BlogHer - CNN - Comments

Sad moment

websolutions — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:07:58 -0500

I was watching this on TV. It was a sad moment for the whole world. May his soul lay in peace.

Thanks for Commenting

Megan Smith — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:25:01 -0500

I see you're in Chicago, Expat Mum, hopefully we'll see you at BlogHer? :-)

Megan
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/Online Video

Megan's Minute

The Lack Of Humanity Is Troubling

Megan Smith — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:21:33 -0500

Yeah, the lack of humanity in the way we chew up celebrities and spit them out is troubling.

There's gossip and there's entertainment and there's fun, but when it gets to the point of climbing over celebrities' fences for photographs or inflaming destructive accusations with not the least shred of proof, it's probably time to rethink some of the media we consume.

Megan
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/Online Video

Megan's Minute

Well Said

InkAndPixelClub — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:49:20 -0500

I was particularly moved by Rebecca Walker's personal reminiscence. We don't yet know what really happened, but I can't help but wonder if it would have made any difference if someone had called up Michael Jackson in the last few motnhs and just said "Hi. How are you doing? I'm concerned about you. Is everything OK?" But maybe it was at the point where even the people who were singing his praises - literally and figuratively - couldn't get past his public face to get through to the person inside.

Michael Jackson's life was complicated; I don't think anyone would dispute that he had moments of brilliance and moments of darkness. I think it will take time for people to completely process who he was and what his legacy will be. For a long time, we as a society have been focused on his excentricities to the exclusion of his talents and now that he's gone, we're appropriately focused on all his best qualities. It will probably take a little distance from his death for us to have a realistic picture of him as a whole person.

It's a sad commentary on how we biew celebrities that it takes a man being eulogized by his young daughter to remind us that he was a real person and not just a career or a curiousity. And no, I don't exclude myself from that statement.

Sara

www.inkandpixelclub.com

The Family

Expat Mum — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:59:26 -0500

Great Post. I didn't think I was really affected by MJ's death until watching the service. His family were clearly devastated and it reminded me that he was their son, brother, cousin and father. Nothing can prepare a family for this type of sudden death and it was heart-breaking to see them all.

An Incredible Moment

Megan Smith — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:24:18 -0500

Yes, it was an incredible moment.

My one fear though is I hope the media don't use it as an indication of open season on the kids. They've been hidden away for so long, I really hope they can go back to that anonymity until they're old enough to handle the attention better.

Thanks for commenting.

Megan
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/Online Video

Megan's Minute

I think that Paris touched

srichards251 — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:27:46 -0500

I think that Paris touched the hearts of many people around the world because those who have lost a loved one could relate to her display of profound grief. It must have been so difficult for her to get up there on stage, but by doing so, she showed the world that her father was not the monster that many believed him to be.

We Needed Something Special

Megan Smith — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:59:40 -0500

We definitely needed something special and like you said, we got it.

Megan
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/Online Video

Megan's Minute

Paris brought it home

Nordette — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:44:36 -0500

I thought the entire event had the theme that he was a genius and a human. His daughter's words at the end brought me to tears and I immediately posted the video at my blog.

Thank you, Megan. You've done a great job drawing the pieces and links together. I echo Kim's thought to, after the BET tavesty, this was what we really needed.

Nordette Adams is a BlogHer CE & you can find her other stuff through Her 411.

A Very Well Run Event

Megan Smith — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:29:09 -0500

I also was very glad to see that the event, including all the crowd control, were so well managed. That's a testament to his fans and to the municipality of LA for getting so much of it right.

Until there's real news about the family or what caused his death, I hope his family is left alone. There have been enough stories and enough peeping through windows.

Thanks for your comments, Kim.

Megan
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/Online Video

Megan's Minute

I'm glad the family had some dignity

Kim Pearson — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:58:36 -0500

Thanks Megan, for the beautifully written post. Particularly after the travesty of the BET awards and all of the tabloid coverage, I'm glad that his family and friends were able to have a dignified memorial. I think it is a measure of the devotion that he inspired that the event came off without the major traffic snarls and other upheavals that officials in LA had been dreading. I hope that this is the beginning of the end of the round-the-clock coverage. Perhaps hearing the voice of Paris-Michael Jackson will remind the tabloid media and other interlopers that this is a family that has a right to some privacy as they grieve and try to get on with raising the children that Michael Jackson left behind.

KimBlogHer Contributing Editor|Professor Kim|

That Was Exactly My Point

Megan Smith — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:42:00 -0500

At first I was afraid her comments were going to feel exploitive but they weren't. The kids are part of this public event. Their father was a public figure.

They had the right to be at the event and if they so chose, they had the right to speak. Paris was the one who wanted to speak.

If the children hadn't been allowed to go, people would have been like, "Where are his kids? Why didn't they allow them to be there?"

A tough situation all around but I thought handled well.

Megan
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/Online Video

Megan's Minute

Paris made it real

sassymonkey — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:33:21 -0500

I know a couple of people who said they wished that the children's grief hadn't become a public event, and I agree with them to an extent. But Paris's statement, to me, was a reminder to the media circus that his family were the ones that he really belonged to.

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

Plus the fact that they are

chandlerful — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:46:43 -0500

Plus the fact that they are BPA free. I used them, too. Although, admittedly partially because they were Medela and had the cute slogans on the side.

Umm.... you've never seen

kebhouse — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:04:10 -0500

Umm.... you've never seen someone actually use a Medela bottle? After getting tired of washing both the pumping bottles and the Avent bottles my daughter drank out of, I just gave up and used the Medela bottles all the time, as did a couple of my daughter's daycare classmates. I'm not denying that it's possible she might have used a Medela bottle to quietly signal that it's breastmilk, not formula, but really i think it's a bit much to just ASSUME that it was all for show.