THE GOOD’S GONE
I feel like I am being showered by some strange karmic raspberry with the current situation with Pete Townshend. It’s been very disheartening. I am not sure I have ever been around to see someone I admired so much in such a horrible situation. His explanations sound perfectly reasonable, and the evidence will hopefully bear them out, but will it matter? Will anyone listen and accept that he wasn’t guilty of the crime he is accused of? There are already jokes, song parodies – this is the stuff talk show hosts and bad radio DJs dream of.
So what does this have to do with me? Why is it karmic?
Well, I believe O.J. killed his wife and her lover. He was acquitted. I believe Michael Jackson is guilty of doing inappropriate things with children. And He was never convicted. I make cracks about both of them without considering that these people have fans, too. In fact, it wasn’t that long ago I theorized to someone that being a Michael Jackson fan is a rough business, because there is a lot of weird shit you have to get behind, a lot of bizarre behavior you have to accept, to continue being his fan. I have a feeling those people can hardly enjoy Jackson’s music anymore without someone coming along and saying, “Dude, don’t let your son go down on me.” “That’s Elton John, you idiot, and those tabloid reports weren’t true about him, either.” “Shut up.”
It’s actually something you encounter as a Morrissey fan, too. People go out of their way to tell you what they think of Morrissey’s music for no other reason but some odd compulsion to tell you. It’s why at Dark Horse I found the most obnoxious Moz poster I could and put it on my wall, facing out to the hall. Even I wanted to hit him for how he looked in that photo. But I am off-topic…
Point is: Townshend is barely going to be able to take a step without some hearing joke about the true meaning of Tommy or “Pre-Teenage Wasteland.” And that’s sad--but do I have the right to condemn behavior I would have previously condoned and even engaged in because this time it’s someone I like?
On a lighter note: I already posted this on the Oni board, but Kelly Sue Deconnick has written the best review I have read in a long time in any category. Read it here. It’s for Colleen Coover’s Small Favors, a book I agree with Kelly Sue 100% on. Try it if you like that sort of thing (and yes, I realize it’s an odd book to recommend at the end of this post. Sue me.)
Current Soundtrack: Ms Dynamite, A Little Deeper
No comments:
Post a Comment