Whacko Jacko

WORDS are sometimes an inadequate way to express oneself; individuals from different backgrounds, age, education, cultural persuasion or other experiential variables have different interpretations of the written word. Misinterpretation can result from poor construction, punctuation, capitalisation and spelling, bad writing or just perverse interpretation; sometimes wording is taken out of context and ‘spun’ to create unintended meaning.

This latter is often used by political strategists and their masters and of late, become popular in the financial world! The use of the ‘extracted’ antagonistic sound bite, the emotionalisation of words to invoke populist reaction (see ‘exploitation’ or ‘so-called’) or ‘slagging off’ of writers as pseudo-intellectual, educated snobs is part of this game to promote their own views without putting forward significant and reasoned discussion. Such practices, fortunately for this writer, are infrequent, but others are less fortunate; maybe they are closer to painful truths!Thus the title of this article, ‘Whacko Jacko’, is a term sure to upset someone; hence I must defend myself! Michael Jackson’s death brought out unexpected reactions in this writer; obviously it is sad when someone dies at such an early age, but it was much more than this. It was a realisation that an era had passed, an era in my life and that the ‘Jackson Road Train’ represented a rumbling and ever-present background to my life in a time of significant changes in world affairs.This was the early 80’s and onwards when, for better or worse, I decided to leave Botswana and relocate to (then) South West Africa rather than disappear into the Australian outback or the Canadian tundra; I was enjoying Africa! My kids were adolescent, Thatcher was turning the UK into a post-industrial society and Reagan was setting the US financial/business scene free; the multi-brand UK vehicle business was in terminal decline and was allowed to fail – déjà vous General Motors? Heady times.The real change was modern communications and computer technology shifted into top gear and became available to us common plebs; video recorders hit the world; ‘celebrity’ and ‘branding’ came to the fore. This was the world that Michael Jackson opened up; we learnt that we must «watch» music, not just listen! Our kids exposed us to ‘Moonwalking’, Thriller and Bad! We saw his incredible dance moves, his precise choreography, great lyrics and special effects that hit you in the eye! With his increasingly bizarre dress, appearance changes and behaviour he was the prime ‘change agent’. He was eccentric and, despite my reservations about ‘watching’ music, created a generation of devotees. His Namibian visit; Windhoek went mad and everybody loved him although his links to the police Chevrolets is best forgotten!The emerging ‘brand’, Neverland excesses, love of kids, apparent naivety and his sheer energy drove visionary ideas; the mobile phone, the internet and an insane growth of excess spending can all be traced back to this era where he was a major influence.Yes, the hype, false accusations, the legal cases, the rumour mills, the conspicuous wealth, the celebrity cult transforming into ‘famous for being famous’ and the mindlessness of reality shows can all be traced back to Michael Jackson’s partial, but significant influence in reversing the power politics of adults and youth.Yes ‘Whacko Jacko’ straddled that borderline of genius and insanity but his contribution to society was massive and made lives better. His memory will endure; the resultant over-spend crisis may take time to heal. It was fun while it lasted. ‘Whacko Jacko’ is, in my thinking, a term of endearment. He was the good guy. R.I.P.csmith@mweb.com.na