Michael Jackson Death Hoax Investigators

Latest News => Honest Journalism ~ Vindicating Michael Jackson => Topic started by: ~Souza~ on February 25, 2010, 05:32:45 PM

Title: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: ~Souza~ on February 25, 2010, 05:32:45 PM


By Polar Levine | musicdish.com | 2004-01-06

Fear and the Sexiness of the Undead

John Ashcroft’s thirst for capital punishment aside, America’s thirst for death as catharsis and entertainment still hasn’t gotten around to FOX’s inserting live executions into its reality TV lineup. For the moment we’ll have to be satisfied with the much slower Jacko hunt. I believe the media is chasing a very unbalanced and vulnerable man to suicide to be followed by a year-long explosion of Michael Jackson tributes, posthumous music releases, bioPix, merchandise and — when all has been said and sold — soul-searching questions about our own culpability in our victim’s demise. I’ll be amazed if Jackson reaches his fiftieth birthday.

I’d say, “go get him” if I were aware of any serious evidence of child molestation. As a dad of a young kid, I take a hard stand on pedophilia. But as far as I’m concerned a 45-year-old man sleeping in the same bed with a child, adult or any other mammal is not the same as having sex. Like having a Bud is not the same as being an alcoholic. Like being a Muslim is not the same as being a terrorist. No specific evidence of sex with children has been publicly disclosed. For that matter, I’m not sure Michael Jackson has a history of sex with any human, animal or vegetable. His true crime is being weird. More specifically, his true crime is being weird in precisely the same way that our pop culture is weird — but he’s a few years ahead of the curve.

Alleged pedophilia aside, let’s look at his weird activity. His obsession with his looks coupled with his surgical alterations reflect the same obsessions and alterations found in much of our mainstream youth-worshipping society. Compulsive shopping sprees reflect America’s extreme style of consumerism where buying unnecessary stuff is a mode of entertainment and shopping ourselves into debt has become not just a mundane activity, but our patriotic duty. His over-the-top new age Hallmark rhetoric reflects our own taste for draping doilies in the form of kitsch and sentimentality over our anxiety and terror.

Michael Jackson has lived an extreme life and he acts out his culturally-derived fears and anxieties in an extreme version of the way millions of Americans act out. We’re living in a hothouse of media-projected fear. The entertainment/infotainment industry derives much of its cash flow from the violence it amuses us with in movies, video games, tv dramas and the news. The nightly perpwalk has been a staple of local news broadcasts for decades and the droning headlines and newsmag features on serial killers, pedophiles, terrorists, muggers, scam artists, epidemics and countless possibilities for injuries are as regular as cornflakes. Michael Moore’s ‘Bowling For Columbine’ brings this fear factor chillingly to light.

No study seems to conclusively link this steady diet of violence to a violent society, so it’s hard for people to consciously attempt a movement to put on the brakes. I believe we’ve been focusing all these studies on the wrong question. People may not be more likely to kill as a result of this diet of non-stop media violence but it certainly leads to a pervasive culture of free-floating fear.

This unconscious blanket of fear gets played out in a variety of ways, often in rituals adopted by different subcultures. When fear is free-floating, as opposed to based on a specific real threat, we feel compelled to detach from life to some degree to ease the pressure. Drugs are the most obvious escape. But there are other equally destructive roads out of reality. Entertainment binging is epidemic: watching tv, playing computer and video games, recreational shopping. The comforting certainty of fundamentalism — theological, political or philosophical — has a powerful attraction. The cult of beauty and sexiness, like money, is the requisite currency of happiness. It attracts love, riches and the eternal happy ending. The hipster set has discovered the reality-buffering qualities of extreme irony as though wrapping our fears in graphic dark humor punctuated by a blasé “whatever” will say “BOO!!” and make all those scary issues of mortality, non prettiness and decrepitude flee from consciousness. Every day we receive information and instructions from prerecorded voices — the chit chat of the “undead.”

Our fear and loathing of Michael Jackson is the fear and loathing of our own attraction to the road he’s taken. We’re predisposed by instinct to recoil at the recognition of our own death trip. Jackson is being crucified for the sins of our cult of artifice and detachment.

Michael Jackson has been living in public since he was ten. He’s the prototype for ‘The Truman Show.’ Imagine going through puberty and adolescence in front of a fleet of cameras. The world gets to see, hear and comment on our sexual awakening and cluelessness, on our bodies going bonkers: zits, voice changing (a singer’s voice), too fat, too skinny, nose too big, not nice enough, not down enough, too politically conscious for Young America, too soft for the streets, too black, too white. Too much responsibility. Not enough fun.

The Jackson 5 hit the charts during the chaos of the anti-war movement and the militant phase of the civil rights movement. Michael was too young and too driven by the commercial demands of his family and his mentor/employer Berry Gordy to tap into the political/philosophical side of youth culture — a rare sliver of time when young people had goals deeper than fun and status. His major breakthrough occurred in the 80’s as a solo artist during the Reagan era when our lingering humiliation over Watergate and America’s first military defeat sought relief in nostalgia for the certainties of the 50’s. Coupled with the birth of MTV, materialism replaced social consciousness as the reigning aesthetic of youth culture. Artiface and acquisition, vogueing and coke, polyester motorcycle jackets and business suits. Fashion models became superstars just because they were pretty, corporate CEOs because they were rich, and Robin Leach because he publicly swooned over the rich and pretty for our amusement. Jackson was the most famous rich pretty person on earth.

The pressure to stay young and pretty, coupled with the onset of his alleged skin condition (vitiligo, which causes irregularly shaped white blotches on the skin), must have put this hopelessly exposed and fragile man-child into an ongoing dull roar of panic. The extreme nature of his fame, visibility and the pressure to maintain the winning formula in a formula-bound youth culture must have been crushing to a person who had known nothing but pop music success.

The call to surgically derived youth had been answered long before Michael Jackson got to it. But Jackson, unlike his nipped and tucked predecessors, was introduced to the scalpel at a time when the technology of virtual youth offered transformative potential that would have given Mary Shelly the creeps. And few humans of any age had Michael Jackson’s enormous wealth with which to indulge surgery to such monstrous ends. Only in horror stories of the “undead” were these transformations previously contemplated: ‘Frankenstein,’ ‘The Island Of Dr. Moreau’ and zombie flicks like ‘Dawn of The Dead.’

The enormity of his talents has only been surpassed by the depths of his preventive isolation. His pathological drive to stay young for his adolescent market and his lack of intellectual curiosity and maturity precluded evolving into a “mature” artist like Al Green, Sting, Mick Jagger and Robert Plant, whose records are no longer guaranteed to sell multi-platinum but allow for longterm creative careers. The audience that grew up with Michael Jackson would certainly forgive him for aging along with them. He could have let the teeny boppers serve the teeny boppers. Instead he chose the reality-defying strategy of being a teenager for life. Steven Tyler proved that a popstar could remain a teenager in the head for life. Committing one’s body to this goal is a hard wall to bang and Jackson is a banged up old guy for trying.

