Worldwide Celebrity

I've resisted posting about Michael Jackson to this point, but today's funeral was apparently watched around the world, which prompted some thoughts about celebrity. When I took an African American history class in college, the OJ Simpson trial was a major distraction. The day the verdict came down, the class was buzzing. But the professor wasn't impressed -- "20 years from now, no one will remember OJ Simpson," he said. I'm not so sure. I think the OJ trial ushered in a new dimension in this era of celebrity worship -- basically, the opposite of celebrity worship -- celebrity demonization, if you will. That demonization may have reached its peak (hopefully) with the recent coverage of Britney Spears, and hopefully the death of Michael Jackson will allow people to realize that when you put people on pedestals, they are going to get knocked off. Worse than that, people will pull other people down off those pedestals at virtually every opportunity. The speeches at Mr. Jackson's funeral praised him to the stars, which is in some ways appropriate to the occasion, but I hope the people involved in the proceedings realize that this is only one step in a long process of coming to terms with this shocking news, and that their best efforts to put him back on his pedestal will ultimately fail. Sorry to be depressing, but it's probably the truth.