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SUPPORT ME ON PATREON\n\nWATCH MUSIC is not a GENRE VIDEOS and MORE\n\nElephants are great. Majestic creatures. Hidden talents. Etc. Etc. They\u2019re not my favorite animal (that would be something in the primate family), but there comes a time when they need to be paid attention to. Hence this week\u2019s topic.\n\nI don\u2019t see a strong reason to go over the content of this album. Almost everyone in the world above a certain age knows it at this point, and those who don\u2019t eventually will. Even with the limited time we\u2019ve spent at stores/restaurants this year, I\u2019ve heard songs from this album about a dozen times.\n\nSo in a sense, this week\u2019s topic is less about actual music and more about that aforementioned elephant. Which is what? It\u2019s the man himself. The notorious legend. The complex history and psychological and emotional labyrinth. Michael Jackson.\n\nThere is absolutely no disputing that MJ\u2019s music is brilliant. From his time with his bros through the majority of his solo career, milestones and innovations abounded. Not to mention it sounded amazing and is damn fun to listen to. Many many songs have become a part of our lives whether we like it or not.\n\nAs for the man himself, we\u2019re conflicted. You as an individual may not be. You may have already decided what side of the line you fall on, or that you\u2019re comfortable straddling it. As a society, however, we don\u2019t know what to do with him anymore. We can\u2019t ignore him as we might a lesser known artist or one less relevant to our current times. But we can\u2019t quite embrace him the way we used to.\n\nI think it\u2019s great that we\u2019re now at a place where we don\u2019t just sweep things under the rug, shrug our shoulders, and make excuses. It\u2019s something we need to build on and expand to all areas of life \u2013 the workplace, personal relationships, etc. When it comes to things like the arts and sports, however, it\u2019s trickier. Can we \u2013 should we \u2013 separate the art from the artist? Can we say: Hey, this person was flawed, perhaps deeply and disturbingly, yet contributed beauty and genius to the world. Aren\u2019t we the same to some degree? Don\u2019t we hope that, despite our many flaws, we still make a positive difference by existing and doing good? If any of that is true and acceptable, when does a line get crossed past the point of no return? How bad is too bad? Who gets a pass for being a racist, misogynist asshole who hasn\u2019t necessarily done anything flat out wrong, and/or who doesn\u2019t get a pass for being a loving, caring, progressive person who has done some truly heinous things? History is rife with people who were way less than positive forces in the world (Richard Wagner, Ty Cobb), but whose contributions in other ways we still somehow revere.\n\nThere are no easy answers. As individuals, all our crossed lines are curvy and wiggly. As a society, we do need to have baseline standards of behavior and respect. Even so, there may still be room for us to appreciate the OBJECTS (songs, books, movies, comedy, sports feats, even political and social gains) while calling to accountability the SUBJECTS (MJ, Lovecraft, Gibson, Louis C.K., Woods, Gandhi). I don\u2019t know, and I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ve even answered this for myself. But it\u2019s an important question to keep trying to answer, for all of us.\n\nTruth to self as well as power: I\u2019m not perfect either (shocker!). I\u2019ve chronicled this in many of my songs, including the one below. I leave you to figure out what context this came from, and how to judge:\n\nNICK - \u201cYour Sister\u201d (from the album The Metrogrande Sessions)\n\n\n--- \n\nThis episode is sponsored by \n\xb7 Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app\n\nSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/musicisnotagenre/support\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices