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Michael Jackson and 4th of July Priorities of Concern
This has been an emotional week for many here in America and some around the world. Thousands, if not millions, of people have been mourning the death of legendary artist Michael Jackson, literally pouring into the streets in an expression of grief, while our media outlets and bloggers have been running nonstop to cover every angle, every crumb, every breath of this story. It is hard when someone who has touched millions of people with art suddenly dies. I understand that and I respect the feelings.
However, during a conversation this past weekend with some friends, a few of whom are also rabbis, the conversation turned for a moment to Michael Jackson and the whole tragedy. One of my friends was genuinely upset and felt pained at his death, and she was a bit incensed that I and another friend, were not so much. And, that we were more upset at the outpouring of grief and expression of pain at this death, rather than at any of the myriad other events this past week that could be commanding our attention, was just a total buzz kill for her! I have been thinking about this all week and as we celebrate the 4th of July this Shabbat, the day when we honor our country and all that is good and right, just and joyous about this land in which we live, I want to comment on what I feel is the tragedy within this tragedy as it relates to us as a nation.
John F. Kennedy once wrote in a letter to the publisher of Musical America, "There is a connection, hard to explain logically, but easy to feel, between achievement in public life and progress in the arts. The age of Pericles was also the age of Phidias. The age of Lorenzo de Medici was also the age of Leonardo da Vinci. The age of Elizabeth was also the age of Shakespeare. And the New Frontier for which I campaign in public life, can also be a New Frontier for American art." (Musical America, Oct. 1960) Certainly one can say today, without a doubt, that the age of cable television and the internet is also the age of a pop musical culture explosion, in which Michael Jackson is surely unmatched.
Artists have a way of entering our souls, filling our lives with meaning, offering us hope in times of despair, in a way that very few other people can. And often, as is the case with Jackson, the art becomes larger and more profound than the actual person. With the advent of music videos, and the mass market culture which grew out of the 1980s, Michael Jackson led the way toward a new crossover medium of music, dance, fashion and cultural style. His was not only the voice of a generation, but his dance moves and unique contributions to fashion, embedded him as a cultural icon like none other.
Art has always had the power to transform and elevate us as human beings; like the great artists of old, Jackson found a link to our collective consciousness that tapped into something primal in our need for connection, community and inspiration. For that, we should be grateful for his gift and mourn his death. However, what concerns me is this: why is it that the death of a musician, one man, and one with a very troubled life, brings out the passion of Americans onto the street with such force? It is not the expression of grief that troubles me, but rather the lack of expression and energy for things that are truly of greater consequence and importance in the affairs of our world.
What bothers me most is what I see as a disconnect between our emotional outpouring and the priorities of our society. So, I would not be as troubled by the reaction to Jackson's death, with people sleeping on the streets overnight just to walk by his Walk of Fame star, or setting up spontaneous vigils which draw thousands of people, in tears, if I saw the same kind of reaction and devotion to causes and issues that truly will affect the lives of people. In the same week that hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets to protest a travesty of democratic values, Americans took to the streets for the death of a superstar entertainer.
I have to ask: where were the throngs of people when we called for support to end genocide in Darfur? Supporting gay rights as our state voted to support Prop. 8? Protesting the horrendous budget cuts that our state is facing? Speaking out for affordable healthcare? I have been reading the letters in papers, following some of the blogs and talk-radio, which along with Jackson, have been covering the mindless story of South Carolina Governor Sanford's affair, and noticed, at least in some of the letters, a tone of gratitude for the paper covering something really meaningful and important, rather than, and I kid you not, only covering news issues, like the energy bill, the effort to pass the Employee Free Choice Act and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I hope that we are aware that the draw down of troops in Iraq began this week. One would think that this would be front page news, no? No, buried somewhere inside. What is this saying about our society?
July 4 celebrates the noble actions of our ancestors who fought for freedom, stood up to tyranny and helped to create the foundation for the birth of our blessed nation. I fear that what we are spreading now is not the values of our nation but only our pop culture, a culture that elevates superstars to gods, encourages consumer capitalism based on false values and promotes a quasi idolatry. People all over the world look to America and are copying what we do; yet, are we truly aware of what aspects of our culture others are mimicking?
Do we only want the music, clothes, videos and violent components of our society transmitted to others around the globe? Do we not want people to look to America and see us rallying for justice, promoting, with strength of numbers, the values we hold dear, and actually exercising our democratic rights by voting? Will we rally on the streets to promote alternative energy? Will we rally on the streets to protest unfair and immoral healthcare coverage? Will we rally on the streets to end wars and stop violence? A generation ago, people risked their lives for causes that changed the course of our nation. Today, most of us don't risk our lives for anything, but have no problem spending a day, a week, a month, mourning a superstar, waiting in line for the newest video game machine, or trampling one another to get to the sale rack first. On this 4th of July, let us think about our priorities and assess where we stand.
