As expected, both, the Indian TV and print media is bustling with people paying weepy tributes to Jacko, as if they knew him as intimately as Bal Thackeray’s loo. Hiyuk, hiyuk. And the most appalling tribute: “The man was a great icon!!” Haha.
Here’s the problem with us: In our blind adulation (and desperation to be seen/read/heard in the media), we have become incapable of separating an individual from his/her body of work. Once we do that, the word icon will get forever banished from our vocab.
Here’s the deal: Though personally I never did dig his stuff (I found the dances and lyrics pretty juvenile), I have to admit Jacko was a great entertainer, a cool singer and a fab performer for his zillion fans. Some of his songs will live on, and when we hear them at some point in our lives, we will miss a heartbeat, recollecting our growing up years. It is also a fact that his talent had eroded in the last decade, but in any creative field burn-out is inevitable, so that part can be overlooked. So let’s pay tribute to his rare talent, and close the chapter.
But to call him an icon for the world is a travesty, a cruel joke. The man was a disaster, no less. How can a man who’s ashamed of his colour of skin, who admits to sleeping with kids, who dangles babies from a high-rise (and this list is long, so I won’t bore you further) be a role model by any stretch of imagination? The truth is, Jacko was indeed a whacko, a deranged, delusional individual (his ex wife Presley said that), a poor example for both, children and adults of this world. That is an indisputable truth.
Tomorrow, god forbid, but if something happens to people like Britney Spears, Salman Khan and Paris Hilton, even they will be called icons! Haha.
By the way, forget these air-headed sods, I don’t even refer to our greatest hero of all times, Bapu Gandhi, as a role model. I applaud his political ideologies (his work), but I deffy don’t show the other cheek to offenders, I detest khadi, and nope, celibacy is a strict no-no. :}
