Has your mind changed about MJ?
I also listened to Sheila Jackson Leigh (the representative) talk about all the charity work that he had done and the fact that a person is innocent until they are proven guilty.
Was the fact that he changed his appearance with all that plastic surgery and lived such a bizarre lifestyle what made us all so quick to judge him? Aren't we all odd in our own ways? The only difference is that he was in the limelight and so therefore the target of persecution.
Is one persons death any more significant than another? Was his mental anguish less tragic than Farrah Faucett contracting a disease? Did he suffer less?
I am sure Farrah wouldn't have minded getting some of that Deprovan (if that is even true). But nonetheless...my mind has changed. I do not think her death was any more or less tragic than his. What has cancer taught us? Shouldn't it have taught us to be more tolerant at least?
Food for thought,
Susan H.
Comments
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Yes
Thank you for starting this post, Susan. I agree 100% with you. It was very irritating to hear people talking fodder about what a pathetic waste of human being MJ was when being human was all he was. Whether or not he did bad things in his life, he was a human being who suffered much the same as any one of us. Maybe even more. Who are we to judge him, or anyone else for that matter? Jumping to conclusions about the controversy MJ sparked was at every conversation i heard about MJ. I'm not making light of the seriousness of those accusations, but he was found innocent. I can go on and on about that, but i won't!
I was upset at first that MJ's death would overshadow Farrah's, and it did. But i saw plenty of shows dedicated to her memory as well. Unfortunately her cause may be lost for a while, but i think it will pop up again. Hopefully without any of her controversy popping up! I often wonder if MJ had died of cancer would any of his controversy be mentioned anywhere, or as fervently? I think that would've been considered "tasteless". As it is, MJ is personally blamed for his early demise as if he deserved it. Shameful. Do we deserve cancer because we eat meat, smoke cigarettes, or do any one of the thousands of things that contribute to the causes of cancer?? Of course not. Well, that's my opinion anyway.
Many hugs,
Krista0 -
Nope....
As long as he dominates the news, we aren't covering important things, like the death of our young men in Afghanistan. I think it's a shame they are treating him better than a President or a Soldier fighting for our freedom. Pedophile or not, top musician be dammed, it is wrong.
Vicki0 -
Too Much Hype
I feel sorry that MJ died and I thought he was a most wonderful entertainer, but what got me is that up until this point, no one cared about MJ, never talked about him except in the negative, didn't honor him at Hitsville USA (I live near Detroit so I've been by there - believe me no one was ever there) and now because he died they are coming out of the woodwork like he was their best friend. I saw people crying on television here on the local channels and I couldn't believe it. I'm sorry, but the media hype and people's reactions to idolize him was blown out of proportion. I'm glad he had helped so many people but no one should ever be put on a pedestal. Don't get me wrong, I probably bought every one of his albums when I was younger and believe he is a once in a lifetime entertainer, but when he started grabbing his (you know what) at every concert he did, I changed my mind about him. My 2 cents.
Kim0 -
I think if he would have hadAnnabelle41415 said:Too Much Hype
I feel sorry that MJ died and I thought he was a most wonderful entertainer, but what got me is that up until this point, no one cared about MJ, never talked about him except in the negative, didn't honor him at Hitsville USA (I live near Detroit so I've been by there - believe me no one was ever there) and now because he died they are coming out of the woodwork like he was their best friend. I saw people crying on television here on the local channels and I couldn't believe it. I'm sorry, but the media hype and people's reactions to idolize him was blown out of proportion. I'm glad he had helped so many people but no one should ever be put on a pedestal. Don't get me wrong, I probably bought every one of his albums when I was younger and believe he is a once in a lifetime entertainer, but when he started grabbing his (you know what) at every concert he did, I changed my mind about him. My 2 cents.
Kim
I think if he would have had a chance to do his "comeback tour" he would have recaptured the limelight. It is a shame that never came to pass. Maybe the reaction to his death was/is overblown. I don't know if people didn't care about him before, it is just that he wasn't "doing anything" musically, or scandalously, so the media sort of forgot about him...0 -
I don't know...VickiCO said:Nope....
