Comments on: The Complicated Legacy of Michael Jackson

By: jeniferinjapan

jeniferinjapan — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 06:18:03 +0000

This is a video I found on YouTube about Michael Jackson`s vitiligo. It`s very sad. He said it on Oprah. No one believed him. I don`t blame him if he didn`t want to show everybody, that`s his personal business, but how very sad. I feel bad that I didn`t believe him. Just goes to show that there are things going on in people`s lives beyond what we see. Whether people are walking around with physical scars, or mental scars, or emotional scars, we might never know. Maybe it`s best just to assume that we don`t know the whole story and stop with the snap judgements. Or maybe with the judgements at all. Seeing this video made me realize that we just can`t know what people are dealing with, so it`s best to have some compassion.

By: jenpeltak

jenpeltak — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:06 +0000

Great post, Jonah. Abusive parents seem to be a dime a dozen in the entertainment business (just ask Brian Wilson), but Joe Jackson has to be one of the worst. Oh, I saw a great MJ video at the gym this morning that features Michael Jordan. They “play” basketball and of course Michael (Jackson) makes a three-pointer from basically one end of the court to the other. And then he teaches Michael Jordan how to dance like him. That’s showbiz!

By: My Morning in Exile

My Morning in Exile — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:52:02 +0000

[...] it represented mission creep even for me; and (b) it wasn’t coming together all that well. Jonah has a good one up if you’re curious. I’ll just say this: Michael Jackson and his handlers probably spent most of the past decade [...]

By: bohica99

bohica99 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:46:45 +0000

Excellent point. Not all victims will become abusers, just as not all children of addicts will become addicted. It definitely increases the risk factor, though.

By: bohica99

bohica99 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:44:10 +0000

Well done JK. So much of the coverage and commentary skips over the abuse Joe heaped on ALL of his children. The blogosphere is either entirely focused on the negatives, or ignores them completely.

Bottom line is that Jacko was a very complicated human being. And chances are, none of us will ever truly understand what made him tick.

By: thasportschick

thasportschick — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:41:47 +0000

Yes, Angele, thank you for your expertise on the subject. I remember learning about children that were in an abusive family, and the psychological aspects of it. As you said, most kids that are abused do not grow up to follow in the same footsteps. The subject is misunderstood, and people are far too often ready to judge.

Jonah, you are right, she IS the brains

By: Jonah

Jonah — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:37:05 +0000

Amber – Thanks. Angele was the driving force behind that post, though. Let there never be any doubt that she is the brains in this household.

T.J. – What she said.

Dr. Fauchier – MJ’s far more interesting.

By: Angèle

Angèle — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:33:03 +0000

@enderandrew He was brought up on criminal charges in 2005, and acquitted on all counts.

The majority of abused children grow up never to abuse anyone. The cycle of violence is something I have researched quite a bit, including interviews with hundreds of parents about why they may be doing things differently from their parents, and I can tell you that not everyone has the same capacity to make their own decisions as you do. Some people certainly are capable of making decisions but make the wrong ones, but it’s easy for those of us with unimpaired cognitive functioning, reasonable coping skills, the capacity to learn from mistakes, emotion regulation abilities, impulse control, et al., to misjudge and misunderstand those who are lacking in those ways (such deficits often being a direct result of abuse, particularly physical abuse leading to head injury in the frontal lobe).

I am by no means an apologist for those who hurt anyone, much less helpless children, but you should know that some of us have freer free will than others.

Sorry, I’m in the middle of an intensive child development institute this week — I don’t normally talk quite so much like a psychologist.

@Jonah In your face, discussion of run differential!

By: enderandrew

enderandrew — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:48:22 +0000

With any kind of abuse, there is often a legacy where abusers were often victims themselves at some point.

Should we forgive the abuser and offer them empathy because they were too a victim at one point? I say only to a small extent. As children we are shaped by a number of outside factors, but as adults we have the opportunity to make our own decisions and reinvent ourselves apart from early influences.

It is arguably more important to call out abuse and stop it because of the legacy factor. Those that are allowed to get away with abuse could in theory by adding to future generations of abuse.

If there was substantial evidence that he molested children as the media led us to believe (such as a child providing clear testimony to describing Michael’s genitals in detail) then why wasn’t he brought up on criminal charges? Why did no one insist that Michael seek psychological treatment?

Celebrities should not be so detached from the rest of society that they can not function in society.

By: thasportschick

thasportschick — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:42:11 +0000

well said, sir. It is a sad life story that began from birth with a difficult and abusive father and childhood, and ended tragically, as it did today.

good piece.