Fear is a soul-twisting thing; but no fear is as distorting as a generalized fear of reality. The cult of fear and its antidote — artifice — leads to a dead end. Artiface is a facsimile of life — the aesthetic of the “undead.” Death metal, fashion models posed and lit to look starved and devoid of consciousness, serial face-lifting that renders a person’s face a cadaverous mask, the Tarrantino fetish of graphic violence as comedy.

I have no aesthetic or principled objection with a bit of nip and tuck and bucket of hair paint. But taken too far, the effect becomes self-defeating. A person who’s had a dozen face lifts looks more dead than vital. A face that’s been marinated in Botox looks more like a wax museum replica of a young person than a living one. The fact that we identify these deathly faces with youth and sexiness rather then sickness says much about our growing confusion over reality and artiface. The eroticism of deadness is everywhere. The punk era popularized the black lipstick and mascara look of a cadaver. A woman’s face with so much makeup as to obscure emotional expressiveness is generally associated with sexiness as is the dissipated manequin-chic that typifies so much fashion modeling. The exquisiteness of design and the fact that much of this aesthetic has a nudge-nudge-wink-wink aspect doesn’t lighten its weight in the overall cultural lexicon, particularly as it filters down to younger generations who are unaware of the original ironic allusions.

If all of us could afford the excesses of Michael Jackson, how abnormal would he then be? Could I go that far and not know it? That’s the scary question we ask ourselves when we rubberneck our tv every time he appears. It’s our own cult of necrophilia that causes the air to vibrate when we see that face and hear that voice recite the Peter Pan platitudes in a woozy soprano. We’re terrified but can’t look away. His music is now merely an asterisk on his resuméé. Removing him is the only way out of our discomforting addiction to sensational coverage his ever-evolving creepiness. And pedophilia is the silver bullet.

Last year I watched the BBC documentary on Jackson. It was a truly repellant experience. The only thing more horrifying was the parade of coverage and commentary that revealed a bizarre giddiness in its malice. Whom did he murder? Whose life savings did he scam? Whose job did he outsource?

Why are so many people so sure he’s a pedophile despite the absence of any reported clear evidence? Would we so readily believe Oprah or Derek Jeter to be guilty of pedophilia? We believe what we’re comfortable believing. And we want to believe Michael Jackson is guilty. We want to believe that it’s impossible for an adult to lie in bed with a child or adolescent without any sexual activity or motivations.

Is it possible that a young kid with cancer who’s been told by the medical authorities that he’ll soon die has moments of sheer terror? That he’s had his youth stolen from him and is alone in the world while other people float outside in a festival of normalcy? Could he have wanted his sympathetic famous benefactor to lie next to him and maybe even rock him to sleep? Is it possible that Michael Jackson knows exactly who this kid is and wants to give him some peace?

I have no way of knowing what Jackson did or didn’t do. I do know that our slow collective public murder of this man is one of the ugliest non-military media spectacles I’ve ever witnessed. If we’re not ashamed, then we truly are the undead.

Source: http://www.mjfiles.com/death/fear-slow- ... l-jackson/ (http://www.mjfiles.com/death/fear-slow-murder-michael-jackson/)
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: i[MISS]my[KING] on February 25, 2010, 05:50:58 PM
amen to that.
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: alovesmichael on February 25, 2010, 05:57:00 PM
First paragraph made me go OMG! So many predictions and look what happened, look what they did! i.e. if Michael is indeed gone but to many people he is... :(

Quote
I have no way of knowing what Jackson did or didn’t do. I do know that our slow collective public murder of this man is one of the ugliest non-military media spectacles I’ve ever witnessed. If we’re not ashamed, then we truly are the undead.

And this bit made me cry  :cry: Yeah I'm super sensitive i know but it's so true and so sad... I wish more people were this insightful.
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: mjjveritas on February 25, 2010, 06:14:34 PM
The writer of this piece does encapsulate a view of MJ which to a wide degree I agree with. I would take issue with the use of the word "weird" and substitute it for "eccentricities". I know Wiki is just someone's opinion but some of the traits on the eccentric list could be applied to MJ. I think this word "eccentric" is a kinder word to describe some of MJ's behavior. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eccentricity_(behavior). One point I do not agree with is when the writer talks about MJ's "lack of intellectual curiosity". This writer is in for a shock!
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: tabloidburn on February 25, 2010, 06:14:58 PM
Quote from: "i[MISS
my[KING]"]amen to that.

yup.
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: elenamjgirl on February 25, 2010, 06:21:02 PM
A very interesting post... I'd like to comment on the last paragraph even though i believe that it includes the sad truth itself.. :(
Quote
I do know that our slow collective public murder of this man is one of the ugliest non-military media spectacles I’ve ever witnessed. If we’re not ashamed, then we truly are the undead.
 :cry: i feel really bad about the way media mistreated Mike, they still do and they'll keep doing. It's time that we open our eyes and restore...we have to stop paying attention to the trash we are being fed by the mass media. :o  They want us to be blind but it's time we find the light and be consious...Thanks Souza.. ;) It was sadly awakening..[/color][/b]
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: voiceforthesilent on February 25, 2010, 06:23:52 PM
Quote from: "mjjveritas"
The writer of this piece does encapsulate a view of MJ which to a wide degree I agree with. I would take issue with the use of the word "weird" and substitute it for "eccentricities". I know Wiki is just someone's opinion but some of the traits on the eccentric list could be applied to MJ. I think this word "eccentric" is a kinder word to describe some of MJ's behavior. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eccentricity_(behavior). One point I do not agree with is when the writer talks about MJ's "lack of intellectual curiosity". This writer is in for a shock!

I couldn't agree more. The Michael I have grown to know through research hardly lacked intellectual curiosity or maturity. He just knew how to tap into the child that most of us think we need to abandon when we reach puberty. And I'm still trying to figure out what makes Michael weird.  We can all be looked at as weird to someone. But, are we? Blessings.
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: teerockjelli on February 25, 2010, 06:28:27 PM
:cry:
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: MJLover1990 on February 25, 2010, 06:28:37 PM
Quote from: "i[MISS
my[KING]"]amen to that.

Absolutely agree!
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: kingofmystery on February 25, 2010, 06:42:28 PM
It is sad and cruel what happened to Michael.  But it is even sadder for "us" (mankind);  we encouraged it,  facilitated it, and allowed  it to happen in the first place.  So what does it say about "us"?  What has happened to Michael reflects what society has become, and that saddens me beyond words.
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: mjboogie on February 25, 2010, 07:47:42 PM
[/Yeah, this article brings my attention back to when Madonna hosted the VMA Awards remember. SHe gave a long speech of the person MJ and you could not hear a pin drop in that arena!! One thing of many that stuck out to me was when she said "He was a human being" The camera panned around to a few faces in that audience and they looked quite sad, kinda humble in a sense u know? :(  :(

It was kinda like Madonna was saying "Look what you have done to him, look what you have caused, this man was a human being who was ridiculed , mistreated, brings me to tears. :cry: I never treated MJ that way even though I never met him! The only reason I had not followed him as close was because it has been a while since he stopped performing. Honestly I thought MJ had decided to retire from this profession being that he had already given many years in the music industry, but I never ever in life thought that he was guilty of anything! He was just a sweet spirited man with a very humble spirit. :cry: ANd some of those very people out in that audience were VERY GUILTY of mistreating him, turning their backs on him... where were they when he was going through the trials???? Honestly if you were MJ wouldn't you have became reclusive also? I mean to me it seems like MJ just dissappeared for a lonnng time and I had always felt that he was just in L.A> enjoying his kids, and that he had decided enough of performing! I did think that he gave up completley until  I saw that press conference AFTER June 25th !!! Then I was like DAMMMM! MJ was going to do some shows? WOW! NOt that he could not do it I just had not saw any promotional things.b]
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: airieslady on February 25, 2010, 07:58:30 PM
Quote from: "kingofmystery"
It is sad and cruel what happened to Michael.  But it is even sadder for "us" (mankind);  we encouraged it,  facilitated it, and allowed  it to happen in the first place.  So what does it say about "us"?  What has happened to Michael reflects what society has become, and that saddens me beyond words.

