That was beautiful, man…just beautiful.

Also here is a list of MJs humantarian work.

http://www.thesource.com/2009/06/the-source-remembers-michael-jackson-humanitarian/

Temple and Tariq….I still would call MJ a better onstage performer then Prince. I have seen them both is concert. Prince is great……but MJ was on a whole different level on stage. MJ performance on stage was like a cross between a musical show and a magic show……just amazing.

And Harvey I totally feel where you are coming from with Michael. I did the same things when it came to his life and sadly when his life ended.

The MBB was not the beginning of the CRM anymore than Thriller was the first video, but both were watershed moments for the medium.

I feel where you’re going with that one.

By the way, the prophets of the book were never deemed to be “perfect” by universal interpretation. People who do not share a particular faith uniformly highlight the imperfections or “humanity” of other peoples prophets. Muslims don’t believe Jesus was perfect. Nor do Hebrews. The Jews don’t even masquerade as if their prophets were perfect. Christians certainly do not believe that Muhammad was perfect. Nor do any of these groups believe such of Buddha or other beliefs outside of their own. So, as far as most of the world is concerned, when we speak of prophets of the book, we’re still talking about men who put on their pants one leg at a time.

Prophets may have been deemed perfect by later adherents, but during their lifetimes, they suffered deprivations, ostracism, rejection and attacks from their very own “people.” The thing that makes a prophet isn’t how they live — it’s their vision and the fulfillment of their prophecy.

I’m not suggesting that MJ was a conventional prophet of antiquity. Quite the contrary. Nonetheless, he was a larger than life figure who espoused a global vision of love that connected with hundreds of millions of people. His vision (We Are the World; Heal the World) shows up all over the place — and is being carried forth in his absence. I don’t think that vision is any less noble than that promulgated by others.

He’s a codified book, a radical advocate like Paul and two millenia short of being the real deal.

He was far from perfect I’m sure like all of us but those who don’t realize what the world lost on June 25, 2009 will never understand and they only do themselves a disservice by denigrating those of us who do mourn. I didn’t realize what I’d lost as a fan until I loaded my IPOD with his music and watched his classic videos and then I cried. No, I wept, truly wept for the kid from Gary, for Billie Jean’s lover, for the Smooth Criminal, for the humanitarian, the artist, the father, the son, the brother. I wept for our Michael because he truly gave all of himself to the world. I didn’t weep because he died, I wept because I know I won’t see his like in this world, in my lifetime again.

Quoth Morpheus from ‘The Matrix’, “He [was] The One.”

RIP Michael…

I agree with what you’re saying about MJ/Prince and love/sex. That’s certainly true. And that may explain PART of the Michael Jackson phenomena. But I keep thinking of the Malcolm Gladwell book “Outliers,” which explains how certain phenomena spread. Michael Jackson is an outlier, I think.

Here’s what I want to know: In his pre-Thriller days, was he a global phenomenon? I mean, he had been a star for decades, just like Stevie Wonder and many others, so what made him a GLOBAL icon at that precise moment? What elevated him all of a sudden to the status of The Gloved One?

You say that you don’t necessarily think that MJ is a better stage performer than Prince, and I agree. I’d say it’s a toss-up. But I don’t think Prince utilized video the way Mike did. Remember when MJ released the video for Thriller? That’s all ANYONE could talk about. I was a kid and I was scared shitless of that joint, and my parents made fun of me for being scared of it (Hey, I was, what, 4 or 5?!). And anytime Mike released ANY video, it was an event. He helped make MTV, which is ironic, since they initially resisted giving a black artist air time. But he was mesmerizing in those videos. And I think, with the concept of the music video in its infancy, that’s what really pushed Mike over the top.

@Patrick: That was very sweet when Marlon spoke of his brother…truer words probably couldn’t be spoken about MJ.

http://newsone.blackplanet.com/nation/black-kids-kicked-out-of-phillie-pool-for-changing-its-complexion/

http://newsone.blackplanet.com/nation/3-men-beaten-by-phillie-police-acquitted-on-charges/

It’s all good in the hood back in Gary, Indiana. Nothing but l-o-v-e.

And with him, he walked the walk, and talked the talk. Going to other countries to see what was going on. Walking among the common people. There aren’t many people that reach MJ’s stature that would even dream to do that.

He wrote/performed songs about trying to improve the world. Like Temple said, “love”. It just seemed like the messages in his songs spoke to people everywhere.