King of Pop – The Memorial

I admit.  I did not watch Michael Jackson’s memorial service.  Nor did I plan to watch it.  I did however let my curiosity get the best of me for the briefest of moments.

So I logged in to cnn.com, like most other working Americans trying to not work, and began watching.  Within a minute, I had closed the tab, annoyed.  CNN chose to allow the posting of Facebook statuses alongside the live Memorial.  Although I’m sure the intentions were good, the result was disrespectful in my opinion.  Trying to watch the memorial and understand, feel, sympathize, and generally say farewell to Michael Jackson while being inundated with the kind of negativity only the anonymity of the internet can provide was in a word, disheartening.  From people giving their opinions on dress to outrageous comments about who should and should not be allowed to say some words about Michael Jackson, the experience didn’t move me to tears….it moved me to wordpress where I could express my thoughts to those who choose to read them.

I think my biggest issue was with the folks who took the opportunity of having a much larger audience to expound on their dislikes of presenters at the memorial.  As if that was the whole point of this affair.  ‘What does so and so have to do with it?’ was a common theme.  What does it matter?  They were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to say some kind words during the memorial, is that in any way bad?

RIP, MJ.  You will be missed.

Election Thoughts Continued

Barack Obama is the President-Elect.  I won’t say that I never thought I’d see a black man as president but I never thought I would see it so soon.  I wish I could feel the joy that I saw expressed by so many people for this historic event.  After all, I did vote for Obama.  But the moment where I felt that he would win, I felt an impending dread.

I felt for his family.  For their safety and his.   Beyond that, I felt for him.  I think the pressure and criticisms he will face will be at a far higher level than any previous president.  As I’ve stated, I don’t feel like he carries the burden of black folks on his shoulders, or at least I don’t think he should.  I do feel like he carries the heavy weight of setting a precedence for any presidential nominee who is not a white male.

On a different stroke, I noticed Virginia went blue for the first time since the 1960’s.  I find this extremely interesting.  A battlecry from the conservatives  has been that the military must stay in Iraq and win this war.  In backout would be admitting a defeat.  Growing up in the Tidewater area, I know the ridiculously high military presence that calls the place home.  I find it interesting that with such a high military personnel voting population, the sentiment did not go with the conservative mantra of stay and fight.  If the military personnel doesn’t support the cause (very different from supporting the troops in my opinion), is this a war that can be won?  For that matter, has anyone defined what ends qualify as ‘winning the war’?

Lastly, I was saddened to see some of the status updates on Facebook from friends of mine who also happen to be Republicans.  Instead of a congratulatory word, or maybe something to try to bring folks together in this most divisive of elections, most were exaggeratingly pessimistic.  Updates ranging from ‘Hope you’re happy, I can’t wait for the first terrorist attacks!’ to ‘…mourning the country as takes a huge step in the wrong direction’.  I wanted to comment to both of these but for the sake of the friendships, chose to let them deal with their disappointment in their own ways.   However, didn’t the first terrorist attack already occur on 9/11?  And given the crises of the past couple of months, not to mention the never ending war, wasn’t this country already headed in the wrong direction?