Agree about society... and so now is the time for US to make some kind of change... it is a BIG MISSION but must happen!  WOW, about the whole article!  I am sad but happy at the same time, knowing how Strong Michael Is throughout all of His Life and Continues On With His Mission.  L.O.V.E.
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: Liberian Girl Heehee on February 25, 2010, 08:15:51 PM
The first two paragraphs blew me away.  Then I cried through the rest of it.  :cry:  :cry:  :cry:  

Quote
The author said:  His true crime is being weird.
 But, it goes beyond that.  His true crime is that he is the most innocent, sweet, beautiful, soft, nurturing, humanitarian, different human being to walk this earth, with more talent and smarts that any other artist in our lifetime.  And people who didn't get it or didn't care about his message looked at him and called him weird and worse.  
Now, that's the real crime!! :evil:

Thank you Souza for posting this.
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: Its her on February 25, 2010, 08:28:15 PM
Quote from: "mjjveritas"
The writer of this piece does encapsulate a view of MJ which to a wide degree I agree with. I would take issue with the use of the word "weird" and substitute it for "eccentricities". I know Wiki is just someone's opinion but some of the traits on the eccentric list could be applied to MJ. I think this word "eccentric" is a kinder word to describe some of MJ's behavior. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eccentricity_(behavior).

 One point I do not agree with is when the writer talks about MJ's "lack of intellectual curiosity". This writer is in for a shock!
:lol:  :lol:  :o

Yes! Talk about writing without researching your subject...MJ's  intellectual curiosity only pales in comparison with the pea brain audacity to dare say such a thing about a literal genius, who has made more of an impact on this globe just speaking of innovation in entertainment and social conscience, than practically anyone else so inclined on all continents, in our lifetime! I dare say, he's read more books than most degreed folks, in pure unquenchable thirst for the pleasure of knowledge, proactively independent of formal indoctrination and the politics of getting grades.

I was SO  :D blessed to know this about him, when I first found out---that he read so much! Reading is the poor man's travel.  8-) anyone may go ANY place---even to places ;)  imagined in someone's mind---when they READ. It is almost like flying. How DARE anyone say he "lacked intellectual curiosity" :!:  :!:

But that just ticked me off after I had already decided to post about this:   "...Michael was too young and too driven by the commercial demands of his family and his mentor/employer Berry Gordy to tap into the political/philosophical side of youth culture — a rare sliver of time when young people had goals deeper than fun and status." :P  :P  :P  :P  :o

I remember someone--maybe Mom, saying that they used to plan charity outreaches for underpriviledged and sick children, when he was still a boy. They'd both sit and cry over some tragic report on TV, as a regular thing, and he'd say, "Mom, I'M going to do something about this, when I grow up!".   MJ hosted kids at his parent's home long before he moved out to customize NeverLand for this. The only thing that changed in this scenario of deep seated compassion for hurting people, was that, when they realized he was no longer a kid, and he had grown into a man, some evil sharks, shamed by the pure goodness of it, now beheld that he was all alone, and moved in for the kill.

Heck, he didn't NEED to  :roll: "tap into"  :roll: any one else's consciousness raising goals, or catch that "cultural" wave---he invented his own!! or, maybe God put them on his heart. This is a guy who, YET went door to door,  talking to strangers about belief in God, when he was on the fast track to  being the most famous man in the world :o ! He was saying that things were changing about color ceasing to divide folk, when haters were still killing off the movers and shakers with the vision for it. How old was he when he and Randy(?) wrote "Can You  Feel It?" 14?

He had that gigantic humanitarian burden on his heart, when the ONLY people doing charity work were churches and missionaries. And---only adults. Not saying he was some kind of prophet or anything weird. The basic bible training and character development placed in his soul by his church and his mother, caused him to be more aware at a much earlier age, than any so -called social temperature taken by this author at any time.

Many people think celebrities are one dimensional beings, and resent it when they step out to affect change in government or whatever. But some of them are just simply awed and humbled by the gift of the sheer power of influence HANDED to them, and feel VERY responsible to make good with it, as long as it lasts. I know Michael Jackson felt humbled every day for such a tremendous gift as the favor and open doors his God-given talent afforded him. God knew he could trust him with it.

What a COMPLIMENT, Dude!

God LOVES everyone. But when He TRUSTS you, LOOK OUT!!!! I can't say He 'loves you MORE'  ;)  ;)  ---because you can't buy God's love. But things happen fast and furious, and He says He hops over thousands of people to bless someone obedient. We've ALL seen it, in MJ's extraordinary life!

I LOVE that about Michael Jackson. I think I love that  most; his humble, unadulterated heart.   8-)

That said, there is some real truth in the article, about society. Fear is DEADLY---it makes you wildly spend your money to try to calm yourself. It makes you sick. It drives you to do all kinds of stupid unhealthy and dangerous things to get some relief and comfort. If he thought this in 2004, I wonder what he thinks NOW? :shock: And I agree with the quote, above---WAIT TILL MJ REAPPEARS!!! :shock:  8-)  :lol:

Michael Jackson did NOT die, especially from fear and drugs! He said he wanted to live forever---people so focused on THAT don't kill themselves, and they don't involve themselves in self-destructive behaviours, no matter how much fear knocks at their door. Michael Jackson wasn't afraid of anything. Don't believe scary crap dumped in your ears.    :roll: Read around here, and get your bearings in the Truth.
 :)
ONE time, I expected to see fear in his eyes (in a picture at what was probably an arraignment) and I only saw incredulous disbelief, and a LION heart stare !

