http://www.deadmichaeljacksonjokes.com/

Wow theres some good ones, and fans going mental at it

Absolutely nothing. The point however was hinted at in the bolded text. If he is said person, him complaining about the reaction to the death of a person who changed music and influenced the world, negative and positive personal facts aside, as being "excessive" is highly ironic, moronic and funny, actually it's kinda Perez Hilton'ish. If you get what I am saying.

That site is littered with spam and poor attempts at shock photographs.

Your logic still doesn't work. Vin hasn't specified what kind of reaction he expects or thinks is appropriate to him reminding us of his sexual orientation, and the reaction to MJ's death is what he stated his opinion on.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/06/26/michael.jackson.internet/index.html

Apparently he almost took the internet down with him.

Also, it is amazing how quickly "michael jackson is dead" jokes appeared.

OH GOD

MJ IS GOING TO MOONWALK OVER MY ***

I like how MJ's death singlehandedly shifted everyone's focus from Iran.

That site's been spammed to death.

While Iran seems to have shifted the endless news of recession.

...And the expenses thing in britain.

How do you get into thismight.be/offensive

invite only, sadly

i don't have any to give out :/

Amazing how news cycles work right? Just like 9/11 distracted everyone from Gary Condit killing his secretary! I think it shows once more when it comes down to it, Americans really don't give a crap what's going on around the world, unless its the trendy thing to go. Changing your Twitter Icon to green is about the extent of their volunteerism...

Apparently, he suffered a heart attack after tripping over a children's pram. Police say it is too early to blame it on the buggie.

http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=48245&highlight=Michael+Jackson#post850679

*sigh* No robot, then.

I wouldn't call 9/11 trendy. Very poor reference.

<3

It may have distracted from the story, but Condit didn't kill his secretary.

You think you have it bad? We've had the glorious teet of the MP expense claims story being milked to death for the last month or so, pushing pretty much anything else off the front pages of the Telegraph.

To be fair it is rather annoying that they've been spending public money on porn and suchlikes.

But yes the coverage has been rediculous.

this is why i love wierd al

sure

I thought about writing a long reply showing why stereotyping is stupid and why you shouldn't resort to using it to get a cheap shot in, but then I remembered that this is the internet and it wouldn't really matter, so I'll just :facepalm: instead.

Oh and by the way, it was his intern, not his secretary, that Condit was accused of killing, but it turned out it was a man from El Salvador that did it. He was having an affair with her, but he didn't kill her. Looks like 9/11 may have distracted you from hearing the whole story too.

Zing!

so, just for the fun of it, lets do some searching craigslist:
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/clt/1243862609.html <- Thriller, Asking Price? 15K
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/art/1243192492.html <- How about a tour jacket? that'll be 25K, oh wait, you don't want to pay that much? how about we shave 15k off that? http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/fuo/1242502708.html

and this is only Los Angeles, New York's highest price was 5K

5k? try 25k!

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/clt/1240449420.html

how do i count zeros???

Good god, A quarter of a million.

it was late and I was tired

Ah yes, but if you recall the entire story that summer was the inevitability of him having done it; I don't seem to remember a great many people proclaiming his presumed innocence. When the truth of the matter eventually came out...well that just didn't grab the headlines did it? I will take the hit on the intern aspect of it, that detail had eluded me.

And you really don't believe Americans are prone to jumping on fads and engage in celebrity worship? What are our kids watching these days? Washed up celebrities attempting to stay sober long enough to film a "season's" worth of dram to be filmed for for television. There seems to be a connection that Americans form with their celebrities that results in their being placed on a pedestal; and many feel as if they know them personally. Now some would probably say this is the case with all celebrities across the world, and they'd most likely be right. I would argue America is the more egregious offender.

As for the fads...well I think they are also easy to spot. Whether it is going green, jumping on board the Obama "Change" train, or mentioning something about Iran on Twitter, this country shifts from latest trend to latest trend. That's the whole nature of the beast with news cycles; you could talk about Condit, you could talk about the VT shootings, you could talk about the tsunami a few years back, the list goes on and on. For those first few days, there is INTENSE interest in the subject matter, possibly lasting for a few weeks. However, after a time those stories that so enraptured as, and prompted such an outburst of caring and action, fail to interest.

Not to say people just wipe the events from their memories, but they lose their "spark" and "zest." Shouldn't we care just as much that Condit was found not to be guilty, as people cared when the story first broke? His reputation was dragged through the gutter, I mean the man was implied to have committed murder for heaven's sake. Yet when it was proven that he had not done, there was no great campaign to reclaim his good name.

I suppose most of my complaints stem from a cynical view of the media as a whole, but what angers me is that so many people don't seem to really question what they get from their media sources, and so willingly follow along, easily swallowing any story presented to them. We'll put hours and hours of watching Michael Jackson coverage, when news from Iran or hell, the growing threat of North Korea is pushed aside. Guess which one of those stories is probably more important...

i dunno, brits have had an obsession with celebrities for far longer than america. in fact i remember a couple years ago a thread about it.

Acting as if Americans are the only ones who engage in celebrity worship makes you look stupid.

Since Michael Jackson is mostly made of plastic, they're going to melt down his body into Lego's so that little boys can play with him for a change.

"Now some would probably say this is the case with all celebrities across the world, and they'd most likely be right. I would argue America is the more egregious offender."

My point still stands, regardless of how you qualified your statement. It's still a ridiculous generalization that makes you look foolish.

I am BORED of michael jackson now. The radios are being beyond stupid, including the top 40 chart.

He was good back in the day but it's 2009 now so no thank you. Stop ruining my radio. *shakes fist*

I disagree. America, and by extension most of Europe has been blessed with success. Economically, politically, their standard of living is muuuch better than the rest of the free world. So it's only natural that given their success, Americans, Europeans have more time for entertainment; they can spend their hard earned cash to go see a movie, or buy a CD. Hell some of them are blessed with the good fortune to become artists that go on to have massive success.

I'd say the American obsession with celebrity is a by-product of this success; if one is eking out a living in the Congo I doubt the goings on of Tom Hanks are going to factor into their lives all that much. Meanwhile, the average American has the time/income/means to "care." Going Green is the latest trend you say? Well I'm going to buy a greener laptop, or a greener car, or whatever else it is people do to reduce their carbon footprints these days? Last summer, that was allll you heard about, that and the upcoming election. Today? I'd argue the reaction is more of "Oh, are people still trying to go green?" Isn't it a cause just as important today and it was back then?

Point is that with regards to last summer, the election took over the news cycles, and completely justifiably so. At the time, and throughout the rest of the election, I found it distasteful how many Americans had jumped onto the Obama bandwagon without bothering to really delve into his politics. Instead, the rallying cry was "Change!" What that Change was, or how it was going to be implemented wasn't as important as being a part of the process, the movement, whatever you wished to call it. It was "hip" to support Obama, even though said person might not have had any real clue as to what that meant!

Is it better off that America is a nation consisting of people who might not be knowledgeable about world events or attention deficit as opposed to a nation that is on the brink of poverty and suffering from poverty and drought? It would be hard to argue no. I'm just saying that we can have higher standards...

I'm not disagreeing with your point about celebrity worship and how absurd it is. I called you out on you assertion that Americans are the worst offenders.

His old hits are better than almost everything on the radio today.