I must admit my first reaction upon hearing about the death of Michael Jackson, was not profound sorrow, nor joy, but cynicism on how it all will be portrayed in the mainstream media. Michael Jackson was this, Michael Jackson was that... anything to grab the ratings. But, the grand irony of this all is how it was the media, the paparazzi, tabloid culture that drove him to his death. He lived a life without freedom, without choice, in a house run by a dominant father who physically and mentally abused him, how he oh so sadly was led to believe that he would be better off, "de-negrified" (although his change in skin colour was really due to vitiligo), thinking in the deep mindset of an anorexic that, "life is really not worth living, so I will slowly waste away to nothing".

Michael Jackson was a great performer, a prolific song writer and despite his tormented life, a kind, caring human being. He loved children for one simple reason, children didn't mock him. They loved him back. Because, in spite of his many fans, I would argue his detractors far out-weighed them. You see, Michael Jackson was like the fat, nerdy, anti-social (what have you) kid with glasses in grade school, whom the others find just too easy to tease and ridicule, because that takes the attention away from their own faults and imperfections. He was our "Wacko Jacko", "a great performer, but simply weird", said CNN.

People are so quick to believe the remotest of rumors without any proof. Why do people believe weird things? We believe them because we want to. Take that rumor from yesterday, for example, that Michael Jackson died "totally bald". Come on, just give us something to talk about, that's it! The information age? How about the "gossip age"? What is it with humanity, anyway? Popular Culture? Oh I see... Is there some gene in us that makes us want to HATE, to have someone to blame for OUR problems? How quickly a lie becomes the truth! Too bad the autopsy won't reveal the real reason for his death... our preoccupation with celebrity in America.

Life Inc. The Movie from Douglas Rushkoff on Vimeo.