Just Beat It
2/6/2003
After watching the latest documentary about Michael Jackson I have a new found understanding of his bizarre life. After hearing the answers to Brit journalist Martin Bashir’s brutally honest questions, my views of Jackson have changed considerably.
Before this interview I accepted the popular speculation that Jackson was a pedophile, but now I have a much different view. I honestly believe that he is mentally troubled. I mean this not as an insult to Jackson, but rather a seemingly obvious explanation of his abnormal behavior. To be as oblivious as Jackson is to the disturbing nature of his sleepovers with young children, one has to be mentally underdeveloped.
I am far from a psychologist, but I feel that the abuse that Jackson suffered at the hands of his father has severely altered his mental capacity to think and act as a normal adult. Obviously the word “normal” is subject to individual discretion, but Jackson takes it far beyond that level. I believe that the abuse he suffered causes him to do everything he is capable of doing to go back to the innocence of his own childhood; before the effects of his stardom and abuse. Although this may not be the popular belief, I do not believe that Jackson is capable of abusing a child. Some part of him still believes he is a child. I wonder if he thinks of sharing his bedroom with children as simply a childhood sleepover, which we have all experienced as children ourselves. Jackson quite possibly sees himself as a savior to disadvantaged children. He seems to want to protect them from the evils in the world; perhaps as he wished someone would have done for him.
Jackson admitted that he often wanted to play as a child but was physically forced to rehearse instead. His actions today reflect his desire to relive his childhood as he would have liked to originally. His wealth and seclusion from the world have enabled him to literally believe that he is a child again. His admittance that he is Peter Pan backs up this claim. No one really aspires to grow old, but few go to such extreme lengths to try to avoid it.
His obsession with his appearance also draws plenty of public scrutiny. The verbal and mental abuse from his father about his physical appearance has obviously altered his own perception of himself. Although he does not willingly admit it, the multiple plastic surgeries he has undergone has morphed his appearance drastically. Is it hard to understand why he modified his nose when his father used to tell him repeatedly that it was not attractive? It is almost an understandable progression given his turbulent and damaging childhood.
I have never really been a fan of Jackson’s music (perhaps just because of my birth date) but I find myself pitying the one time King of Pop. He may have more money and fame than I will ever have, but his past will always be there to haunt him. I only hope that the atmosphere that Jackson has created for his children does not come back to repeat the cycle. I do not believe that he would ever do this intentionally, but the very things he is trying to do to protect them may end contributing to their inability to grasp reality.
Why? Just Because!