Fine with me. I think the standard issue human body is a rather beautiful thing, and I find everything you mention, MJ included, sad and disturbing.

Not even 12 hours later, and I'm sick of Michael Jackson's death. The news is like "he'll be remembered forever as a chart-topping entertainer!" Ummm more like as a freak pedophile, but I digress...

I mean, I liked Thriller as much as the next kid back in the 80s, but it didn't last past that Black or White video.

Well, then you lasted nine years and that ain't bad.

I don't think anyone can deny that he had mental problems, or at least, an inability to cope.

Just handling regular fame is pretty damn hard. When the fame starts and you're still a child, it messes you up pretty good, as is evidenced in dozens of other tragic examples. When the fame starts in childhood AND flares up again when you're an adult, and oh yeah, you become the most famous person on the planet for a few years, not to mention the eternal cash flow and inability to walk around like a human being anymore, the damage is beyond all reckoning, IMHO.

No one could handle all that well, and anyone with even a mild issue would go batsh1t crazy.

I admit it, for these last 15 years or so, I would wince at the sound of his name and turn away from any news about him. He had become something so monstrous, who even wanted to think about it? I'm not even referring to the alleged molestation (which I still believe isn't true) but his sham of a marriage. Ugh, did you even see that music video he made with her? It was beyond repulsive how they attempted to pretend affection for each other. I was so bitterly disappointed. Nothing was the same after that.

It became impossible for me to acknowledge that this person was the same man. I feel as though I've already mourned his passing...as if these last 15 years or more were part of a horrible deadly diagnosis, eating away at his skin and his mind for so long...and that he really left us way back when.

Good way of putting it.

I preferred his early music anyway, so I mostly ignored him these last few years. But that was partly from the icky feeling I'd get when I enjoyed his music, remembering all that he'd become (and for the record, I do believe he touched some boys). Now I can go back to enjoying the music on its own merits, without the accompanying icky feeling that I'm sending money to MJ.

Watching that moonwalk video, I was reminded of how very attractive he was in 1983. No wonder I had a small crush on him at age 6. What on earth possessed him to mess that up I'll never understand.

Well said, CP.

Vincent Van Gogh lobbed off his own ear to show his love for a prostitute.

Yet, his works are highly revered and people speak of his talents, rather than discussing what a crazy mother****er he really was. Sadly, the press wasn't around to sensationalize it in those days.

And, quite frankly, I'm tired of the hype given to ugly paintings throughout the centuries. Hell, I wouldn't even hang them in my bathroom. Why the hell should they deserve being displayed in a museum when they're painted by crazy-ass mofos?

Crazy people shouldn't be admired, even if they've created good works. ;)

Sorry... just channeling some of the "logic" I've heard today in various forums.

I'd really like someone to point out an artist who didn't do some kind of wacky **** in their lifetime.

Or, better yet, would everyone who likes to point fingers at the wrongdoings of celebs still look "perfectly sane and normal" if virtually every action they perform was caught on tape? I know damn well that some people would be repulsed at knowing about some fetishes/desires/thoughts that "normal" people keep under wraps.

I think CP makes a good point. Yes, he was a troubled man, mostly by product of his environment. But, to hear people flat out call him a pedophile, freak, etc. based on media hype is just crass and ignorant.

Dphile: I guess the major difference was that, with MJ being alive, admiration and patronization of their works led to money in their pocket. We can enjoy the works of Van Gogh without being concerned that purchasing prints of his work help fund him stalking his exes.

With MJ, until today, enjoying his works, or works he owned the rights to, meant indirectly putting money in his pocket that he could use to lure little boys (ala Neverland Ranch).

Jackson made some great freaking music, especially in his early days before he "got too weird" (to quote my dad's friend who used to be his interior designer). And now that he is no longer a danger to anyone, we can once again appreciate his works without the spectre of who he is overshadowing our enjoyment.

And before you get on my case about this, remember how you are more than happy to revile Michael Vick, even though he was a good football player. Surely you can agree that the crimes can affect appreciation of the talent.

Simple difference - Michael Vick was convicted of his crimes.

And, how do you know that MJ was a "danger" to people and used his money to "lure little boys" to his ranch? Were you there? Did you see the evidence firsthand? Media hype is quite convincing, isn't it?

What about people who state, "I can't wait for so-and-so to be legal age"? I'm sure most of us here have seen/heard that very statement on here. If people were to see that and weren't familiar with this board or its members, they'd probably start thinking, "What a sick pedophile!" too.

I knew this would happen, so I'll shut my mouth now. But, I'm certainly not alone in how I feel, and thankfully, I know that.

Whoa hey, don't get me wrong... I'll still give him credit for the work he's done. But I can't say that my enjoyment of his works wasn't sullied by my belief in his wrongdoing.