A depressed blip for Wednesday night

I find myself feeling at odds with what I see on the television. Murders in Oakland, all too common. They leave me with more of a profound sadness at the life many people are forced to experience than that "show" that was Michael Jackson's memorial, complete with silver casket, even though his brain was still with the coroner and not present.

I am annoyed that a celebrity singer is getting more exposure despite his flagrant lack of values in life than the many people who have suffered abuse that deserve to be recognized as survivors. Why is everyone pretending that Jackson was something great? He was a singer and dancer and nothing more. He was great at those two things and lousy at everything else. Why do I have to feel bad for him? He chose whatever drugs killed him. He chose to be a poor accountant of the millions he made and lost. He had everything and blew it. Blame your childhood, blame your parents, blame the system, blame your skin color. That you had it so lucky to be born with talent and make it big. Jackson's demise was his own. Please do not attempt to make me feel sorry for him. This great loss. It was his own doing.

And this is where I see our society. We are told what we must feel bad about. We must feel bad for Sarah Palin. Why? Who cares? Really. She was lucky to get as far as she did. Another example of mouth over brains. She was lucky that she suckered in as many people as she did. You just cannot look at what comes out of her mouth as making any sense unless you are that deprived of a thought process. Sorry. I wish there was something nice I could say. And this is not a party line. I am not a Republican or a Democrat because frankly both parties are scary as hell.

I watch our celebrity induced nightly coma on television and then I look at the faces of my sleeping children and I worry for them. They are growing up in a world where people are no longer allowed to go against the grain. God forbid I should say anything negative about Palin, Jackson or anyone who happens to be a minority. That is where we are in PC land. Everyone has an excess of rights. Perhaps I should sue as a minority white man. I am now a minority - perhaps I should demand some affirmative action for the remnants of my race, forced into politically correct servitude in this age of illogic and celebrity reasoning.

On that point, screw the notion that celebrities should be politicians. Al Franken a senator? Are you kidding me? What about Arnold, and Fred Grandy from the Love Boat and Hulk Hogan? Soon Mickey Frickin Mouse will have a Senate seat and we can wonder why every three seconds someone in government is standing and applauding wildly "good job, well done!"

That last part comes from some blip of a piece that precedes Clifford the Big Red Dog my kids watch. Clifford is fine, but the gal in the purple outfit who constantly reaffirms the illogic of praising children every three seconds just because they breathed in and out makes me want to throw the set out the window. Give them a certificate for just showing up. God I miss George Carlin - he could rant on this stupidity far better than I ever could.

I watch this homeless guy on the off ramp in BayPoint as I drive by sometimes. He is always there and looks like he is a victim of some solo world war. He is always there. He bothers no one. He just stands there, looking like crap and hopes to God that someone gives him a buck. Unlike many of the scammers that are out there, this guy is old enough and genuine enough to be some war vet screwed out of a life and now faced with this daily job that he takes seriously. I would rather watch a documentary about him than another minute about a black singer who bleached himself white and then even further into a grotesque mannequin just because someone labeled him the King of Pop. Somewhere there has got to be some semblance of rationality in the world. Sadly, our nations pastime of obsessing about celebrity is just sick. Actors and actresses. Nothing more. No heroics. No great contribution beyond being the country's jesters. They have their moment and then they leave, some in style and most in shreds.

I wanted to know why the week was a depressing one. It was not the funeral of Michael Jackson or Farrah Fawcett; it was a realization that no matter what I had to say about it, the celebrity junkies fawning over the insanity that the media merely perpetuates, have taken over the world and are happy to indulge themselves, begging for that shot of whatever it was that killed the king of pop. It is like Charlton Heston standing alone screaming out at the top of his lungs.... "Soylent Green is people!!!!"

Fade to black!

MisterWriter