Who Killed Michael Jackson?
There’s a better than even chance that Dr. Conrad Murray may go to prison for the death of Michael Jackson. He was the physician in attendance at the time of death of the pop icon, and admitted injecting Jackson with the powerful anesthetic propofol in the hours before his death. But does that mean Murray is responsible for the superstar’s demise? Somehow I doubt there will be a groundswell of public or prosecutorial sentiment to pin what is now being called a homicide on Murray … and for good reason.
Like Anna Nicole Smith and Elvis before him, the combination of wealth and celebrity proved Jackson’s undoing. Both fame and fortune were heaped on them — as we continue to do to others — by an adoring and uncritical public in amounts they were ill-equipped to handle. In the end, no one could just say “no” to their unrelenting demands as they attempted to simply escape their brutal realities … if only for eight hours at a time.
More than a homicide, Jackson’s death — along with those of Jimi and Janice — is another case of celebrity “accidental suicide.”
No one was ever able to stop poor Michael from going too far. Family members (or others with influence in his life) should have tried harder to restrain him from additional face-altering surgeries and skin lightening treatments 20 years ago, but who could tell him “stop, enough” and enforce it? It certainly wasn’t going to be his dermatologist, who seemingly was getting filthy rich off of just one client, nor, obviously, any of the other members of his ever-changing entourage of sycophants.
The more Jackson attempted to look like a white person, the more white persons loved and adored him for the effort. How could he stop in the face of such validation? His tortured contortions to be someone else confirmed some whites’ secret sense of superiority and entitlement: White is right.
Skin cream companies make small fortunes selling bleaching creams to the world’s darker populations, and Michael Jackson was living proof of the rightness — actually it’s a sickness — of the quest by some to inhabit a fairer skin than the one they were born with. It isn’t a mere coincidence that every indigenous group of people anywhere in the world who pray to a God of another skin color is either poor or enslaved … and oftentimes both.
Trapped in the living hell of the bubble that those we confer superstardom on have to inhabit, Jackson, like others before him, sought relief via the wonderful, magical, and seemingly easy world of pharmacology. If you, gentle reader, sleep well at night … thank your lucky stars; blissful, untroubled sleep is just one of the tradeoffs celebrity demands. As more is reveled regarding our so-called “war on terror” we’re learning that sleep deprivation is tantamount to (alas, a form of) torture.
We erect human idols so that we can vicariously feed off of them. They satisfy a hunger within us to, on the one hand to be like them, while at the same instance wanting to devour them alive. If Jackson had ever dared to leap into the crowd at one of his live performances he would have quite literally been torn limb from limb.
Tormented by a burden too heavy for any mortal to carry, Jackson’s life devolved into a world of drugs on top of other drugs. Yes, the pain he was experiencing (caused by a years ago performance accident) was real — but others have had to learn how to successfully manage and live with pain; it sometimes goes with being human.
But Jackson, empowered by his wealth, and the slavish desire of everyone around him to fulfill his every god-like demand, couldn’t take “no” for an answer. If Dr. Murray had declined Jackson’s insistence for more and more medication he would have simply been replaced by a doctor who would willingly acquiesce to such demands. That’s what man-child gods come to expect: Obsequence.
So, who really killed Michael Jackson? With our fawning worship of the cult of celebrity, our ever-lowering of the standards of what we deem as acceptable behavior, and our childlike embracing of spectacle over substance in our daily lives … we all did. And the sickest part is … the culture we’ve erected and so mindlessly embrace makes us serial killers: We will strike again when given the opportunity …whenever the next superstar weakens just a bit and begins to fall from orbit, or from grace. Just watch.
Comments
Awesome
Well put. This article pretty much sums up everything I've thought about this whole Michael Jackson thing since his death in June. It is hard for people to accept that someone they know-or think they know-is an addict, but so is accepting the fact that you may have been the reason. Human nature can be monstrous and perverted.
Whether or not a celebrity
Whether or not a celebrity is an addict does not excuse the doctor's lack of professional ethics. Two wrongs don't make a right and it seems to me that when confronted with the self indulgent, not to mention self destructive behavior of a celebrity, a physician has even more personal and professional responsibility to refuse the request. I might remind people that the nurse Cherilyn Lee refused Jackson's request. Why couldn't Dr. Murray have done the same?
Thank You
Thank you for this comment Mary. People are forgetting that it is a doctor's responsibility to help not harm a patient irregardless of how much money is flung his/her way. Thankfully we still have persons in the medical field such as nurse Lee who uphold these standards. There is no excuse whatsoever for a doctor to feed a patient's drug habit. As a medical student myself, there is no way I can condone the actions of Murray, Klein and all the other doctors who indulged Michael. There were endless other ways in which his sleep problem could have been managed. These doctors should be punished to the full extent of the law. Someone needs to make an example of these so-called "hollywood doctors" and put an end to this nonsense before we lose yet another talented individual.
What you talking about
Where I live, I personally know 3 people with vitiligo. One of those people used to be on the TV program Hawaii 5 O. He and another man in our neighborhood were both Polynesian Brown and turned completely white on their faces, hands and places not covered by clothing. A woman cashier at the local grocery store has the beginning stages on her neck and chin. It looks like burns, but there is no scarring. So all this heavy duty preaching in the article is totally fabricated nonsense.