As long as he dominates the news, we aren't covering important things, like the death of our young men in Afghanistan. I think it's a shame they are treating him better than a President or a Soldier fighting for our freedom. Pedophile or not, top musician be dammed, it is wrong.
Vicki
I hate to say it, but we weren't focused on "important things" before this anyway....sad but true. I guess what I am wondering is, does anyone else feel any less judgemental after having been through this "cancer experience"? I feel like I am, but maybe it took several years to reach this point. All of a sudden, watching that memorial service, I thought to myself, life is too short and maybe by judging people for superficial reasons, or reasons that we do not understand (accusations against him, maybe for $$), aren't we short changing ourselves and maybe missing out on something good? It sort of reminded me of the story of all the people walking past the violinist in the subway.
All of a sudden I no longer cared if they spend 2 weeks talking about Michael Jackson. What is 2 weeks out of our entire lives anyway.
-Susan H.0 -
He's always been important in my communityshmurciakova said:I think if he would have had
I think if he would have had a chance to do his "comeback tour" he would have recaptured the limelight. It is a shame that never came to pass. Maybe the reaction to his death was/is overblown. I don't know if people didn't care about him before, it is just that he wasn't "doing anything" musically, or scandalously, so the media sort of forgot about him...
As a young girl, MJ & his brothers were everything in my community! We tried every new dance, sang off key to every new song, and totally idolized him. Only later did I come to understand what a tortured soul & life he had. Believe me when I tell you that he was not forgotten by a lot of people, it's just that people like me or you aren't important and we don't have a way to get out and say we miss you Michael, we want to hear new music. Also, keep in mind that a lot of media reports are biased and based on the personal beliefs of the people reporting the so called news. Sheila Jackson-Lee made a great point when she stated that we live in a country of laws. MJ was found not guilty. MJ paid millions to try to stop the madness. Him doing so is neither new or unusual. It happens all the time. If we are to believe everything that people have accused him of, then we have to also believe that those folks that have defended his honor (His Mom, Brooke Shield, Elizabeth Taylor, Whoopie Goldberg)are lying or are out of touch with reality, and we, those folks who have never met him or seen him really know what's going on. I also believe that when we are close to a type of behavior, or have experienced a type of behavior (pedofilia)sp, I believe we are more apt to believe it's going on. Now, having said that, maybe he did do the things he's been accused of. I don't know, and neither do any of us here, what I do know is that that man did a lot of good in this world. He gave money to help people around the world, usually with little fanfare, and just do not believe he could be as bad as some people want to think. As far as his appearance, I truly believe that the abuse that he received from his father caused him to want to eradicate any inkling of similarity to his father. Abuse people. Haven't we all seen what it can do to a child? I'll stop now, but leave you with this - "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you (Matthew 7-1). Carolyn0 -
It has changed slightly...
The main thing that changed for me was seeing the quote that his father made that was in the current issue of TIME.
'I want to make this statement. This is a real good statement here: Marshall and I--we own a record company.'
JOE JACKSON, plugging his new business venture during an interview about the death of his son, pop icon Michael Jackson.
I felt bad for him. No wonder the kid was messed up. I also think that his father had him castrated so his voice would stay high and the money would keep rolling in. Why wasn't his sperm used for his own children?
While I understand he was a performer who died earlier than he should have, I feel that John Lennon, who also died too young and did get attention but not this much and his death was under much different circumstances, did more to help the "world" as an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War and a spokesperson for Peace than Michael Jackson did. I'm sure he was involved in many charities but publicly he seemed to only promote himself more than any cause. I have not heard of one charity he was involved with. I did hear that he had in his will who he wanted to play his mother in any film made about his after he died. To me, it was all about him all the time. Liz Taylor gave him the nickname the King of Pop. Idi Amin declared himself the uncrowned King of Scotland.
