Micheal Jackson is not Jesus

I’m very confused by the Michael Jackson trial and his supporters, so I’ve chosen that as my final thought for the day. I’m not touching his guilt or innocence. I am going to comment on some things I’ve observed that frighten me, though.

First of all, Michael Jackson isn’t Jesus. Being a Christian, I’m confident saying this. I think his fans should stop treating him as such. I read in the news the other day that the mother of the current accuser claims Michael Jackson wanted her to say “Michael Jackson healed my son’s cancer” in his rebuttal video to the David Beshears documentary. That bothers me immensely.

Secondly, I applaud his charitable work and donations. There’s a difference between giving money and inviting the children of the world to sleep in your bed, though. Even if nothing ever happened, it’s not normal or, in my opinion acceptable.

Thirdly, enough about the missing childhood. He goes on and on about how he didn’t have a childhood. Get some therapy and get over it. Seriously. Work through it. Yeah, it’s sad and unfortunate. That’s a component of being human. There’s stuff that sucks about all of our lives.

Fourthly, how can you write music that people relate to if you are so far out of the realm of normality that you can’t relate to other people?

Fifthly, what is up with the demonic stuff? Yeah, Thriller was pretty cool. Tongue in cheek, goofy, self-mocking to a degree. And everyone who grew up when I did can do at least one or two moves from the video’s dancing. But the short film “Ghosts” is an entirely different matter. First of all, it retreads the tired ground of “quite calling me a freak and leave me alone.” But secondly, it paints a very disturbing picture of a demonic creature that loves children and abhors adults, especially responsible adults. The odd thing about this “short film” is that the kids aren’t afraid of Michael Jackson’s character (named “Maestro”…how full of shit is that?) but the adults are afraid of him. And, based on what is seen, the adults have the appropriate response! Shit, Michael Jackson actually POSSESSES another character in the short film. I’m sorry, but that’s not something to fuck around with.

And the discord between who Michael wants to be for the children and who Michael wants to be for the adults is pretty clear and obvious and frightening. If you market yourself as a child-friendly entertainer and then make music and videos about sexuality and demonic interests, you’re at odds with yourself.

Lastly, what’s up with the whole black and white thing? First he’s black and makes soul-influenced music (which I love, by the way). Now he’s white and makes very bland “pop” music. I enjoy some pop music, but not his. Then he writes a song called Black and White. Actually Mr. Jackson, it does matter if you’re black or white. It matters because it’s intrinsically tied into your self-identity. And no, self-identity and image are NOT the same things.

None of this makes him guilty of molesting a child. It isn’t up to me to decide his guilt or innocence on that matter. And for the record, I am a big fan of his music up through Thriller. Even a couple of tracks on Dangerous were good, though I thought it was a very bloated album. I’m not totally against anything that has to do with Michael Jackson.

But you have to pay attention to the facts, the reality of who he is now and what he’s doing. I contend that he is “Dangerous” (like one of his albums is entitled), but in the context that he’s a man who hasn’t addressed some long-standing issues in his life, has created a world that is not healthy or appropriate for a middle-aged man, is confused about his identity, and is drawn to the innocence and purity of children in what many see as an unhealthy way.

It all makes me very sad for Mr. Jackson. He’s not living life, he’s living in a self-constructed “Truman Show” world. Life could be so much more than it currently is for him.