Michael Jackson: Enabled To Death
Well there has been another, albeit not totally unexpected chapter added to the continuing story of the late-Michael Jackson: His doctor, Dr. Conrad Murray, is now according to Los Angeles law enforcement sources and TMZ, likely to be charged with involuntary manslaughter. According to both sources, those charges could be filed as early as next week. Anyone who didn't see this coming probably would have been so blind as to have not seen the severe psychological wreck that was Jackson - in other words, they would have been qualified to take the position of one of his enablers.
I'm never been a fan of Jackson's music. My 5, 000 or so song mp3 player doesn't hold a single song of his. I am old enough to remember the record-shattering âThriller' and I am also old enough to remember the Jackson Five when they entered the scene. So popular were he and his brothers that there was even a cartoon based on them in the 70's. Their songs were marketed on the backs of cereal boxes. Their images were on lunch boxes and on nearly every other product you can imagine. Though I was not a fan, of Jackson's, I did begin to pity him much earlier than many others did. This period of the 70's was the beginning of Jackson's internment as a pop-culture icon and thus his fate was sealed. He was from that point on destined to be hated and admired by us and pandered to by his entourage of enablers. There is an old Twilight Zone episode starring Sebastian Cabot that makes me think of Jackson's situation. In the episode titled âA Nice Place to Visit' a man dies and goes to a sterile, antiseptic place where he is waited on hand and foot by Cabot's white-suited character. After a while this pampering becomes vexing to the man and he questions Cabot about how he could be so unhappy in heaven. Cabot answers by implying that it is indeed not heaven the man is in but hell. This was Jackson who from childhood on - was cursed by having access to nearly everything and anything he wanted except his childhood itself.
He reminds me that every eccentricity the famous have merely entertains us the public and of course is taboo to mention among the members of their entourages. If these same kinds of peculiar behaviors were demonstrated by those of us of lesser means, they would be seen as warning signs and hopefully one of our friends would intervene - even at the cost of losing that friendship. However, with celebrity enablers it is more. They risk losing access to a celebrity who is not used to hearing no. They risk losing money from a celebrity who is not likely to want to hear that he/she is not wearing clothes.
This is a story of how people who surround celebrities are turned into sycophants. It is a story of how these celebrities live in this bubble and there begins to be this disconnect between themselves and everyone else in the world. Murray is of course innocent until proven guilty but can there be any doubt that he was guilty of enabling Jackson's crippling addictions? It appears as if Murray may have tried to strike a balance between his obligation to protect and improve the quality of life and his job as one of those enablers. Jackson lost that battle and so too might Murray whether he is found guilty or not.
I am a native Missourian with a B.A. in English and minors in creative writing and Journalism. I attended the University of Missouri and edited have several newspapers and newsletters. I have worked in several fields but lately have worked in the legal field (not an attorney). My site is www.myhumbleopinion.org
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