The whole thing with the allegations of child abuse raises questions too. Yes, they were accusations but weren't all of the cases settled out of court with a lot of money involved? His own statements about seeing nothing wrong about sharing his bed with children is wrong. We are not talking about having one's own child slip into bed on a Sunday morning and getting between them and their spouse, these are other people's kids and who knows what motivates them. I think they were possibly star struck or maybe the knew the risk and thought they could capitalize on their own kids. Yet another sickening thought.
I agree that no one person's death (or life) is any more important than any others but, the way people "go out" so to speak I feel does make a difference. Yes, he was a tortured soul fighting many demons. Some were thrust upon him by the vultures of society who saw him as their meal ticket, and others were of his own creation. The surgery, ???? is all I can say. I really don't get it why anyone does it. I think women age beautifully and if men want muscles they should work out, not get calf implants. We are supposed to age.
I feel that Michael had the chance to make the right choices that could have saved his life, he had people like Deepak Chopra, Uri Geller and others who pleaded with him to get help and get off the drugs yet Michael chose to not do that and to continue his path to self destruction. He had money and he could get some doctor to get him his drugs. It's similar to Elvis in that regard.
Farrah, on the other hand, while her star didn't shine as long as Michaels did, I felt her death was much more important to ME as a human being. She tried to inform people about cancer. Being a person who is living with cancer, I am much less tolerant of someone who takes their own life and am more sympathetic to someone who dies from cancer.
So, I do think her death was less tragic than his. What has cancer taught me?
Life is precious, don't waste it and if I can get one person to get that colonoscopy that will catch their cancer early so they won't have to go through what I went through, then I feel I've done a good something helpful. There will be no TV coverage of me however. I have not watched any coverage of it at all today, I am on a TV and internet blackout. I am really kind of disappointed in humanity (again) but that's my problem and my thoughts on this.
Susan, I DO appreciate your post. It took a lot of courage to make it under the circumstances with all of the comments that have not been favorable to Michael Jackson.
Respectfully yours
-phil0 -
Another thoughtPhillieG said:It has changed slightly...
The main thing that changed for me was seeing the quote that his father made that was in the current issue of TIME.
'I want to make this statement. This is a real good statement here: Marshall and I--we own a record company.'
JOE JACKSON, plugging his new business venture during an interview about the death of his son, pop icon Michael Jackson.
I felt bad for him. No wonder the kid was messed up. I also think that his father had him castrated so his voice would stay high and the money would keep rolling in. Why wasn't his sperm used for his own children?
While I understand he was a performer who died earlier than he should have, I feel that John Lennon, who also died too young and did get attention but not this much and his death was under much different circumstances, did more to help the "world" as an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War and a spokesperson for Peace than Michael Jackson did. I'm sure he was involved in many charities but publicly he seemed to only promote himself more than any cause. I have not heard of one charity he was involved with. I did hear that he had in his will who he wanted to play his mother in any film made about his after he died. To me, it was all about him all the time. Liz Taylor gave him the nickname the King of Pop. Idi Amin declared himself the uncrowned King of Scotland.
The whole thing with the allegations of child abuse raises questions too. Yes, they were accusations but weren't all of the cases settled out of court with a lot of money involved? His own statements about seeing nothing wrong about sharing his bed with children is wrong. We are not talking about having one's own child slip into bed on a Sunday morning and getting between them and their spouse, these are other people's kids and who knows what motivates them. I think they were possibly star struck or maybe the knew the risk and thought they could capitalize on their own kids. Yet another sickening thought.
I agree that no one person's death (or life) is any more important than any others but, the way people "go out" so to speak I feel does make a difference. Yes, he was a tortured soul fighting many demons. Some were thrust upon him by the vultures of society who saw him as their meal ticket, and others were of his own creation. The surgery, ???? is all I can say. I really don't get it why anyone does it. I think women age beautifully and if men want muscles they should work out, not get calf implants. We are supposed to age.