I close with a rabbinic parable. A king had some empty goblets. He said to himself: "If I pour hot water into the goblets, they will burst, and if I pour cold water into them, they will crack." So what did the king do? He mixed hot and cold water together and poured that into the goblets and the goblets did not break. Similarly, when God created the world, the Holy One said, "If I create the world on the basis of mercy and compassion alone, it will be overwhelmed by sin; on the basis of justice alone, the world cannot exist. So I will create the world with both justice and mercy; that way it will endure!" (Genesis Rabbah 12:15).
Our emotional outpouring over Michael Jackson is the legacy of mercy and compassion, the hot water, and it is necessary and encouraged. Yet, if it is not balanced with an equal amount of cold water, our concern for justice and righteousness, then we are going to shatter our glasses, our world will not endure. Let us keep this message in mind the next time we are called to dedicate our time, our lives, to a cause. May the energy we give to the mercy and compassion be matched by the energy we give to justice. In that way, we imitate God and make our world an even holier and more profound place to dwell. Shabbat shalom.
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Rabbi, for all the controvery surrounding Michael's life, this is the man who wrote 'Heal the World', 'We are the world', 'Will you be there', 'Cry', 'Earth Song', 'Man in the Mirror'. He had a deep concern for the state of world affairs- the poor, the sick, the environment, the future of the world! He gave millions to charity. He gave God the praise for his talent and inspiration.
Suddenly more people are discovering what he was all about. Perhaps more 'fans' will emulate his examples in order to honour him. Maybe by examining his life's work they will, like me, become closer to God and to nature, and more aware of what is happening in the world at large, as I have.
I had not prayed for over a year until Michael died. Now I am suddenly compelled to. MJ must have a very special place in God's heart, because he was a spiritual tool. Please pray that the world's sorrow for MJ does not simply dissipate, but rather, gets channelled into endeavours that make God happy. It is possible! How often do so many people feel the same way at the same time? If we turn our prayers to the same purpose and ask that great things come out of the union of the masses (rather than asking why so many feel so sad over one man when there are so many other, equally important things occurring) I think we could, through God, make great Strides.
Finally someone speaks out on something so stark and visible in American society. Beautifully written and clearly expressed, I applaud the author for his observations and honesty. This is a sad situation indeed. Pop culture and white beautiful girl abductions bring out the passion in people and needless to say endless vigils. What about the real issues of society like better education and affordable health care, rights for women and teachers, and genocide in Darfur, plight of Palestinian, Swat refugees..?? The list is endless.
A knowledgeable set of people with so many opportunities and outlets can revolutionize society and common man's thinking. However, the problem is no one wants to think, no one wants to believe in something important, and no one wants to read, question or understand. All people want, it seems is to digest mindless garbage from MSM, papers, E! and MTV. A show called 'sixteen and pregnant" - plays on MTV - enough said about priorities.
See Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater's Profile
I really appreciate everyone's comments on my piece. I wanted to clarify one recurring theme, namely that I either don't care about Michael Jackson or that those who do care don't care about other issues. I meant neither in this piece. My main point was that I wanted to know why millions of people won't leave work, sleep on the streets, stop their lives, etc. for causes, rallies, demonstrations, issues that affect our world on a larger scale. I appreciate and understand grief and the need for expressing grief; and I really liked the post about a collective human communal need for grieving in this painful and challenging world in which we live.
If and when we, as an American community, choose to rally behind any of the innumerable causes that could change our lives, which for me right now are climate change and energy issues, and changing our healthcare system, causes that the President and members of Congress are calling us to rally for, if we can come out in the numbers that will be in downtown Los Angeles tomorrow honoring Michael, then real progress and change could truly come.
I honor Michael Jackson's life, his contributions to the world of music and entertainment, and to the causes that he cared about which he supported with his music and artistic creations; let us honor his memory by standing up as well. May he rest in peace and may his memory be for a blessing.
It is just not in Iran, but in many other societies, example India, people routinely are on the streets protesting important policies as well as highly irrelevant ones. That is democracy in action. But the point is, no one simply accepts status quo and no one believes everything a politician says. People should pay attention to their environment and the world around them. Climate change is significant, but no one understands the science, they simply want to use cloth bags and recycle. Understanding the science and the repercussions are important. The solutions to climate change are still the same, doing the basics right , like protecting habitats and reducing human impacts. I do not agree that people should not care about issues, they should. Reading and listening to world views is important. Unfortunately, the only way people get news is from blogs, Hufffington post, or the highly distressing MSM. None of these news outlet cover the world and analyze things in perspective. How about opening your world to other news network like BBC World, SKy news, Al Jazeera, Euro News? There's nothing wrong in passionately supporting MJ. People adore and revere MJ because people know his music, they sink into every juicy news about him. As for the other global issues, people do no know, hence do not care. Ignorance is bliss.
