I heard it on breakfast TV and had not more than on an ‘Oh yeah, another spoiled superstar bites the dust’. Very surprised to see the mania developing around his death. Perhaps we should decide on a new mental illness in this respect: ‘Princess Diana-public emoting of grief disorder’. When she died, the world really discovered for the first time the cleansing effect of public emoting. Many stiff upper lip Britons, who in any other circumstances even if their whole family would have been slaughtered, would have shown Strength, Resilience and Courage but no tears, were crying in public. Within days she had been elevated to public sainthood. In her death, her life became more extraordinary and special.

Will the same thing happen for Mr. Jackson? His father certainly thinks (and probably ££££ hopes so): In death he will be even bigger than in life, is what he is supposed to have said. Newspapers dedicate pages and pages to the demise of Mr. Jackson, the real news is pushed to the background. The death of a sad, lonely, disturbed middle aged man, who had some nice songs and moves when he was at the top of his game becomes once again a cause of public emoting. Perhaps a statue can be contemplated, Princess Diana and Michael Jackson hand in hand, in the middle of a park and we all have permission to wail, cry and emote in the park, so we can be our real selves outside….It strikes me as weird and highjly irrational this adoration of a clearly sick and neurotic middle aged man: his alleged drug use, the stories of sharing a bed with under age children, the alleged delusional beliefs about personal wealth etc. It all makes the holding your own child outside the window of the Adlon Hotel in Berlin almost a normal event.

I think this public admiration and public emoting is a stand in. We do not express our admiration anymore to our children, out friends and colleagues or to ourselves. We are too busy and we believe that others should simply know we admire what they have done. When is the last time You expressed a strong positive feeling to another human being that was more than a casual ‘thank you’ or ‘appreciate it’? When is the last time you expressed your grief and sadness about someone really close to you with tears, in public? Yes, right…..We use the death of people far away, but who seem close as a result of their narcisim fuled press coverage to express feelings and feel good about ourselves: ‘See, i am not a hard nosed, cold person after all, I have feelings too!’ Well, we don’t have to finish off the world’s famous people to do that. We can just do it every day. When some does us a favour, when we are being disappointed, when a loved one falls ill: it is OK, you can feel and let it show.