From The RampartsJunious Ricardo StantonMichael Jackson and the Media“Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hills home and paramedics were unable to revive him. We're told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back. A source tells us Jackson was dead when paramedics arrived. A cardiologist at UCLA tells TMZ Jackson died of cardiac arrest. Once at the hospital, the staff tried to resuscitate him but he was completely unresponsive. A source inside the hospital told us there was ‘absolute chaos’ after Jackson arrived. People who were with the singer were screaming, ‘You've got to save him! You've got to save him!’” TMZ Posted Jun 25th 2009 5:20PM by TMZ StaffThe airwaves are ablaze with the news of the sudden passing of entertainment icon Michael Jackson at age fifty. Cable news giants CNN and MSNBC stopped their incessant propaganda spins to focus on Michael Jackson’s life and career. MTV the music media behemoth which ironically prior to Michael Jackson’s Thriller Album never played black music or black artists also joined the interest in Jackson. VH1 will play Jackson’s videos non-stop all weekend beginning Friday. Jackson reportedly suffered cardiac arrest and was taken to UCLA hospital were he was subsequently pronounced dead Thursday afternoon. Of course local nes and the Internet were abuzz about Jackson’s passing.Michael Jackson had been in LA rehearsing for an upcoming sold out fifty concert tour in the UK. Reports indicate the rehearsal were going well although the concerts had been pushed back a week. Fans and the curious gathered outside UCLA hospital and CNN showed crowds outside Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater stunned by the news paying their respects. Various friends, spokespersons media hounds and entertainment types are rolling out old footage of Jackson replaying his videos (mini-films) and talking about his career as a pop icon.Jackson’s death is taking center stage just as at one point in his life Jackson was crowned the King of Pop and enjoyed unprecedented global recognition and stardom. Jackson was a talented child whose creativity and ingenuity catapulted his family group The Jackson Five to fame and fortune after they were discovered by one of the Motown Acts, Bobby Taylor of Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers and signed by Berry Gordy to a recording contract. Even though he was the youngest member of the group all eyes were on Michael because he moved so fluently, he projected a boundless energy and effervescent personality and he obviously enjoyed being on stage. Michael Jackson grew up in the entertainment industry and The Jackson Five experienced phenomenal success: sold out concerts, recoding deals, a variety show and an animated series. Even then they blazed trails most R&B artists never even dreamed about. When he left The Jackson Five to go solo he became even more famous and he charted a trail as a cross over artist never seen before in the music industry. His legendary collaborations with Quincey Jones established record and album sales records that still stand today and propelled his career even higher. His creativity went off the charts when he blended videos which up until then were merely marketing tools for singles as part of his performance and creative repertoire. Jackson was an astute businessman, he purchased the music publishing catalogues of several major artists including the Beatles which increased his growing personal wealth a hundred fold. He subsequently merged with Sony to co-own the rights to artist such as the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Hank Williams and numerous others. Many speculate that some of Jackson’s legal troubles were engineered to force him to sell his interest in Sony/AVT Music Publishing which in today’s market is estimated at at least a billion dollars. Other rumors said he needed to sell to hold on to Neverland whose upkeep was draining his resources.With stardom came closer scrutiny and once under the microscope Jackson presented conflicting images of a super star with major family, personal and financial issues. Jackson’s life, success and eccentricity has been fodder for the media for years. Jackson was so big they are now saying he was a precursor to white world Negroes like Tiger Woods and Barack Obama who supposedly transcended race!? How does one transcend race in a thoroughly racist society?In a way saying Michael Jackson transcended race reflects just how insane the notions of race, racial power dynamics and esthetics are. Yet these ideas still pollute our minds. Michael Jackson mutilated his face and body because he had the financial wherewithal to try to make himself look like something he was not, a white man. The upkeep of his unnatural make over must have taken a major toll on his psyche, finances and his health. I often say black folks are so tricked up by Eurocentric values and self-hatred that if more of us had the money and contacts Jackson had, they would carve themselves up just like he did. They would do anything not to be African! Michael Jackson was extremely talented but he was also a victim of this culture’s menticide and the self-hatred it engendered. Michael Jackson was certainly not immune to this mental poison.Now he is gone. He will be eulogized and be the focus of numerous news stories and discussions about his life and career. It will be interesting to see how the corporate media handles this in the next few days after the initial news and shock of his death wears off. One unwritten rule in the white world is “don’t speak ill of the dead.” Will the corporate media adhere to this rule regarding Michael Jackson like they did someone like Ronald Reagan. Or will they keep stoking the fires of controversy and curiosity about Jackson’s sudden death and eccentric behavior? Will they use his death as a distraction to deliberately take our minds off the economic crisis the US and much of the world are experiencing? Will his demise be a diversion, a Star Wars Jedi Knight slight of hand mind trick to keep us ignorant about the mischief and mayhem US is creating and causing around the world in places like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea, Iran or Somalia? Will the corporatist mind control apparatus take advantage of Jackson’s death to keep us bamboozled and taking sides with or against their depictions of him? Will be fall for the okey-doke? Time will tell.-30-
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Well said my Brother. It is deeply saddening to lose such a genious of a man in such a tragic manner. It is unfortunate to have witnessed him descend into a madness of self mutilation. Despite the fact that Michael leaves a musical legacy that gives little doubt to the genious that he was, the need he felt to transform himself into a white man was and will remain a distrubing part of that legacy. Sadly Michael's dislike of himself began at an early age with his father telling him how unattractive he was. Unfortunatley, much of the self hatred that we have for ourselves begins at home among family members.
As a people we are so far removed from what we were originally that we have little to no idea about our African heritage.
There are always lessons in a loss and a message in a mess no matter how painful or disturbing. We have to look discover and discern the collective message(s) as well as how it applies to us personally in Michael Jackson's life and death. There are many lessons least of all how harmful drug addiction (pain killers don't just kill pain) is and can be. On a deeper level we have to look at ourselves and ask how much of the culturally induced self-hatred we have internalized and allowed to manifest in our lives because no one escapes the pathological insanity of this culture. One of my favorite quotes from an unknown source is, "the worse thing a person can do is to think ill of him or herself." Food for thought. Stay strong!!
JRS
Good God, this will be the circus of circuses! Personally, though I loved Michael's records, I am really keeping an eye on what could be snuck by and squeaked through the cracks while everyone is watching and commenting on what killed Michael (racism, self-hatred, wealth and demerol), and where the kids are going to live.
OJ and his antics weren't the last Jedi mind trick up their sleeves and, simply because it worked so well, not the last. So my advice is to keep your eyes on the horizon if you don't want to end up puking all over the boat, because they're going to keep this mess going way after the wheels fall off.
We literally witnessed the self hatred, mutilation, and desecration of an Intelligent, Creative, Beautiful Black Man. And we see this in our communities everyday, in degrees. Our relations with this Gentile(all europeans)has been and continues to be, parasitic in nature. Even in death they continue to suck any and everything that looks of material gain.
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As a people we are so far removed from what we were originally that we have little to no idea about our African heritage.
JRS
OJ and his antics weren't the last Jedi mind trick up their sleeves and, simply because it worked so well, not the last. So my advice is to keep your eyes on the horizon if you don't want to end up puking all over the boat, because they're going to keep this mess going way after the wheels fall off.
JRS