Rancid butter
Within two weeks of the man's death, the sick puppies at the Iowa State Fair have declared war on Michael Jackson. Succumbing to alleged public pressure, the fair's CEO announced this week that their decision to honor the most popular entertainer of all-time with a memorial in butter (next to the perennial butter cow) will now be subjected to an online vote by the public.
Approximately one week previous to their announcement, the Fair's current butter sculptor-in-residence, Sarah Pratt, announced that a likeness of Jackson, the inventor of "the moonwalk" dance step, would be included in a display featuring Neil Armstrong and the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
It's difficult to categorize the Fair's newfound skittishness as anything other than just the latest exploitation of the dead singer. Opening an online poll on their website one month before the event commences stinks of crass opportunism in marketing the Fair, and seems to me patently offensive when the man's corpse is barely in the ground. The Fair CEO even employed a stupid butter pun in his media statement, which was released the same day a public memorial was held for Jackson. Meanwhile, I find it difficult to categorize the opposition to a Jackson tribute by a handful of Iowa bumpkins as anything other than good old-fashioned racial bigotry.
A handful of mouth-breathing good ole' boys and gals are no doubt scrawling out notes to Fair organizers in their sharpest Crayon calling Jackson a 'pedophile,' yet the man was exonerated of such wild charges in our courts and his accusers caught on tape describing their plots to extort the entertainer. Conversely, Elvis Presley, the great white interpreter of American rhythm 'n blues music, has already been honored with a butter likeness all his own at the Iowa Fair, with his defenders evidently ignorant of the fact that "the King" started his romantic relationship with his future wife when he was 24 years old and she was just 14. Oh, but that's different-- Presley resonates with Iowans. He looks like them.
Many have hidden their opposition to Jackson behind the argument that he was not an Iowan, but there were no protests when likenesses of Presley, Dwight Eisenhower, Garth Brooks, or the imaginary character Harry Potter were captured in butter. Neil Armstrong may have walked on the moon, but there's no evidence he's ever touched down in the Hawkeye State. For all we know, he has no connection to Iowa other than that he may have once orbited over it. On the other hand, Michael Jackson not only has an Iowa past, but a State Fair past. The Jackson 5 headlined the Grandstand in 1971. These Iowa connections are trivial, anyway. There's already a butter likeness of an Iowan every year-- the damned cow!
The Fair's politically-inspired backpedaling on Jackson (instigated by the Midwest Dairy Association) comes only one year after State Representative Wayne Ford of Des Moines called out the Fair for its failure to book more African-American musical acts. Last year, just 2 of 20 musical acts booked in the Grandstand were minorities. This year, it's down to 1 in 19, with the only minority act being that of African-American singer "Cowboy Troy," a country music act opening for shitkickers "Big & Rich" and only faintly appealing to the musical tastes of most black Iowans. Ford took a lot of public flak over his comments last summer, but here we are back in the same spot again this year. Should African-Americans feel welcome at the Iowa State Fair? I'd love to hear the argument as to why they should.
I don't know what's more annoying-- small minds still intent on trying to dehumanize a man hounded during life for his eccentricities and celebrity, or the supreme arrogance of people who demand that each and every one of the seventeen thousand displays and attractions at the State Fair meet with their didactic approval. Granted, it can't be fun to watch the Michael Jackson Global Love Train leave the station when you're impotent to the groove, but that's no reason to act like douche bags. Buy some records!
Approximately one week previous to their announcement, the Fair's current butter sculptor-in-residence, Sarah Pratt, announced that a likeness of Jackson, the inventor of "the moonwalk" dance step, would be included in a display featuring Neil Armstrong and the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
It's difficult to categorize the Fair's newfound skittishness as anything other than just the latest exploitation of the dead singer. Opening an online poll on their website one month before the event commences stinks of crass opportunism in marketing the Fair, and seems to me patently offensive when the man's corpse is barely in the ground. The Fair CEO even employed a stupid butter pun in his media statement, which was released the same day a public memorial was held for Jackson. Meanwhile, I find it difficult to categorize the opposition to a Jackson tribute by a handful of Iowa bumpkins as anything other than good old-fashioned racial bigotry.
A handful of mouth-breathing good ole' boys and gals are no doubt scrawling out notes to Fair organizers in their sharpest Crayon calling Jackson a 'pedophile,' yet the man was exonerated of such wild charges in our courts and his accusers caught on tape describing their plots to extort the entertainer. Conversely, Elvis Presley, the great white interpreter of American rhythm 'n blues music, has already been honored with a butter likeness all his own at the Iowa Fair, with his defenders evidently ignorant of the fact that "the King" started his romantic relationship with his future wife when he was 24 years old and she was just 14. Oh, but that's different-- Presley resonates with Iowans. He looks like them.
Many have hidden their opposition to Jackson behind the argument that he was not an Iowan, but there were no protests when likenesses of Presley, Dwight Eisenhower, Garth Brooks, or the imaginary character Harry Potter were captured in butter. Neil Armstrong may have walked on the moon, but there's no evidence he's ever touched down in the Hawkeye State. For all we know, he has no connection to Iowa other than that he may have once orbited over it. On the other hand, Michael Jackson not only has an Iowa past, but a State Fair past. The Jackson 5 headlined the Grandstand in 1971. These Iowa connections are trivial, anyway. There's already a butter likeness of an Iowan every year-- the damned cow!
The Fair's politically-inspired backpedaling on Jackson (instigated by the Midwest Dairy Association) comes only one year after State Representative Wayne Ford of Des Moines called out the Fair for its failure to book more African-American musical acts. Last year, just 2 of 20 musical acts booked in the Grandstand were minorities. This year, it's down to 1 in 19, with the only minority act being that of African-American singer "Cowboy Troy," a country music act opening for shitkickers "Big & Rich" and only faintly appealing to the musical tastes of most black Iowans. Ford took a lot of public flak over his comments last summer, but here we are back in the same spot again this year. Should African-Americans feel welcome at the Iowa State Fair? I'd love to hear the argument as to why they should.
I don't know what's more annoying-- small minds still intent on trying to dehumanize a man hounded during life for his eccentricities and celebrity, or the supreme arrogance of people who demand that each and every one of the seventeen thousand displays and attractions at the State Fair meet with their didactic approval. Granted, it can't be fun to watch the Michael Jackson Global Love Train leave the station when you're impotent to the groove, but that's no reason to act like douche bags. Buy some records!
posted by CM @ 11:06 AM
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