Maybe art in this sense, Michael's art, allowed us to escape- provided a respite from our daily, mostly boring, making ends meet comings and goings. He added a pulse and a scream to the beat of our timeclock that drives our earthly life. He provide mood music and orchestrated background music for our world. He is an icon wh reperesents man's universal love of music and the dance. That is why his art is so profound and people are feeling a great sense of loss.
The Rabbi acknowledges that.
His post concerns priorities and frankly, his questioning of our commitment to those issues that truly affect our lives and the lives of our neighbors, both here and abroad, is well-founded and welcome.
So what else is news? It's like there is some history of commitment to causes we can bank on here? How do we ever justify the deaths of American service persons behind lies of WMDs and other such lies that dot our war efforts?
Everytime me and my friends turn a year older, we prefer to ditch the customary song in favor of a number that goes something like this:
"Misery and despair,
People dying everywhere,
But "Happy Birthday" to you!"
And therein lies the essence, in that the if we were to disrupt our lives with an outpouring of emotion for every single atrocity or injustice committed across the globe, we wouldn't have time for anything else.
Granted, "misplaced priorities" have been an instrumental component of the issues that people consider relavent to their everyday lives, as epitomized by those of us who seem more enraptured in speculation about American Idol than the ongoing series of violence in the middle east or the sheer myriad of children in impoverished nations dying of starvation day in and day out.
Like any other human component, we tend to feel enraptured in issues that appeal to us on a personal level, rather than less superficial contemplations where peoples lives are at stake. But by the same token, we could just as well have stayed our 7 day-long "Special Report" in the immediate afermath of 9/11, despite the fact that the while we continued to indulge in nationalistic self-pity, far greater numbers of innocent people had perished around the globe to causes unrelated to the Al Quaeda Kamikazes.
As an activist I've felt as if I was in a losing battle to bring issues that are important to me onto the table too.
Now, US culture is in it's death throws and that explains to me the profound, genuine and pervasive mourning for Michael Jackson. As I understand it, Michael Jackson is a metaphor for the USA. Both are proponents of a youth culture; both immersed in vast material wealth and vast debt; both on high doses of pain-killers and anti-depressant drugs (at least so the press says about Michael Jackson. Consider the tons of psychoactive prescription and street drugs consumed in the US every day); both fanatical about living in a hazy dream world--Michael Jackson called it Neverland, the USA calls it 'The American Dream'; both world famous for similar traits such as conspicuous consumption, cosmetic surgery etc...the parallels continue if one wants to contemplate it seriously.
Michael Jackson's passing is an opportunity to look at the "man in the mirror". If activists take the reportage seriously, it offers a vivid chance to honestly gauge the heart and soul of the masses who read it. Too bad we're not on some imagined higher ground, but we're not. People are even snooping into Michael Jackson's will etc. On the otherhand, people are joining together in the thousands and moonwalking in public spaces. There's a lot of symbolism and a lot of information about ourselves being offered in this memorializing.
"As I understand it, Michael Jackson is a metaphor for the USA. Both are proponents of a youth culture; both immersed in vast material wealth and vast debt; both on high doses of pain-killers and anti-depressant drugs (at least so the press says about Michael Jackson. Consider the tons of psychoactive prescription and street drugs consumed in the US every day); both fanatical about living in a hazy dream world--Michael Jackson called it Neverland, the USA calls it 'The American Dream'; both world famous for similar traits such as conspicuous consumption, cosmetic surgery etc...the parallels continue if one wants to contemplate it seriously."
that's hands down the most insightful thing i've read about all this. thank you so very much for sharing it.
i also found it interesting that you recognize that the grief can be "real" in this kind of mass projection. in one sense, this orgy of misdirected worship is deeply, deeply comical and revealing, but it might be good to remember that this fleeting grand-scale vomiting of emotion is in some sense driven by emptiness and need.
Michael Jackson's death like Princess Diana is an opportunity to give our collective consciousness an outlet to globally mourn. To cry and collectively release all that pent up frustrations and sorrow because of all the horrible things happening that you say we should pay more attention to... oh believe me there are many of us who do pay attention but if some occurrence doesn't come along once in a while allowing us the chance to grieve for our miserable souls - then my friend more and more of us would be jumping off buildings incapable of coping. Let us give thanks for the Universe providing mankind with events in our history that allow us a sense of emotional release. Let us cry and let go the sorrow inside - and then we will wipe our eyes, blow our noses and continue to be bombarded by events demonstrating the horrors of our human nature...
interesting and well expressed! i have a tendency to see the silly and the comical in things like this (the need to see a genius, a timeless artist, a saint, in a pop star who was either a very clever marketer or a person consumed by the misdirect adulation of the Celebrity Machine), but expressions like yours help me imagine that there might be something useful and - dare i say it - good that might come from such events.
