My most recent post at the Xenia Institute reflects on the death of Michael Jackson and our response as a society. Although it starts out a little autobiographical, I shift gears to steer this post in a direction that explores our public consciousness and what our response to this pop culture moment tells us about ourselves.
I am an aberration.
Considering all of the children of the 80’s in this country (I was born in ’79), I am one of probably four who wasn’t a fan of Michael Jackson. And I have to be specific about this country because Jackson had such a huge following globally, not just here in the U.S. There are children who were born around the same time as me who lived with a whole lot less than I did and still know the moves to Thriller – something I cannot even jokingly claim to know. Heck, beyond “thriller,” I don’t even know the words to the song…