I feel that Michael had the chance to make the right choices that could have saved his life, he had people like Deepak Chopra, Uri Geller and others who pleaded with him to get help and get off the drugs yet Michael chose to not do that and to continue his path to self destruction. He had money and he could get some doctor to get him his drugs. It's similar to Elvis in that regard.
Farrah, on the other hand, while her star didn't shine as long as Michaels did, I felt her death was much more important to ME as a human being. She tried to inform people about cancer. Being a person who is living with cancer, I am much less tolerant of someone who takes their own life and am more sympathetic to someone who dies from cancer.
So, I do think her death was less tragic than his. What has cancer taught me?
Life is precious, don't waste it and if I can get one person to get that colonoscopy that will catch their cancer early so they won't have to go through what I went through, then I feel I've done a good something helpful. There will be no TV coverage of me however. I have not watched any coverage of it at all today, I am on a TV and internet blackout. I am really kind of disappointed in humanity (again) but that's my problem and my thoughts on this.
Susan, I DO appreciate your post. It took a lot of courage to make it under the circumstances with all of the comments that have not been favorable to Michael Jackson.
Respectfully yours
-phil
First: I mean no disrespect to anyone on here. So please don't get upset, but it seems odd to me that folks have posted about how terrible a person Michael Jackson was, that yes, he was a tortured soul, but most of it he brought on himself. He must have been guilty of messing with little boys, and paid his way out of every bad situation. People say that never heard about the good he did for others, the money he gave to charities. Why don't we know all of the things that made up his life? How did we find out about all the supposed bad things but not the good things? Did we listen to all the media reports in years gone by, this week, how in the world could we possibly know these things? It seems to me that we took every opportunity to listen when people said all the bad things about him, but when given an opportunity to hear the other side, to possibly gain insight about him from people who knew and loved him, we didn't want to. Isn't that how we end up judging people unfairly? By not hearing both sides of the story?
Someone told me that Farrah Fawcette contributed to her own death by having anal sex, which made her a terrible person! I was shocked! Someone also said that after the cancer spread to her liver, she could have had surgery, but instead did radiation and went out of the country to try experimental medicine in other countries. They felt that if she had stayed here and listened to drs. here she may have lived. Doesn't that piss you off? It certainly did me, but it also showed me that folks hear and believe what they want, and it's easier to form oppinions based on half information instead of trying to find out as much as possible about the person or situation.
Could that also be part of what happened to MJ? Food for thought.
Carolyn0 -
MJ was found innocent andcbcardb12 said:Another thought
First: I mean no disrespect to anyone on here. So please don't get upset, but it seems odd to me that folks have posted about how terrible a person Michael Jackson was, that yes, he was a tortured soul, but most of it he brought on himself. He must have been guilty of messing with little boys, and paid his way out of every bad situation. People say that never heard about the good he did for others, the money he gave to charities. Why don't we know all of the things that made up his life? How did we find out about all the supposed bad things but not the good things? Did we listen to all the media reports in years gone by, this week, how in the world could we possibly know these things? It seems to me that we took every opportunity to listen when people said all the bad things about him, but when given an opportunity to hear the other side, to possibly gain insight about him from people who knew and loved him, we didn't want to. Isn't that how we end up judging people unfairly? By not hearing both sides of the story?
Someone told me that Farrah Fawcette contributed to her own death by having anal sex, which made her a terrible person! I was shocked! Someone also said that after the cancer spread to her liver, she could have had surgery, but instead did radiation and went out of the country to try experimental medicine in other countries. They felt that if she had stayed here and listened to drs. here she may have lived. Doesn't that piss you off? It certainly did me, but it also showed me that folks hear and believe what they want, and it's easier to form oppinions based on half information instead of trying to find out as much as possible about the person or situation.
Could that also be part of what happened to MJ? Food for thought.
Carolyn
MJ was found innocent and the trial took its toll on his body and his livelihood. I have no idea if he actually did what he was accused of. My opinion is that he was odd and had inappropriate boundries with children which led to the allegations. I think he was a child himself.