I still keep reading that he was afraid or timid or whatever about all kinds of situations and people, but I don't believe it! He only recoils from ONE thing, if you want to call it "fear"---I'd call it an aversion, something which he simply avoids like the black death, so it appears that he is afraid of it. Don't even give it a thought.  BTW, NONE of the crap people are saying is true! He is the most centered, internally directed,  self-ruled man I've ever hoped to hear of. He's not dead. He's not dead. HE'S NOT DEAD, at all. :!:  :roll:  :D  :D  :D  :D  8-)
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: hesouttamylife on February 25, 2010, 08:57:29 PM
This article is deep.  I have read it before, but this time it's penetrating my core.  Sadly, I have to agree on parts of it and it makes me sad.  Michael was hunted down and persecuted systematically like a common criminal; picked apart and examined like a specimen in a laboratory.  He was different because he had to be, but he wasn't an alien from another galaxy.  He was eccentric in ways, I agree; but those eccentricities are what made him special and wonderful.  It saddens me still when I see the pain in his eyes.  It was obvious that he was well aware of what was happening o him, even though he could not stop it.  I don't know what happened to Michael, but people who didn't like him REALLY didn't like him.  They hated him for no certain reasons.  They just did.  I don't understand it and can't even begin to imagine how perplexing it was to him being the object of it, especially when he was so kind.  He was dealt a bad hand in life.  He was cheated at the card table and no one who could have ever bothered to call anyone out. The deck was stacked against him.  That is why it is so important, would be so grand if and when Michael's reveal happens.  Many people have turned the other cheek, have taken the time to learn about the real Michael Jackson.  His integrity is being redeemed. His legacy shining brighter than it ever has. But what is more amazing is that people have come to realize that he, after all, is only human with the same desires,needs and wants of any other human being. And that includes the freedom to be not afraid.  I pray that he will come back to see a world that has healed and has softened its heart.  I want him to experience the world's awakening to him, feel the love that has resounded because of  him.  And I want him to know that now he is safe, he is free to walk through a room, a crowd of adoring fans and feel normal, that no one is going to hurt him.  I want to see Michael for once in his life be able to interact with the people who love him, to finally exhale.  It has to happen.  It is destiny.
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: virgo75 on February 25, 2010, 09:21:43 PM
I've read this before as well.

So sad.

So late.   :(
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: neversaynever on February 25, 2010, 09:28:19 PM
Plain and simple... his own country destroyed him. And that's a shame. But now he's an American treasure. ( I recall how happy they were when he left the country) And yes, I live in the US and I am American and I am ashamed at what my :|  country did to him.  This article is fantastic, sad and true.
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: PinkTopaz on February 25, 2010, 09:32:28 PM
This article was very odd and very deep, but I must say I took issue with the author's judgment of Michael's looks and character- he passes him off as too immature and somewhat insane, he's buying too much into his public persona and not the real guy, just like so many authors. I don't believe Michael has had nearly as much cosmetic work done as people believe, I think it's lots of makeup... But I will say that the closing sentences were the most poignant.
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: darkchild on February 25, 2010, 10:35:47 PM
First of all, the first, two paragraphs of this article made me very upset.  Secondly of all, MJ was not a freak or weird.  I think he is one of the most, beautiful people that has lived in this generation.  I love Michael Jackson with all my heart and all my soul.  He is an artistic genius.  His intellectual prowess is elastic and expansive.  He is a genius (mark that down person who wrote this article)! This kind of an article hurts me very much.  I love everything about MJ! I thank God tha the was living on this earth with me.  I am a better person for witnessing his existence on this earth.  I have being called an eccentric and a freak all of my life.  MJ, if you can read my comment, I love you with everything that God has given me.  I thank God that you were here with me on this earth.  You are my angel.  MJ, I will fight to the end  to find out what happened to you.  I will not let go of your hand, my angel.  Remember, all the people in the media who wrote hurtful articles, slandered his name, and accused him of unthinkable crimes, my Father in heaven made Michael Jackson.  MJ is a child of God and a human being.  Remember, the media and the press, God sees all and knows all, so the evil that you did to our beloved MJ will return to you. I would be very afraid if I was in the media who hurt MJ! MJ, I love you more than words can express, my angel! ;)
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: darkchild on February 25, 2010, 10:53:06 PM
Quote from: "neversaynever"
Plain and simple... his own country destroyed him. And that's a shame. But now he's an American treasure. ( I recall how happy they were when he left the country) And yes, I live in the US and I am American and I am ashamed at what my :|  country did to him.  This article is fantastic, sad and true.

@neversaynever, Amen and God bless you! You have said a mouthful and the undeniable truth.  I live in America.  This country should be ashamed for what it did to Michael Jackson :x  :x  :x  :x  :x .  I was born in this country.  However, I am not a part of the cultural thinking. I am an eccentric and an independent thinker.  I think MJ should have never returned to the USA. He should have stayed in the UK (my spiritual homeland).   For me, MJ said it all in TDCAU:


Tell me what has become of my rights
Am I invisible because you ignore me?
Your proclamation promised me free liberty, now
I'm tired of bein' the victim of shame
They're throwing me in a class with a bad name
I can't believe this is the land from which I came
You know I do really hate to say it
The government don't wanna see
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: PinkTopaz on February 25, 2010, 11:27:42 PM
Quote from: "darkchild"
Quote from: "neversaynever"
Plain and simple... his own country destroyed him. And that's a shame. But now he's an American treasure. ( I recall how happy they were when he left the country) And yes, I live in the US and I am American and I am ashamed at what my :|  country did to him.  This article is fantastic, sad and true.

@neversaynever, Amen and God bless you! You have said a mouthful and the undeniable truth.  I live in America.  This country should be ashamed for what it did to Michael Jackson :x  :x  :x  :x  :x .  I was born in this country.  However, I am not a part of the cultural thinking. I am an eccentric and an independent thinker.  I think MJ should have never returned to the USA. He should have stayed in the UK (my spiritual homeland).   For me, MJ said it all in TDCAU:


Tell me what has become of my rights
Am I invisible because you ignore me?
Your proclamation promised me free liberty, now
I'm tired of bein' the victim of shame
They're throwing me in a class with a bad name
I can't believe this is the land from which I came
You know I do really hate to say it
The government don't wanna see
You know, I agree with you about our country of America (I'm the same kind of thinker as you!), however, I really don't like when fans say things like what I put in bold. There are thousands of fans here, many of them long-time ones- I wish fans that say things like you just did would stop to consider how we feel: like yes, the media here is evil and whack, but does that make us not good enough or inadequate? I'm sorry, but sometimes I already feel like he prefers European fans over U.S. fans, and remarks like that don't help..
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: 2 Bad on February 26, 2010, 02:31:03 AM
Wow I read this so long ago. Thank you for posting.
All I can say is if the author thinks MJ is weird then all of us have to stand up and say that we are weird too!!!!! What is weird these days?? I suppose anybody that thinks for themselves and does their own thing eh? Hmm we need to stand up for being unique!

I did love this on one of the posts and forgive me for forgetting your name, your post was amazing! The best part is:
 "He is the most centered, internally directed, self-ruled man I've ever hoped to hear of. He's not dead. He's not dead. HE'S NOT DEAD, at all."

Yes we got your back Michael, no doubt in my mind that any of us would lend our shoulder to you if you needed us. We will be there!!!!! ALWAYS!!
Love you Michael!! Yes from the "weird and unique lady from Oregon"
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: Michaelangela on February 26, 2010, 06:53:24 AM
Great post.

I don't think this writer thinks that MJ is weird, what he is trying to say is that we made him look weird, we, the public and media.
He is very objective and I like that, I especially like the pedophilia part. You're not pedophile if you sleep with a child. I sleep with children all the time, it's because I love them. But I guess because I'm a woman nobody thinks I could be a pedophile. It's a society frame, it's because society think if you share bed it must be sexual. I think our society is WEIRD :evil:
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: reading_on on February 26, 2010, 07:36:09 AM
I really can't read this article without reliving in my head something Diane Sawyer said in an interview with Lisa Marie. This interview took place after they Michael and Lisa were divorced.

