A lot of 'Yeah... but' - ing going on

Several things...

While it was commendable that the BET Awards retooled their show in order to pay tribute to Michael Jackson, it also emphasized the huge hole that MJ left, in terms of putting on performances, building anticipation, and creating magic. Loved Beyonce's Ava Maria/Arms of an Angel medley. Loved Ne-Yo's take on Lady in My Life. Loved New Edition's J5 medley. Loved the tributes to New Jack Swing and to the O'Jays. Other than that, the rest of the affair seemed like piecework.

Much will be made about Janet Jackson's surprise appearance, as it should. Unlike Joe Jackson, who parked his @$$ in the audience, along with Al Sharpton (again!), you got the feeling that Michael's loss was really about the loss of a sibling and a friend, not the primary selling point of a conglomerate. Also, it has to be said that the O'Jays' Eddie Levert added to the gravity of the situation. Despite his faux pas of saying the 's' word while talking about Michael, you couldn't help but think about Eddie's experience of losing two sons within a year of each other. Eddie likely knew how Joe Jackson felt, assuming that Mr. Jackson felt anything.

Now to the point of this entry... MSNBC has been running the Farrah's cancer documentary and the controversial MJ documentary with the British journalist, which ultimately proved to be damaging to MJ. I also noticed that they ran their Headliners and Newsmakers docs on Fawcett as well. While I'd like to think that they were trying to pay Fawcett her due, I still have to question why there's such an overt effort to manipulate emotions. MSNBC isn't the only entity guilty of it - Barbara Walters' special with Ryan O'Neal was heavily promoted last week, with an emphasis on the marriage proposal. Before Farrah's death, I took this as media manipulation at its worse, and as a tawdry attempt to revitalize Ryan O'Neal's tarnished image. After Farrah's death, I feel the same way. I get to that conclusion rationally because O'Neal and Farrah's so-called friends have been getting major face time in the media, whereas when O'Neal was battling leukemia, you rarely, if not ever, saw Farrah discussing his situation, nor did you see O'Neal's friends coming out of the woodwork to this extent. As I resent Sharpton and Jesse Jackson angling for face time, I resent Ryan O'Neal for doing it, especially because he witnessed her suffering. These last few weeks should've been about comforting her, not making a soft landing for him.

Since MJ's death was a shock, we didn't get weeks and weeks of famewhoring from his family and their so-called 'family friends', but we will. Yes, this is a tough pill to swallow, but the media isn't making the situation easier either. I get that they are trying to do their job by showing a more complete picture of Michael Jackson, but I can't help feeling that this is more about 'reigning' people in, especially people of color. Too bad that they didn't do this to Elvis fans who spent the last 20 years having Elvis sightings and some such $h*t. People of color are long on memory, especially when they feel slighted or betrayed and I am sure that some of the things that MJ did is in the back of their mind - I can sure as hell say that for myself. But the media acts as if they, as individuals, never had a family member, friend or colleague who unexpectedly died, someone with whom their past interactions with them didn't always go smoothly. But usually, because of the untimely passing, all of the bad things are stripped away and you tend to remember the better times. This is what the public is trying to do right now. Who knows how long the reminiscing will last, but for Christ's sake, it is very natural and very human.

I just resent that the media is trying to put a lid on it for some unexplainable reason. And if they are positioning themselves as the arbiters of truth about this particular subject, they needn't because they are coming across as imperialist, crass vultures trying to do the same type of angling that Sharpton and Jesse Jackson do so well.