Eric (:.)0 -
The Justice System?eric38 said:MJ was found innocent and
MJ was found innocent and the trial took its toll on his body and his livelihood. I have no idea if he actually did what he was accused of. My opinion is that he was odd and had inappropriate boundries with children which led to the allegations. I think he was a child himself.
Eric (:.)
OJ was found innocent. White collar criminals and politicians are found innocent all the time while too often innocent people with no money to afford the good lawyers are sitting in prisons. I'm sorry, but I have little faith the justice system. It is too bad he died like he did. I still think he was a victim of his father's abuses as a child which most likely lead to his odd behavior. I also don't agree with his own statements about boundaries with children. I believe this, like the OJ Simpson trial, is divided along race and cultural lines. I do not know anyone in my world of work, friends and neighbors who can even comprehend in the least all of the attention that this is receiving.
The whole story is nowhere near finished IMO.0 -
ODD YESPhillieG said:The Justice System?
OJ was found innocent. White collar criminals and politicians are found innocent all the time while too often innocent people with no money to afford the good lawyers are sitting in prisons. I'm sorry, but I have little faith the justice system. It is too bad he died like he did. I still think he was a victim of his father's abuses as a child which most likely lead to his odd behavior. I also don't agree with his own statements about boundaries with children. I believe this, like the OJ Simpson trial, is divided along race and cultural lines. I do not know anyone in my world of work, friends and neighbors who can even comprehend in the least all of the attention that this is receiving.
The whole story is nowhere near finished IMO.
But just go and sit and watch people at walmart, talk about ODD, he just happened to have his life displayed before everyone. There are alot weirder people out there....
Beth0 -
calf implants and anal sex???dorookie said:ODD YES
But just go and sit and watch people at walmart, talk about ODD, he just happened to have his life displayed before everyone. There are alot weirder people out there....
Beth
ok - these are two I have never heard of - men get calf implants????
and, I guess I haven't heard the one about farrah having anal sex, which helped cause her rectal cancer???
I did watch parts of the Final Farewell for MJ. All in all, I feel bad for the kids, it's their world now that is ultimately going to be shook up. I think MJ hid alot of the world from them, and now they are about to see a really mean part of it. I just imagine my mother arguing (currently) with my uncle over a secretary desk (which is turning ugly), and think about the fights over his estate....ugh...poor kids.0 -
That's one hell of a post titledaydreamer110761 said:calf implants and anal sex???
ok - these are two I have never heard of - men get calf implants????
and, I guess I haven't heard the one about farrah having anal sex, which helped cause her rectal cancer???
I did watch parts of the Final Farewell for MJ. All in all, I feel bad for the kids, it's their world now that is ultimately going to be shook up. I think MJ hid alot of the world from them, and now they are about to see a really mean part of it. I just imagine my mother arguing (currently) with my uncle over a secretary desk (which is turning ugly), and think about the fights over his estate....ugh...poor kids.
At least it's not "calf sex and anal implants". Yes, men get muscle implants so the look buff and tough. Calf, pectorals, you name it. Why exercise when you can put silicon in you? The anal sex thing I don't buy. She may have had it but I do not think it had anything to do with her cancer.
I feel bad for his kids too. They did live in another world, I hope they can maintain some sense of normalcy. He never had a normal childhood. He was the bread winner at an early age.0 -
but it got attention...PhillieG said:That's one hell of a post title
At least it's not "calf sex and anal implants". Yes, men get muscle implants so the look buff and tough. Calf, pectorals, you name it. Why exercise when you can put silicon in you? The anal sex thing I don't buy. She may have had it but I do not think it had anything to do with her cancer.
I feel bad for his kids too. They did live in another world, I hope they can maintain some sense of normalcy. He never had a normal childhood. He was the bread winner at an early age.
ok - yours had me laughing harder than I have in a long time. Anal implants??? lol! just never imagined guys got the leg things, have a hard enopugh time imagining other implants...0
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