So while the world is in solidarity as far as the-loss-we-feel-of-losing-a-great-muscian goes what I find revolting is this whole issue about the financial aftermath of Michael Jackson’s memorial service.
This is why “sentimentality” can be so fucking annoying sometimes; it makes people do things without thinking things through… then when reality starts kicking in, they start complaining and passing blame.
Mounting a fucking million dollar tribute without ironing out the finances involved is utterly irresponsible especially during an economic crisis.
Taxpayers shouldn’t be expected to “pay” for anything in relation to that event. It would be a nice gesture if people would donate or something, but to consider forcing them to pay for something they didn’t really ask for?… that’s unacceptable.
If you really must find sources of funds to [undeservedly] bail you out of this idiotic thing you did, then start with:
The Organizers
Duh! It should really stop here. You simply don’t mount something you can’t afford to mount and expect the “funds” to come in out of sheer goodwill; the world doesn’t work that way.
In fairness, AEG Live was said to have paid for the service… it’s the extra costs of the “government utilities” 1 Security, traffic enforcement, etc. that’s what’s unaccounted for… but I submit that this should’ve been factored in during conceptualization.
The Family
Unfortunate, but yes, ultimately, it’s a Jackson affair more than anything so the family should’ve had a say if this thing was a good idea or not… now that it seems to have been a bad idea, and people are wanting some accountability; then they’re equally responsible.
The service is really for them. I mean come on, the guy’s fucking dead; he couldn’t care less if there was a memorial or not… in fact he couldn’t care at all.
The Record Labels
The best comment on a forum I’ve read was this:
I’m almost positive Michael Jackson’s label made at least 1.4 million from album/song sales since his death.
Take note, that’s since his death. 2 A bunch of his songs hit #1 again when he died We don’t even have to go talking about the gazillions of dollars they made during his lifetime.
The Media
Coverage = ratings = commercials/advertisements. These fuckers no doubt made a shitload of cash exploiting this tragic event. The least they could do is cough up some cash to help out.
Celebrities That Can Afford to Help
Unless you’re saying MJ didn’t have any friends… the memorial service certainly showed otherwise, then I’m sure these people are more capable in giving some cash without denting their pockets as much as the average joe would have to suffer if the latter had to foot the bill.
I guess my point is that, with the exception of the Jackson family and celebrity friends, the “institutions” that should be considered to give a financial “helping hand” are those who have stood, or currently stand to make a profit out of Michael Jackson’s career and death.
And I guess people will think I’m being so insensitive that I could call this whole event a retarded waste of money and resources. “Come on Carlo, it’s MJ, he’s touched so many lives! He deserves this”
Fine! But I better not hear anyone complaining should they start taking out the funds from your own pockets. Doesn’t make a difference to me anyways; I’m not American – so I won’t be the one paying for it no matter what š