I remember feeling sort of the same when Elvis died. Not that he was a repulsive character like Jackson, but for several years befoe he died he seemed to have become a joke. Gaining a hundred pounds, wearing those comical outfits in Vegas. It was sort of surprising when people came out of the woodwork mourning him, but they sure did, and he's far more popular today than he was the day before he died.
The Jackson fans are truly retarded, as the DUmmy implies, and his obviously perverted pedophilia lifestyle will make it hard for him to assume the larger-than-life dimensions achieved by the post-mortem Elvis. I believe his legacy will be that of a sideshow freak.