MJ died at the hands of another. He did not put all that stuff in his veins, someone else did. Unlike all the other drug deaths we have seen since Hendrix, MJ did not do himself in. That is the issue, not the demand for it.
And I really don't understand why so many handlers of famous people kill the goose that lays the golden eggs by linking them up with drugs. It has been over 30 years since Hendrix, Janis and Jim Morrison, so who doesn't get it that drugs kill. Jails are filled with addicts, so anyone can blab about forcing an addict to stop their addiction. But that is just words because addiction is more complicated than that.
propofol
I'm probably the only poster with recent experience with Propofol, I had 100mg of it yesterday for GI scoping. I was told that was a 'real light dose.' It's GOOD! What I'd been told was a 'twilight sleep' was anything but, much different. I was out in 30 seconds, hacked when the lights came back on 45 minutes later. It felt GOOD! I can best describe the sensation, what I felt, as a tight dark sheet/comforter over my body. Protective, keeping all light out.
Addictive? I don't care, it felt GOOD!
There was a significant hangover, groggy, hazy. I definitely wouldn't have been able to play Papa to a couple kids for the rest of the day.
The anesthesia Dr. said everybody in his shop is calling Propofol the "Michael Jackson Drug." I asked if Jackson could have OD'd on 25 or 50mg. He broke out laughing, NO! "It had to have been MUCH more than that!"
Just my experience. I told him there may be a sudden rash of people needing scoping, as in poking a small garden hose with a camera in it up or down in your body.
Michael Jackson was Murdered
Aug. 26, 2009
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/26/...in5266204.shtml
Cops: Doc on Phone While MJ Not Breathing
After Dr. Conrad Murray Found Jackson Unconscious, He Called Office, Stayed on Phone for Half Hour, Police Say
Video link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=526...ated;photovideo
(CBS) More details about what happened in the final hours of Michael Jackson's life are surfacing, especially what occurred during the critical 81 minute gap between when Los Angeles police say his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, found Jackson not breathing to when he finally called 911.
Police say that, after Murray found Jackson unconscious, he called his office and stayed on the phone for a full half-hour, "Early Show" national correspondent Hattie Kauffman reported on the broadcast Wednesday.
A police affidavit says Murray found Jackson not breathing at 11 a.m. the day the singer died. But the 911 call wasn't made until 12:21 p.m. And now, cell phone records show Murray made 47 minutes worth of other calls.
At 11:18 a.m., Murray made a 32-minute call to his office in Las Vegas. At 11:49 a.m., he called another Las Vegas phone number for three minutes. And at 11:51 a.m., he called Houston for 11 minutes. Then at 12:12 p.m., he called a Jackson associate for one minute.
Kauffman reported the police affidavit shows these calls happened while Jackson was unconscious in his bed and Murray was performing CPR.
Legal experts say that, if Murray is charged with a crime, it might not just be just for administering dangerous drugs, but also for not reacting quickly enough to a dying patient.
CBS News legal analyst Lisa Bloom said, "I think any reasonable person would expect Dr. Murray to administer CPR and call 911 immediately. ... This is proof of reckless conduct. That's exactly what law enforcement needs for a manslaughter charge."
Still, Las Vegas defense attorney Robert Langford cautions,there could be an explanation for the long phone call. Langford said, "Was he talking to another physician? Trying to find out if there was some other drug he could adminster to revive him? I mean we don't know. ... It's really premature to say that that shows some criminal intent."
Kauffman reported Murray's Las Vegas office has been closed for some time recently and Murray himself remains in his home, keeping a low profile.
what's missing
when the last trial popped up right as mike was puttin his life together from the one before, that's what killed him. you make good points, but i think this must be taken into account.
Please look vitiligo and a
Please look vitiligo and a doctor's code of ethics. And remember Conrad Murray disappeared for 3 days, but left his car at Jackson's home. Who picked Murray up? Please don't be media monkies and gossip junkies.
THIS WAS IT!
AFTER SEEING MJJ "THIS IT IT" X 4, HE WAS A MUSICAL GENUIS AND HE DID TAKE US TO PLACE WHERE EVERYTHING WAS MAGICAL! OUT OF OUR MUNDANE PLAIN!
SO, ITS NOW BEEN 4+ MONTHS SINCE HIS DEATH, TAKING EVERYTHING IN TO CONSIDERATION, GO GET THE DR'S WHO HELPED IN HIS ADDICTONS AND DEMISE! WHAT ARE THEY WAITING FOR??????
EVERYONE IS STILL MAKING MONEY OFF HIM, HE IS STILL GIVING IT AWAY.
IT SEEMS IT WASN'T AS IMPORTANT TO HIM AS EVERYONE ELSE IN HIS LIFE, WHAT AN EXCHANGE FOR LOVE!
MJJ SOME HOW NEW THAT "THIS WAS IT!!!!!!!!
(THE FINAL CURTAIN CALL)
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