Nowhere to go
“Michael [Jackson] is much different, I think, than most other pop superstars, who tend to be hyperemotionally guarded and strategic about the feelings they expose. He seems to have no filter whatsoever. Perhaps this is a factor of his extreme emotional immaturity rather than a conscious artistic choice. …
“He might have made some savvier choices when it comes to record producers. Or he might have chosen not to try to keep up at all; there’s real nobility in sticking with your own thing and not chasing trends. …
“Then again, it may be the case that, after ’Thriller,’ there was no real way for Jackson to be a smart survivor. I think of what Philip Larkin said about the Beatles: ’The Beatles had reached the top and there was nowhere to go but down. But the Beatles could not go down.’”
— Jody Rosen, writing on “Michael Jackson,” Jan. 31 in Slate at www.slate.com
Oprah’s victims
“Is there anything more to say about Oprah [Winfrey] and James Frey? It seems by now that everyone’s agreed that it was wrong for her to keep on promoting ’A Million Little Pieces’ after a drug counselor … complained about the book’s veracity. …
“Finally the various pundits agreed Oprah did the right thing by finally frying Frey, so to speak, on her own show. She summed up her change of heart, as if coming up with a new and important philosophical insight, by declaring: ’I believe the truth matters.’ That statement received thunderous, Oprah-adoring applause.
“But here’s what seems most significant to me about the whole overhyped mess: Isn’t it funny that nowadays people tend to exaggerate the bad things they did and the bad things others may or may not have done to them? In memoirs these days nobody makes themselves appear better than they really are. Once upon a time memoirs were filled with people taking credit for noble deeds, battles won, important decisions. Not any more. …
“That’s hardly worth being embarrassed about these days. …
“In her way, Oprah does bear a major responsibility for both creating and feeding this ’we are all victims’ mentality. …
“Why can’t we be inspired by the good things people do even if they have never done or been subject to the bad? A topic I doubt Oprah would want to discuss.”
— Myrna Blyth, “Frey Falling,” in National Review Online at www.nationalreview.com
Next nominee
“This is the tenth year on the air for a pillar of American jurisprudence: Judge Judy. Derided by some as the legal equivalent of a radio shock-jock, Judge Judy Sheindlin is something else entirely: America’s designated dresser-down, the keenest parser of baloney on television, the secular moralist whose belief in the law is matched only by her desire to let the callow cow-eyed products of the Grievance-American community know where they stand on the intellectual food chain. (Hint: plankton.)
“Sure, she shouts. Yes, she hectors. … But watch her disassemble some aimless moron nine years behind in child support who’s suing the mother of his kids for custody of the remote control, and tell yourself that’s not justice. It comes in no purer form. …
“Kurt Vonnegut once suggested that Judge Judy would make an excellent Supreme Court nominee. He is, uncharacteristically, correct in this case.”
— James Lileks, writing on “America’s Designated Dresser-down,” in the March issue of the American Enterprise
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