Note: You can safely skip this piece if you’re interested only in
technology products or you have OD’d on Michael Jackson. There's plenty of
other good stuff on this site for you; we’ll connect again soon. If you’re open
to odd discovery, read on.
Two big stories crisscross on the airwaves and news pages this week: the
death of entertainer Michael Jackson and passage of an historic
energy and global warming bill by the U.S. House of Representatives. Only
after watching an hour or so of King of Pop tribute videos did I see the
surprising green thread between these strange
bedfellows.
I figured I knew both parties pretty well: Jackson, the sad, creepy freak
with thriller grooves and moves; Congress, a bunch of clucking, near-sighted
chickens gorging on special-interest feed.
So I was pleasantly surprised Friday when the American Clean
Energy and Security Act passed the House 219-212. As the NY Times story noted:
The vote was the first time either house of Congress had approved a bill
meant to curb the heat-trapping gases scientists have linked to climate change.
The legislation, which passed despite deep divisions among Democrats, could
lead to profound changes in many sectors of the economy, including electric
power generation, agriculture, manufacturing and construction.
The bill, which now must clear a loudly clucking Senate, aims by 2020 to
reduce U.S.
greenhouse gases to 17 percent below 2005 levels, and 83 percent by 2050. It
mandates that 20 percent of the nation’s energy come from renewable sources
including solar, wind and geothermal
over the next decade. The draft also devotes billions of dollars to new energy
projects, low-carbon agriculture, cleaner coal and electric
vehicles.
There are, of course, miles of special interests to go before a final bill.
Still, was it possible that Congress (a clot of vocal global warming deniers
notwithstanding) might yet find a little rooster under all those chicken
feathers?
Skinny Legs, Big Heart
But the real eye opener came watching the endlessly looping video tributes
with my wife on VH1. Alongside the moon-walking,
battle-dancing “Thriller,” “Billie Jean,” “Smooth Criminal,” etc., rose a
Michael Jackson we never knew. Or had forgotten about.
Michael Jackson visiting doomed children in hospitals. Feeding brittle
famine victims. Urging inner-city kids from gang violence. By the time “We Are
the World” aired, I’m not ashamed to say I was moved. Who knew this cartoonish,
androgyne punch line also was a serious, passionate humanitarian voice? I
mean, he got Ray Charles and Bruce Springsteen and Kenny Rogers and Cyndi
Lauper and Hall & Oates and Dan Aykroyd and Huey Lewis and that little
troll guy from Journey and every other big American music star from the
mid-'80s to come out and help raise millions for starving Africans.
Then the real eye opener.
Neither Leslie nor I had even seen Jackson’s
"Earth Song,"
from the 1995 album "HIStory." (I later found that this No. 1 Brit
hit was never released in the United States.)
If you haven’t seen it, join the four million-plus worldwide who’ve done so.
Here’s the video link.
It’s worth 6 minutes and 43 seconds of your time.
The operatic gospel opus starts with forested Eden,
then quickly descends to a tattered Jackson
wandering a hellish, orange, oil-smoked wasteland. Soon he’s joined in misery
by remote Tanzanian villagers, a Brazilian rain forest tribe and war-torn
Croatian villagers. As elephants die, forests fall, and cottages burn and
crumble, each group drops to its knees, ripping at fistfuls of earth. As dirt
slips between their agonized fingers, Jackson
wails:
What about sunrise?
What about rain?
What about animals?
Did you ever stop to notice,
The crying Earth, the weeping shores?
As destruction mounts, a dark Biblical wind rages across the sky.
Destruction or resurrection? The villagers brace; Jackson
does too. And suddenly, perhaps by sheer will and mystical chant, the nightmare
begins to reverse. Hacked trees mend and again stand tall. A slaughtered
elephant regains its stolen tusks and bounds to its feet. The eyes of a sniper
victim pop open, and he too arises. Throughout the storm, the possessed
performer wails: "What about us? What about us?" It’s
over the top, melodramatic, messianic, but unexpectedly gripping. We watch it
three times in a row.
Top of the Pop Tree
Michael Jackson used his perch atop the pop world to call attention to
blights destroying roots below: reckless exploitation of natural resources,
famine and hunger, urban decay, homelessness, sickness, animal slaughter, and
war. Regardless of what you think about his strange off-stage life, his music
or victim-y megalomania, there’s no denying Jackson
advanced awareness and outrage over big global issues in his own, unique way.
In 2000, he set a world record for "Most Charities Supported by a Pop
Star," averaging 39 charitable donations a year.
“Earth Song” and Jackson’s other artistic outcries on behalf of the
environment are one voice in a slow chorus across decades and generations that
eventually calls enough people to take notice and, hopefully, action. It is the
foundational work that must take place long before any government or business
can know how to act, or know why, to avert further damage. Or before any
technology can be deployed in service of clever solutions.
And that is the slender green thread between a broken pop star and a
conflicted Congress.
What about us? You wanna be starting something? It’s been a long time
since I’ve taken many life clues from pop. But Michael Jackson’s questions
haunt me.