  Firstly, she was sort of laughing with furrowed brow as she asked the questions again about why Lisa had married Michael. I found that disgusting, why would she do that?...and then she said the thing that left me absolutely dumbfounded.."But what about the way he looks?". You want to know why I am dumbfounded (and understand I am a fan not a fanatic over Michael, I tend to keep my feet firmly planted on earth..lol), because I could not understand the question. It was as if to say don't you think he looks weird.

 Remember this question would have been about Michael in his hey day as well. Thousands of women would swoon over him, love him, marry and tell him he was beautiful. Diane didn't need to have my opinion that he was cute as hell to know that the question must have sounded cuckoo to some people, infuriating to others.. but tell me who was that question really guided toward?

 She knew that there were millions that loved him.  She wasn't out of the know. Why exert such strong negative words into a question.
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: paula-c on February 26, 2010, 10:31:49 AM
neversaynever wrote,  
Plain and simple... his own country destroyed him. And that's a shame. But now he's an American treasure. ( I recall how happy they were when he left the country) And yes, I live in the US and I am American and I am ashamed at what my  country did to him. This article is fantastic, sad and true.

  According to you, and sad that this is the truth   :cry:
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: MJonmind on February 26, 2010, 10:46:09 AM
Excellent journalism, where has this been hiding from public view?
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: mjboogie on February 26, 2010, 11:17:26 AM
I did not find anything unusual about MJ! Honestly , hell I am just gonna say it? I think I would LEAVE MY HUBBY FOR MJ!!!  :lol:  :lol:  :lol: HE is soooo handsome and sexy even at age 50 right ?
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: Fedora777 on February 26, 2010, 11:40:38 AM
Quote from: "kingofmystery"
It is sad and cruel what happened to Michael.  But it is even sadder for "us" (mankind);  we encouraged it,  facilitated it, and allowed  it to happen in the first place.  So what does it say about "us"?  What has happened to Michael reflects what society has become, and that saddens me beyond words.

And this is the awakening :!:
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: this1crazygirl on February 26, 2010, 11:50:04 AM
I'm so dishearted about reliving this whole experience again on VH1 tonight... I don't think I will watch it just yet. I may have to wait for the repeat...
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: this1crazygirl on February 26, 2010, 11:51:10 AM
Quote from: "Fedora777"
Quote from: "kingofmystery"
It is sad and cruel what happened to Michael.  But it is even sadder for "us" (mankind);  we encouraged it,  facilitated it, and allowed  it to happen in the first place.  So what does it say about "us"?  What has happened to Michael reflects what society has become, and that saddens me beyond words.

And this is the awakening :!:

I HOPE THIS "DEATH" THING IS HIS AWAKENING TOO!!  :)
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: alovesmichael on February 26, 2010, 12:12:53 PM
Quote from: "reading_on"
I really can't read this article without reliving in my head something Diane Sawyer said in an interview with Lisa Marie. This interview took place after they Michael and Lisa were divorced.

  Firstly, she was sort of laughing with furrowed brow as she asked the questions again about why Lisa had married Michael. I found that disgusting, why would she do that?...and then she said the thing that left me absolutely dumbfounded.."But what about the way he looks?". You want to know why I am dumbfounded (and understand I am a fan not a fanatic over Michael, I tend to keep my feet firmly planted on earth..lol), because I could not understand the question. It was as if to say don't you think he looks weird.

 Remember this question would have been about Michael in his hey day as well. Thousands of women would swoon over him, love him, marry and tell him he was beautiful. Diane didn't need to have my opinion that he was cute as hell to know that the question must have sounded cuckoo to some people, infuriating to others.. but tell me who was that question really guided toward?

 She knew that there were millions that loved him.  She wasn't out of the know. Why exert such strong negative words into a question.

I tried to watch that interview but just watching the beginning of it makes me furious!! Everyone's entitled to their own opnion of course but Diane is supposed to be a journalist but instead she's acting like a plain bully. That might sound silly because Michael has so many people that love him and all but what she was doing was pure evil  :x . I don't understand what point she was trying to make in that interview, it definitely seems like she has something personal against Michael. Why would a grown supposedly well educated woman behave like that? I would have been ashamed of myself if I did that.

I don't believe in violence at all but many times I just want to punch that b**ch in the face, her behaviour is unacceptable!
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: paula-c on February 26, 2010, 12:26:17 PM
this1crazygirl, nobody should look at this program is the best we can do :evil:
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: Kuki on February 26, 2010, 12:34:04 PM
Thank you for posting this Souza! Again, it hit me like a bomb....
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: Aintnosunshine on February 26, 2010, 12:34:21 PM
Excellent article, thanks for posting it, Souza  ;)  :)

I guess that was exactly what a whole lot of people - like myself - drove to take a deeper look at this unique man that seemed to be with us through all times ... and reflected everything (and maybe a little more) modern societies have to deal with.