I was about to make a similar comment regarding how people grieved collectively for Princess Diana in much the same way.
While the author is entitled to be ambivalent towards MJ -- no one is requiring him to join the mourning and celebration of MJ's life -- it is growing a bit tiresome for all of these :know-it-alls who take issue with others who were affected by the passing, and feel it necessary to lecture about who does (or doesn't) have their priorities in order.
Personally, it does my heart good to see people whose hearts are still soft enough to be compassionate enough to grieve and share the loss of a fellow human. I would remind the author that many who grieve for MJ also had room in their hearts to grieve for Neda.
It's a weakness in human beings that we put more energy into celebrating people and things that make us happy than in trying to change things that make us unhappy. In addition, MJ was with us for so long that many of us forgot how amazing he was until he died. I am still crushed but I'm moving on. MJ's passing wont be in vein if people reflect on the fact that he was a human being who did amazing things- he can inspire others to strive for greatness in their lives and in their societies.
Believe it or not, there are many of us who are devastated by Michael Jackson's death, who are craving every shred of information about him, who are in the streets, who are also incredibly interested, connected, and involved in social justice causes. They are not diametrically opposed. I agree that the news cycle has devolved in the last couple of days to complete recycling of "breaking news," but I do resent the assumption that because I feel a profound and personal sense of loss that I am somehow not considered to be a socially conscious person. I am an activist, and also an advocate of the power of music and the arts to connect people on a level that goes well beyond anything else.
that you for this comment...couldn't have expressed my feelings better. But I'd just like to add that there is something more pernicious behind the entire talk of how there are important things happening and supposedly the world shouldn't mourn michael. The extent of grief on his death is a testament of how he has touched the world...the same spirit that drove people to bash and persecute him before he died is what is driving them now to supposedly care about the genocide in Darfur....suddenly they are activists for all the suffering in the world...Michael was an activist too just look at We are the World, Man in the Mirror, they don't care about us, Bad, Beat It and others : all songs with deep social messages, teh first three mostly...
"The extent of grief on his death is a testament of how he has touched the world..."
he touched the world in much the same way that Mickey Mouse touched the world, only like Mickey with a darker, weirder twist. i think a lot people are just disturbed to see how the insignificant can come to dominate what are supposedly responsible news sources. this is just further proof of the sad fact that we are a fast-food entertainment society.
no one doubts that the grief is real, but many are aghast that it is so misdirected by so many.
I totally agree with your beautiful assessment of what is happening on the streets as we mourn Michael and how these are often the same folks engaged in other social issues around the world!
You stated it perfectly; these things are not naturally or empirically imposed to each other!
I completely respect your feelings about the passing of your icon (while MJ isn't it for me, there are some artists in various fields out there that I would take to the streets for). While I understand that the tone of the article does imply that people mourning MJ out in the streets are not as globally aware, I think the main thrust of the argument is more that it saddens him to see people out in such great numbers for one man's death while they do not gather in such numbers for world events or protests. Right now I'm a freelance photographer working out of west L.A., and I've covered both protests for Iran and Iranian democracy outside of the Westwood federal building and the convergence of Michael Jackson fans outside of the UCLA hospital, and the gathering of MJ mourners was by far the bigger gathering. (and, a digression) Another problem that was only maybe briefly touched on in the article is this: When I was covering the Michael Jackson mourners, there were possibly more people there affiliated with news crews than actual MJ fans. When I was covering the protests, I'm pretty sure I was the only one there with journalistic intent.
max..pure curiosity..no catch 22's..WHO would you take to the "Streets
for...the Boss/ Bono...really who has touched you to that extent...I have my own list...one, lost the battle (Farrah..via her grace and courage)..is #1..til she fades like a bright star/
also..(and I make MANY mistakes)..jhamm1...you began:
"Everytime me and my friends turn a year older, we prefer to ditch the custo..." ..should it not be my friends and I....grammar freak..I still like your post.
to the author (Finally!) Rabbi...the perverbial nail on the head is that we can grieve the very sad passing of Michael Jackson because all we have to do is grieve.no action (other than standing in line) is required. Palin resigned, Gov of SC...joystick out of control, Neda (the symbol of true martyrdom in Iran's election; children still starving to death in Darful, Congo, Rumania...probably Appalalacia, Always searching...in my lazy way..I just read an observation from both George MacDonald and Alexander John Scot "We are witnessing the industrialization of a country (now world..my addition) and with it a growing spiritual insensitivity whereby life came to be viewed in more and more limited material terms. Accelerating throughout Western culture were the early stages of the extreme materialism characteristic of the 20th century, when value and meaning are attached largely to the external.
I have much to learn..it my quest NOT to be an atheist..
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