcony.” I note you are are a junior journalist but oh dear I hope you are not learning from the older journalist who make up news to sell a paper. Yes these artists had problems and so did a lot of other people whose problems have disappeared since they died including Elvis Presley whose problems seem to have disappeared and many more from the past !. As for your remarks about Michael Jackson you would do well to read the court transcripts and the FBI files and find the truth. His autopsy report will tell you that he had vitiligo and yes he made a mistake with the Berlin incident but don’t we all make the odd mistake, throw our children in the air, maybe let them walk on that frozen pond or get too near the water. All in hindsight!! What did Michael Jackson do that was SO wrong? Plastic surgery haha..could put a lot more famous people in that category! In particular Journalists crucified Michael Jackson, please be a new age of journalist that checks facts before spewing innuendoes and false facts. Whitney had her problems, so do we all, we are just lucky its not front page news!! Yes the younger generation can learn lessons from these fallen icons, the fame they all seem to seek is not all its cracked up to be, but they must be based on truth and not suppositions or fabricated to make a headline. I am sure the new generation will have no problem in knowing of these stars failings as the media and books will continue to enlighten them. For too long these stars real legacies of their contributions to the world of music has been overlooked in favour of their misteps so lets honour for a time the gift they gave us. We don’t need or should have to learn lessons from people we don’t really know, or know if things said are the truth or not, we have parents and teachers for those lessons.
Wow, it sounds as though you believed all the media stories from the tabloids about Michael Jackson. He was an amazing man not only a legendary icon. If you can write, you can read, so please educate yourself on Mr. Jackson before you go knocking him down. Nobody’s perfect, but the recognition he has received since his passing was long overdue. Good reading would include a recent book by Joe Vogel called “Man in the Music”. I think you willl better understand why Mr. Jackson was and is so beloved the world over and why he was a gifted genuis.
I think the world realized Michael Jackson was an innocent man and have put him back on his pedestal as an act of world-wide contrition for the way he was maligned.
The press destroyed the man but not the myth.
Are you kidding me? I know thirteen Michael Jackson fans, in my class itself. We’re 15, and we know about his whole life. I was proud to be his fan, since way before his death.
There is something not quite right when somebody tries to write an insightful piece about their subject and falls at the first hurdle.
Anybody who had half a brain before Michael Jackson died (and who paid attention to the trial and not the inaccurate media reports) knew that he was “not guilty” of the charges against him. Not by a technicality but by a huge volume of evidence suggesting that that was the case. Second only an idiot would believe a man can transform his skin colour like some kind of chemically induced chameleon. The evidence of his skin problems were on the internet for years in photos of him and in his own statements. When he died it was proven once and for all and beyond doubt that he wasn’t lying – he did have Vitiligo. I’ll give the baby dangling thing (that was stupid!).
Michael Jackson was brave and he was strong throughout his career. How else would you describe somebody who went through such a public trial to defend himself against such disgusting accusations? How else would you describe somebody who went to great lengths to break down colour barriers and prejudice. How else would you describe somebody who was so unjustly treated by the media that it influenced millions of people into believing he bleached his own skin and abused children.
Sorry for the typo.
Michael Jackson’s artistry, creativity, contribution to the music industry and to humanity are beyond compare.
He wrote his own songs to express his emotions, he just did not simply sing songs. When he composed – he composed his songs by layer by layer and put every effort he had in each of them. This is just one of the many, many talents MJ had.
And he was innocent!!!! He was such a great man with a humble heart.
As a news junkie not fan who has researched Michael Jackson’s life since his death, I find this article or editorial appalling. It’s just simply terrible. It does not bode well for the future of journalism. Yes, the transcripts, FBI files, and analysis of the media coverage of this man tell a much different story than related in this “article.”
Well based on your article of tabloid slew you won’t have to worry about being a celebrity any time soon…
The best thing Michael did for his career was die. His comeback would have been a disaster & that would have driven him to use even more drugs and to face getting older & being alone once his kids got too old to stay home night & day to entertain him.
At least by dying his kids finally got a chance to live a life besides being shut in with him.
Too bad his kids are now stuck with his attention addicted family & are learning that the most important thing in life is to live off Michael’s legacy but that’s what Michael left them…. too much money & his sick family.
It won’t be long before Prince & Paris are out partying like Paris Hilton & the other unmotivated children of the rich & famous. Partying & always thinking up new ways to cash in on Michael’s name to keep up their sick style of living.
Michael Jackson died & now the world can pretend he was happy & not a dysfunctional recluse. His kids can pretend along with the crazy fans.
But they’ll have money & that’s the only thing important to a Jackson.
Michael Jackson died a long time before he died.
Allison, what was your last name again? Dimond?
allison you won’t become a celebrity but let’s hope you may someday be a writer. What is in this article is complete junk and not true. Shortly prior to his death he sold 750,000 tickets to his concerts in less than 4 hours, the ticketmaster site crashed and there were still another 600,000 people waiting in line to buy tickets when they closed sales. And that was for shows in one city.
And if he molested any kids don’t you think they should be talking about it and not you? They are adults now and can speak for themselves. And don’t start bleating about they signed some kind of agreement and can’t talk because even if true those agreements died with Jackson.
There is actually not one speck of proof he molested anyone, so unless you can find proof no one else has found in 20 years you need to shut up.
Lott everything you are saying, just like the “writer’s” vomit, is based on your own petty, uninformed, biased view and most of it is proven absurd by the movie “This Is It”.
You have wasted your parents money on college.
Wow, what a poorly written and researched article. I can’t believe a college student wrote it. This article has a racist tone, degrading two great black artist. Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston were great artist but even better human beings. No one is perfect, but these were amazingly humble people. I refuse to let anyone degrade them.I guess anyone can be a journalist these days. SMH
The profuse display of ignorance propagated by the majority of comments on this column are quite telling.
Nothing is wrong with this column. If anything, it was too respectful of people who deserve absolutely none. These dead celebrities had everything they could ever want — and more — and chose to follow a path of self-destruction.
While I am sympathetic to the plight of their families, I do not feel any semblance of remorse for them. Millions of other people all around the world have real problems and spending our time mourning over worthless celebrities is an insult to people who are truly struggling.
Why is Whitney Houston’s “legacy” more important than our soldiers fighting for our freedoms every day? The thought disgusts me.
But I digress. Allison Sylte has the right idea with this column. These are not people we should look up to, and her fears of future generations idolizing them are genuine.
So, Mr. Know Not, what is the “whole picture“? You, and everyone else who chooses to believe tabloid garbage, are the ones with Issues. Those of you who wish to believe the sickest things your mind can contrive are the ones we should be protecting our children from. You CHOOSE to believe the lewd lies you have read in the media. For some sick reason, those are the things your mind will absorb over the truth and the FACTS…why is that? You are just another “reporter” filling the web with trash and worthless personal opinion. You want to be a real reporter? then report the TRUTH…you would be the first.
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Maria
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