My first thought on June 25th was not "what happened?" but "OMG, what have we done?" - to him = to us. Well, what an impact ...
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: Kuki on February 26, 2010, 12:38:32 PM
Yes, indeed.......that is THE question: what the hell have we done to him?!  :(
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: paula-c on February 26, 2010, 01:25:50 PM
Kuki, the answer is easy, I think I really do not listen ... :cry:
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: bluegurl201 on February 26, 2010, 06:56:12 PM
Quote from: "i[MISS
my[KING]"]amen to that.
Yup  :D
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: hesouttamylife on February 26, 2010, 07:51:20 PM
and more importantly, what did we make him do to himself?  Live secluded, exiled away from human touch, emotion, conversation, alone and lonely.  He lost the sparkle in his eyes.  He became like a distant, deserted island.  And all he ever wanted was to give and receive love. Look at how we treated our treasure :cry:
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: loma on February 26, 2010, 08:21:05 PM
Can't.. stop.. reading!
This article is amazing.
It completely expressed some thoughts I couldn't quite put my finger on.
 :cry: Makes me ashamed of being an American.
Though, all in all, I think Michael lived/is living a life that nobody could ever repeat.
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: PinkTopaz on February 26, 2010, 09:08:11 PM
Quote from: "loma"
Can't.. stop.. reading!
This article is amazing.
It completely expressed some thoughts I couldn't quite put my finger on.
 :cry: Makes me ashamed of being an American.
Though, all in all, I think Michael lived/is living a life that nobody could ever repeat.
Don't be ashamed, Loma, because WE are America, not those small clusters of greedy individuals that try to run the show. This nation has done a lot of things that no other ever dreamed was possible, yes we are whack in plenty of ways, but we're still a great nation, and that is thanks to US the PEOPLE! If it weren't for our nation, Michael wouldn't even be here right now! We can't let the "elite" rule the way we think about everything, we are the people, the true CITIZENS of the United States of America and we need to think for ourselves and be proud of US!
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: loma on February 26, 2010, 11:52:20 PM
Quote from: "PinkTopaz"
Don't be ashamed, Loma, because WE are America, not those small clusters of greedy individuals that try to run the show. This nation has done a lot of things that no other ever dreamed was possible, yes we are whack in plenty of ways, but we're still a great nation, and that is thanks to US the PEOPLE! If it weren't for our nation, Michael wouldn't even be here right now! We can't let the "elite" rule the way we think about everything, we are the people, the true CITIZENS of the United States of America and we need to think for ourselves and be proud of US!
:|  :) You're right.
Thanks.
Quote from: "hesouttamylife"
and more importantly, what did we make him do to himself?  Live secluded, exiled away from human touch, emotion, conversation, alone and lonely.  He lost the sparkle in his eyes.  He became like a distant, deserted island.  And all he ever wanted was to give and receive love. Look at how we treated our treasure :cry:
I noticed that too.  :(
But I also can't imagine how Michael, so beautiful, could find a woman to understand him.
Most of the women he tried to befriend, child stars, weren't good enough.
Sometimes I wish he'd found that woman. Sure, us fans would have been extremely jealous ( :oops: )
but we can't be that selfish. He received an overwhelming amount of love from us, his fans.
It's not the same kind of love. And I don't wanna say it, but I have to.
It was probably our fault.
But with the pain we caused him (ex. the airport "little michael" incident), we made him a different man.
A stronger, but troubled one. He says he wouldn't change anything in his life, but I'm sure deep down, we probably scarred him. It makes me feel terrible.
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: PinkTopaz on February 27, 2010, 01:18:56 AM
Quote from: "loma"
Quote from: "PinkTopaz"
Don't be ashamed, Loma, because WE are America, not those small clusters of greedy individuals that try to run the show. This nation has done a lot of things that no other ever dreamed was possible, yes we are whack in plenty of ways, but we're still a great nation, and that is thanks to US the PEOPLE! If it weren't for our nation, Michael wouldn't even be here right now! We can't let the "elite" rule the way we think about everything, we are the people, the true CITIZENS of the United States of America and we need to think for ourselves and be proud of US!
:|  :) You're right.
Thanks.
Quote from: "hesouttamylife"
and more importantly, what did we make him do to himself?  Live secluded, exiled away from human touch, emotion, conversation, alone and lonely.  He lost the sparkle in his eyes.  He became like a distant, deserted island.  And all he ever wanted was to give and receive love. Look at how we treated our treasure :cry:
I noticed that too.  :(
But I also can't imagine how Michael, so beautiful, could find a woman to understand him.
Most of the women he tried to befriend, child stars, weren't good enough.
Sometimes I wish he'd found that woman. Sure, us fans would have been extremely jealous ( :oops: )
but we can't be that selfish. He received an overwhelming amount of love from us, his fans.
It's not the same kind of love. And I don't wanna say it, but I have to.
It was probably our fault.
But with the pain we caused him (ex. the airport "little michael" incident), we made him a different man.
A stronger, but troubled one. He says he wouldn't change anything in his life, but I'm sure deep down, we probably scarred him. It makes me feel terrible.
But fans cannot determine how someone else lives their life.. Ultimately, YOU are responsible for your own life, no one else..I agree though that there were many,  many selfish, stupid fans that behaved like baboons in the past.. However, don't all celebrities live secluded like that? And how do we know he hasn't had many good relationships in secrecy? I think that sometimes his life is dramatized greatly, not that I'm trying to minimize his sufferings, as I know he's had them..
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: loma on February 27, 2010, 01:46:23 AM
True.  :)
Eff the haters.
I'm just hoping he found that right person.
Yeah, I get that his life was greatly dramatized, as the tabloids might have wanted us to think.
I understand this story of his "Slow Murder", and I actually think that we, as an audience, controlled a huge part of his life.  :(
This really makes me hope harder that he is alive. He'd see that we really loved him, and that we're truly sorry.
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: reading_on on February 27, 2010, 10:56:42 AM
I don't know if that statement that we are all responsible for ourselves applies to Michael Jackson always.
 
   1) He had people that told him what to do all the time schedules, business affairs, music promoters doctors. They told him not to be responsible for himself. They would take care of things.

   2) If you such a star that you actually had to hide to keep from being pulled apart. Painfully apart. Do you not change your plan of actions based on the fear of pain and demise?
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: hesouttamylife on February 27, 2010, 12:11:25 PM
I don't know of any other star who lived as secluded as Micheal.  Not one.  It was extreme.  No telling what kinds of thoughts were going through Michael's head because when you have that much time alone your thoughts can consume you.  It is somewhat apparent to me that Michael was at least to some extent experiencing some paranoia.  Agreed that it could have been warranted, or it could even have been interjected by those who were around him, in his small, tight circle.  But he was afraid and in my book, a great deal of that fear came from him not having any socialization with other people.  A person with that kind of energy and no where to release it will turn it inward and it will eat them alive.  Michael Jackson needed to fly, but instead he stayed cooped up behind ornate gates, upstairs in a room in beautiful mansion that should have been filled with friends and joy and music and love and laughter but instead became his personal prison.  I HATE IT :?  It is not natural for any human being to live that reality. I don't care how much money you have, without the proper interaction with other human beings, you cannot and will not live happily ever after. Sometimes I feel Michael was being misled by people who were close to him lending to him feeling  he was being targeted and feeling trapped.
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: this1crazygirl on February 27, 2010, 01:07:57 PM
Quote from: "hesouttamylife"
I don't know of any other star who lived as secluded as Micheal.  Not one.  It was extreme.  No telling what kinds of thoughts were going through Michael's head because when you have that much time alone your thoughts can consume you.  It is somewhat apparent to me that Michael was at least to some extent experiencing some paranoia.  Agreed that it could have been warranted, or it could even have been interjected by those who were around him, in his small, tight circle.  But he was afraid and in my book, a great deal of that fear came from him not having any socialization with other people.  A person with that kind of energy and no where to release it will turn it inward and it will eat them alive.  Michael Jackson needed to fly, but instead he stayed cooped up behind ornate gates, upstairs in a room in beautiful mansion that should have been filled with friends and joy and music and love and laughter but instead became his personal prison.  I HATE IT :?  It is not natural for any human being to live that reality. I don't care how much money you have, without the proper interaction with other human beings, you cannot and will not live happily ever after. Sometimes I feel Michael was being misled by people who were close to him lending to him feeling  he was being targeted and feeling trapped.

