Michael Jackson was not an example to young blacks, says Carol Gould
Am I the only person in the world not moved by or concerned with the death of Michael Jackson? Like all bereavements my heart goes out to his family and close friends.
But -- a ‘genius?’ ‘The greatest entertainer of all time?”
I believe it is important, especially for the young, to understand the true meaning of greatness and to appreciate the real essence of ‘genius.’ This may sound like a sacrilege but after hearing civil rights activist Al Sharpton’s pronouncements I would like to reflect on what true greatness entails.
The Revd Sharpton said this week that Michael Jackson broke down a barrier: he made it acceptable for black entertainers to rise to the top in a white world.
What is he talking about? In my parents’ generation (they were born during World War I) the most beloved of performers were black: the Inkspots, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Marian Anderson, Ella Fitzgerald and Paul Robeson. Yes, entertainers of colour encountered fierce prejudice and the monstrous ‘whites only’ policies of the Deep South, but they were also loved by millions of white fans around the United States and the world.
Legendary, heart-stopping performers of the century? What about Maria Callas? God rest Michael Jackson’s soul but to me it is a sacrilege to rank his limited range alongside the likes of Sammy Davis Junior, Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly.
It is wrong and divisive for young blacks to be told by Al Sharpton that their race was shunned by white people until Michael Jackson arrived on the scene. In my childhood one of the greatest opera singers of that era was Leontyne Price; other outstanding black opera stars included Grace Bumbry -- possibly the most electrifying ‘Carmen’ of all time -- Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle. Marian Anderson was a legend. The black actor James Earl Jones is in the league of the late Lord Olivier and Spencer Tracy.
It troubles me that there is a mass international hysteria about Michael Jackson. He did indeed give extraordinary support to charities but his denial of his black identity, his bizarre personal life and attitude towards children -- revealed in the Martin Bashir interview -- do not, in my estimation, constitute a role model. Like Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley he was worn out by his thirtieth year and pushed into drug-taking and unnatural work patterns by money-mad managers. Sadly it is a manifestation of manic celebrity culture that small children are being brought to Jackson shrines worldwide as their young parents weep over a deeply flawed man who, in the end, gave far less to his people than true icons proud to be of colour : Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Marian Anderson.
Carol Gould is the author of the recently published Spitfire Girls and Dont Tread on Me: Anti-Americanism Abroad
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Submitted by peterwhittle on Wed, 2009-07-01 07:51.
The NCF last night launched its new report, The Arts Council: Managed to Death, by Marc Sidwell. You can download a PDF of the report here and the Executive Summary here.
The event, at Portcullis House in Westminster, was attended by an audience from across the cultural spectrum and kicked off with a panel discussion (pictured) between Colin Tweedy, CEO of Arts & Business, Ed Vaizey, Shadow Minister for the Arts, Peter Whittle, author Marc Sidwell, Nick Starr, executive director of the National Theatre, and Matthew Elliott, CEO of the Taxpayers Alliance.
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Submitted by admin on Tue, 2009-06-30 06:14.
Today sees the launch of the New Culture Forum's new report The Arts Council - Managed to Death.
The new edition of Standpoint magazine carries a feature by the report's author Marc Sidwell, Time to Abolish the Arts Council.
This evening (Monday 29th June) at 7pm there is a launch event at The Grimmond Committee Room, Portcullis House, Westminster SW1 (next to Westminster Tube)
The following guest speakers will be taking part in a panel discussion:
Ed Vaizey - Shadow Minister for the Arts
Nick Starr - Executive Director of the National Theatre
Marc Sidwell - Research Fellow, The New Culture Forum
Colin Tweedy - Chief Executive, Arts & Business
Matthew Elliott - Chief Executive, The Taxpayers Alliance
The discussion will be moderated by Peter Whittle, NCF Director
RSVP to events@newcultureforum.org.uk
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Submitted by peterwhittle on Mon, 2009-06-29 05:25.
In the new edition of Standpoint, director Peter Whittle reviews the upcoming, controversial new film from director Lars Von Triers, Anti-Christ:
'The sensation-seeking, torture-porn horror crowd will feel impatient and restless, rather like the dirty-mac brigade of yesteryear who had to suffer hours of tedious talky exposition in Swedish in order to get a few flashes of bare breasts in seedy West End cinema clubs. They should give it a miss, and wait for bits and pieces to fetch up on YouTube. For, make no mistake, with its heavy stylisation, chapter headings and use of Handel on the soundtrack, Antichrist is an art-house film with a capital A.
Don't look now, but we've been here before. The film's only two characters, He, played by Willem Defoe, and She, Charlotte Gainsbourg, are a young married couple who retreat to their remote woodland cabin to deal with their grief after their only child accidentally plunged to his death from an open window while they were obliviously and very explicitly making love (explicitly, but not, mind you, erotically — bony-arsed and bloodless, they are the sort whom only people with access to higher planes of understanding profess to find attractive). He is a therapist, she some sort of academic. They say things to each other like, "Can't I be afraid without a definite object?" and "Nature is Satan's Church". They are themselves the very types who would be first in line to see this film...'
Also in the magazine this month, Peter takes a light-hearted look at some of those cultural activities which might leave you feeling less than celebratory:
'This festival, that live event, the other public "happening" — the surface of our society bubbles and glistens with activity. There is something for everybody, is there not? Surely only the uptight, the deeply repressed or the wantonly pessimistic (all traditional left-wing code words for conservative) could fail to enjoy the fruits of what, we are told, is a Golden Age of Arts and Leisure. Looking at the listings pages, the head should be spinning at the range of choices.
So why does my heart sink? Could it be that for years I've tried manfully to enter into the spirit, to be part of something I sense is going against my personal grain, causing me (if you'll excuse the disgusting imagery) to rub up against myself all the time? Have you, like me, secretly felt, in certain circum- stances and locales, that you have been parachuted behind enemy lines?'
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Submitted by peterwhittle on Sat, 2009-06-27 06:34.
