MJ and our Perception of the Truth

When is a memorial service not a memorial service? When it is an effort at rebranding.

This week's memorial service for Michael Jackson was over the top. It wasn't a religious service meant to ease the suffering of the family. It was a free concert to people that won a lottery, and an opportunity for the Jackson family to brand Michael as a saint. I am not going to talk about guilt or innocence here. Today is about perception. The only real truth is our perception of reality.

When Michael Jackson came under fire for what many have called inappropriate dealings with children, his career spiraled out of control and out of sight in America. Although no criminal prosecution ever resulted in a conviction, his arrest and the subsequent trial put a lot of doubt in people's minds. Just because the state can't put you in jail doesn't mean that the public has to agree with it. (Just ask O.J.) The public perception of Michael Jackson by anyone but the most loyal fans was at best, very weird, and and worst, a pedophile. The "King of Pop" stayed out of the limelight as much as possible, and he spent most of his time outside of America after this. He was more welcome overseas; the perception that fans in Europe and Asia had of him rises to the level of "God of Pop" in some places.

After Michael Jackson died, fans didn't want to hear about the legal struggles he had while he was alive. They wanted to celebrate his accomplishments. That's understandable; who wants to dwell on the negatives after someone has died? The memorial service, however, became something different to me. Magic Johnson mentioning Kentucky Fried Chicken like it was a corporate sponsor seemed ludicrous to me. Parading the children in front of the microphone was the last straw for me. Taking children to a funeral is one of the toughest decisions anyone can make, but then bringing them on stage to speak to the crowd in the Staples Center was just uncalled for. I don't believe Michael would have asked them to do that. He probably would have forbidden it. He did his absolute best to keep these children away from the media their entire lives. I believe that this last act was their trump card, their ace in the hole, to pull on the heartstrings of anybody else that still believed the accusations that Michael faced in the past.

This rebranding was the family's final effort to prep the world for buying even more Michael Jackson merchandise over the next few decades. Rumors of hundreds of unreleased songs and a recently finished video probably has them salivating at the thought of the potential income. This memorial service was an investment in future sales, in my opinion. I think that they wanted this memorial service to do for them, what Michael thought his come back tour was going to do for him.

On to the crowd:
When have you EVER been excited about going to a funeral? Personally, I have never enjoyed myself while attending a funeral. Millions of people all over the country, however, became ecstatic when they realized that they could enter a drawing for a chance to win tickets to see this macabre circus in L.A. People that had no way of getting to L.A. during the service won tickets. What do you suppose happened to those? People attempted to sell them on Ebay and Craigslist. Even the public wanted a piece of this pie. At least, ID was required to claim and use the tickets. Only the second ticket could actually be sold. Some people were respectful enough to give them to people that could go, but there were plenty that didn't. People that could go and did win were jumping up and down with joy over their luck.

"I'm in shock that it has happened," said Deka Motanya, 27, of San Francisco. "It's surreal." She received an e-mail message at 4:35 p.m. notifying her, "Congratulations, your application was successful."

She immediately Twittered: "OMG OMG OMG OMG i got tickets to the michael jackson memorial service!!!"

At this memorial service, people didn't sit silently to listen to the tribute; they cheered as their favorite celebrities walked on stage to do a version of a Michael Jackson song. Cheering? Really? To those lottery winners, they didn't get an opportunity to show their respect. They won tickets to a free concert, and they acted like it. I think some of them expected MJ to jump out of his coffin and give them one final encore.

It was disgusting to me. It wasn't respectful of Michael's children. I think it was all a ploy to generate positive word of mouth and rebrand the image of Michael Jackson in America to sell more music and make the 40% of their chunk of his estate produce more money. I think it was just another example of why Michael Jackson lived in obscurity the way he did and estranged from most of his family.

Regardless of what happens, I do hope that those children are well cared for. If they are, they won't have to worry about a thing in their lives.

That is the truth as I perceive it.

-A.W.C.