OH MY POOR BOO!!  :(  I think MJ did have people in his circle putting him down and making him believe he couldn't do it again... I wish so bad I could've been that woman he needed  :cry:  :|  8-)
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: Aintnosunshine on February 27, 2010, 07:05:30 PM
Thank you, hesouttamylife, for you thoughtful words.  :)

These are mine as well ...
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: PinkTopaz on February 27, 2010, 08:41:24 PM
Quote from: "loma"
True.  :)
Eff the haters.
I'm just hoping he found that right person.
Yeah, I get that his life was greatly dramatized, as the tabloids might have wanted us to think.
I understand this story of his "Slow Murder", and I actually think that we, as an audience, controlled a huge part of his life.  :(
This really makes me hope harder that he is alive. He'd see that we really loved him, and that we're truly sorry.
Loma, your last line gave me an idea: http://michaeljacksonhoaxforum.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=6426
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: PinkTopaz on February 27, 2010, 09:16:30 PM
Quote from: "hesouttamylife"
I don't know of any other star who lived as secluded as Micheal.  Not one.  It was extreme.  No telling what kinds of thoughts were going through Michael's head because when you have that much time alone your thoughts can consume you.  It is somewhat apparent to me that Michael was at least to some extent experiencing some paranoia.  Agreed that it could have been warranted, or it could even have been interjected by those who were around him, in his small, tight circle.  But he was afraid and in my book, a great deal of that fear came from him not having any socialization with other people.  A person with that kind of energy and no where to release it will turn it inward and it will eat them alive.  Michael Jackson needed to fly, but instead he stayed cooped up behind ornate gates, upstairs in a room in beautiful mansion that should have been filled with friends and joy and music and love and laughter but instead became his personal prison.  I HATE IT :?  It is not natural for any human being to live that reality. I don't care how much money you have, without the proper interaction with other human beings, you cannot and will not live happily ever after. Sometimes I feel Michael was being misled by people who were close to him lending to him feeling  he was being targeted and feeling trapped.
I made the mistake of reading this thread right before bed last night, and I cried myself to sleep over it... I HATE IT too, HOML, the blood vessels under my eyes are broken from sobbing. Thankfully today, though, I loaded this video, it's so sweet and beautiful: [youtube:1499aduw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCgTEVKIxGg&feature=related[/youtube:1499aduw]

Don't these shots kind of look like what you described, HOML? I just pray all the time for him, I pray that it's better than we think..
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: sweet1 on March 03, 2010, 01:32:47 PM
Thank you Souza,
  This was an awesome read! Keep the Faith! :)
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: loma on March 03, 2010, 09:57:34 PM
@ Pink Topaz
 :lol: I love MGMT.
The video was great!
It's nice to see how normal/amazing their childhood was.
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: paula-c on March 05, 2010, 08:09:24 PM
This goes for Victor Gutierrez, that I hope you ever even think of reading these forums and for those who know who this character, "please read the blog titled" Well, Clarice the lambs have stopped screaming " .
If the moderator feels that my language is not appropriate, remove my comment.

Imagine that you can now rest easy to know that the plaintiff had "died" and the trial that lost year 1997 closes and the 2.7 million dollars should pay for losing the demand in the United States already shall not concern.
When UD said that he had in his possession a video incriminaba Michael Jackson in compromising situations and failed to prove its existence lost a trial in which the Chilean journalism affected his image, his professionalism and ethics. But UD said:

"I I I stated in bankruptcy and he was 10 years to find me money." "In June 2007 he beat the deadline and could not take me nothing"

Let time pass, presenting resources that may be legal but do not have anything ethical strategy is common in you; portrays the misery of his person and the null values, the total lack of good existence live, a vulture indecency and the immorality of an aprovechador bastard that flips accusations, without being able to test the veracity of his sayings

"Now I can negotiate the rights of my movie on my book that was pending"
"and of course I are calling programs around the world to make sell them information and even photos that I have of when a child"

Business continue to Mr. Gutiérrez; morality, continue to receive money at the expense of others, follow lucrando with the outside, misfortune with death.

"I am not gay, my partner is gay"
(Victor Gutierrez, review the journalist, March 31, 2003)
For my UD is a despicable person since his badly lived acknowledged homosexuality sees sexual deviancy aquarium fish and seeking fame and money of the worst forms; far from morality and professional ethics, committing murders of image, and that when the boxes you have adverse becomes faggot in the most literal definitions.
Being gay is a respectable and own determination and I have absolutely nothing against it, but be a faggot shit as UD I condemn it openly and consider it a bad born that floods the society of evil and falsehood, hypocrisy and dishonesty.
You never trascenderá as a journalist by remoteness with ethics, decency and values.



And to you Michael Jackson... thank you for existing
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: LOVEYOUMORE on March 26, 2010, 01:53:51 AM
Quote from: "~Souza~"


By Polar Levine | musicdish.com | 2004-01-06

Fear and the Sexiness of the Undead

John Ashcroft’s thirst for capital punishment aside, America’s thirst for death as catharsis and entertainment still hasn’t gotten around to FOX’s inserting live executions into its reality TV lineup. For the moment we’ll have to be satisfied with the much slower Jacko hunt. I believe the media is chasing a very unbalanced and vulnerable man to suicide to be followed by a year-long explosion of Michael Jackson tributes, posthumous music releases, bioPix, merchandise and — when all has been said and sold — soul-searching questions about our own culpability in our victim’s demise. I’ll be amazed if Jackson reaches his fiftieth birthday.

I’d say, “go get him” if I were aware of any serious evidence of child molestation. As a dad of a young kid, I take a hard stand on pedophilia. But as far as I’m concerned a 45-year-old man sleeping in the same bed with a child, adult or any other mammal is not the same as having sex. Like having a Bud is not the same as being an alcoholic. Like being a Muslim is not the same as being a terrorist. No specific evidence of sex with children has been publicly disclosed. For that matter, I’m not sure Michael Jackson has a history of sex with any human, animal or vegetable. His true crime is being weird. More specifically, his true crime is being weird in precisely the same way that our pop culture is weird — but he’s a few years ahead of the curve.

Alleged pedophilia aside, let’s look at his weird activity. His obsession with his looks coupled with his surgical alterations reflect the same obsessions and alterations found in much of our mainstream youth-worshipping society. Compulsive shopping sprees reflect America’s extreme style of consumerism where buying unnecessary stuff is a mode of entertainment and shopping ourselves into debt has become not just a mundane activity, but our patriotic duty. His over-the-top new age Hallmark rhetoric reflects our own taste for draping doilies in the form of kitsch and sentimentality over our anxiety and terror.

Michael Jackson has lived an extreme life and he acts out his culturally-derived fears and anxieties in an extreme version of the way millions of Americans act out. We’re living in a hothouse of media-projected fear. The entertainment/infotainment industry derives much of its cash flow from the violence it amuses us with in movies, video games, tv dramas and the news. The nightly perpwalk has been a staple of local news broadcasts for decades and the droning headlines and newsmag features on serial killers, pedophiles, terrorists, muggers, scam artists, epidemics and countless possibilities for injuries are as regular as cornflakes. Michael Moore’s ‘Bowling For Columbine’ brings this fear factor chillingly to light.

No study seems to conclusively link this steady diet of violence to a violent society, so it’s hard for people to consciously attempt a movement to put on the brakes. I believe we’ve been focusing all these studies on the wrong question. People may not be more likely to kill as a result of this diet of non-stop media violence but it certainly leads to a pervasive culture of free-floating fear.

This unconscious blanket of fear gets played out in a variety of ways, often in rituals adopted by different subcultures. When fear is free-floating, as opposed to based on a specific real threat, we feel compelled to detach from life to some degree to ease the pressure. Drugs are the most obvious escape. But there are other equally destructive roads out of reality. Entertainment binging is epidemic: watching tv, playing computer and video games, recreational shopping. The comforting certainty of fundamentalism — theological, political or philosophical — has a powerful attraction. The cult of beauty and sexiness, like money, is the requisite currency of happiness. It attracts love, riches and the eternal happy ending. The hipster set has discovered the reality-buffering qualities of extreme irony as though wrapping our fears in graphic dark humor punctuated by a blasé “whatever” will say “BOO!!” and make all those scary issues of mortality, non prettiness and decrepitude flee from consciousness. Every day we receive information and instructions from prerecorded voices — the chit chat of the “undead.”

Our fear and loathing of Michael Jackson is the fear and loathing of our own attraction to the road he’s taken. We’re predisposed by instinct to recoil at the recognition of our own death trip. Jackson is being crucified for the sins of our cult of artifice and detachment.

Michael Jackson has been living in public since he was ten. He’s the prototype for ‘The Truman Show.’ Imagine going through puberty and adolescence in front of a fleet of cameras. The world gets to see, hear and comment on our sexual awakening and cluelessness, on our bodies going bonkers: zits, voice changing (a singer’s voice), too fat, too skinny, nose too big, not nice enough, not down enough, too politically conscious for Young America, too soft for the streets, too black, too white. Too much responsibility. Not enough fun.

The Jackson 5 hit the charts during the chaos of the anti-war movement and the militant phase of the civil rights movement. Michael was too young and too driven by the commercial demands of his family and his mentor/employer Berry Gordy to tap into the political/philosophical side of youth culture — a rare sliver of time when young people had goals deeper than fun and status. His major breakthrough occurred in the 80’s as a solo artist during the Reagan era when our lingering humiliation over Watergate and America’s first military defeat sought relief in nostalgia for the certainties of the 50’s. Coupled with the birth of MTV, materialism replaced social consciousness as the reigning aesthetic of youth culture. Artiface and acquisition, vogueing and coke, polyester motorcycle jackets and business suits. Fashion models became superstars just because they were pretty, corporate CEOs because they were rich, and Robin Leach because he publicly swooned over the rich and pretty for our amusement. Jackson was the most famous rich pretty person on earth.

The pressure to stay young and pretty, coupled with the onset of his alleged skin condition (vitiligo, which causes irregularly shaped white blotches on the skin), must have put this hopelessly exposed and fragile man-child into an ongoing dull roar of panic. The extreme nature of his fame, visibility and the pressure to maintain the winning formula in a formula-bound youth culture must have been crushing to a person who had known nothing but pop music success.

The call to surgically derived youth had been answered long before Michael Jackson got to it. But Jackson, unlike his nipped and tucked predecessors, was introduced to the scalpel at a time when the technology of virtual youth offered transformative potential that would have given Mary Shelly the creeps. And few humans of any age had Michael Jackson’s enormous wealth with which to indulge surgery to such monstrous ends. Only in horror stories of the “undead” were these transformations previously contemplated: ‘Frankenstein,’ ‘The Island Of Dr. Moreau’ and zombie flicks like ‘Dawn of The Dead.’

The enormity of his talents has only been surpassed by the depths of his preventive isolation. His pathological drive to stay young for his adolescent market and his lack of intellectual curiosity and maturity precluded evolving into a “mature” artist like Al Green, Sting, Mick Jagger and Robert Plant, whose records are no longer guaranteed to sell multi-platinum but allow for longterm creative careers. The audience that grew up with Michael Jackson would certainly forgive him for aging along with them. He could have let the teeny boppers serve the teeny boppers. Instead he chose the reality-defying strategy of being a teenager for life. Steven Tyler proved that a popstar could remain a teenager in the head for life. Committing one’s body to this goal is a hard wall to bang and Jackson is a banged up old guy for trying.

Fear is a soul-twisting thing; but no fear is as distorting as a generalized fear of reality. The cult of fear and its antidote — artifice — leads to a dead end. Artiface is a facsimile of life — the aesthetic of the “undead.” Death metal, fashion models posed and lit to look starved and devoid of consciousness, serial face-lifting that renders a person’s face a cadaverous mask, the Tarrantino fetish of graphic violence as comedy.

I have no aesthetic or principled objection with a bit of nip and tuck and bucket of hair paint. But taken too far, the effect becomes self-defeating. A person who’s had a dozen face lifts looks more dead than vital. A face that’s been marinated in Botox looks more like a wax museum replica of a young person than a living one. The fact that we identify these deathly faces with youth and sexiness rather then sickness says much about our growing confusion over reality and artiface. The eroticism of deadness is everywhere. The punk era popularized the black lipstick and mascara look of a cadaver. A woman’s face with so much makeup as to obscure emotional expressiveness is generally associated with sexiness as is the dissipated manequin-chic that typifies so much fashion modeling. The exquisiteness of design and the fact that much of this aesthetic has a nudge-nudge-wink-wink aspect doesn’t lighten its weight in the overall cultural lexicon, particularly as it filters down to younger generations who are unaware of the original ironic allusions.

If all of us could afford the excesses of Michael Jackson, how abnormal would he then be? Could I go that far and not know it? That’s the scary question we ask ourselves when we rubberneck our tv every time he appears. It’s our own cult of necrophilia that causes the air to vibrate when we see that face and hear that voice recite the Peter Pan platitudes in a woozy soprano. We’re terrified but can’t look away. His music is now merely an asterisk on his resuméé. Removing him is the only way out of our discomforting addiction to sensational coverage his ever-evolving creepiness. And pedophilia is the silver bullet.

Last year I watched the BBC documentary on Jackson. It was a truly repellant experience. The only thing more horrifying was the parade of coverage and commentary that revealed a bizarre giddiness in its malice. Whom did he murder? Whose life savings did he scam? Whose job did he outsource?

Why are so many people so sure he’s a pedophile despite the absence of any reported clear evidence? Would we so readily believe Oprah or Derek Jeter to be guilty of pedophilia? We believe what we’re comfortable believing. And we want to believe Michael Jackson is guilty. We want to believe that it’s impossible for an adult to lie in bed with a child or adolescent without any sexual activity or motivations.

Is it possible that a young kid with cancer who’s been told by the medical authorities that he’ll soon die has moments of sheer terror? That he’s had his youth stolen from him and is alone in the world while other people float outside in a festival of normalcy? Could he have wanted his sympathetic famous benefactor to lie next to him and maybe even rock him to sleep? Is it possible that Michael Jackson knows exactly who this kid is and wants to give him some peace?

I have no way of knowing what Jackson did or didn’t do. I do know that our slow collective public murder of this man is one of the ugliest non-military media spectacles I’ve ever witnessed. If we’re not ashamed, then we truly are the undead.

Source: http://www.mjfiles.com/death/fear-slow- ... l-jackson/ (http://www.mjfiles.com/death/fear-slow-murder-michael-jackson/)
http://www.charles-thomson.net/ (http://www.charles-thomson.net/)
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: Aintnosunshine on March 26, 2010, 10:29:56 AM
Good article.
Title: Re: FEAR - The Slow Murder of Michael Jackson
Post by: happythoughts on October 05, 2010, 09:05:31 PM
I love this article. I've always thought the media was holding open fire on Michael. I grew up right in the midst of the allegations (I'm 14), and I would really be upset to hear people talking so harshly about him. It hurt to hear my idol being being so mercilessly scruntinized. I am glad some people were smart enough to see through the media's lies.
SimplePortal 2.3.6 © 2008-2014, SimplePortal