Yesterday Tuesday 6/25 was 15 years after MJ"s death, and some look-backs are being released in the media.
I thought this one summed up much of the contradictions in the way people view Michael Jackson and his career – and honestly, many sex offenders.
Sex offenders can have life accomplishments unrelated to their offenses – and that can make it hard for those impacted positively by those accomplishments to be objective about who this person is, really.
Another way to look at it, a prominent innovator in a particular field, a generous community-oriented person that people look up to, can also be a sex offender. We probably don’t even know how many notable people have terrible secrets to hide.
MJ was one of the first black performers to be played on mainstream radio, to appear on MTV (as it was getting started), to bring his style of music and dance to Broadway in The Wiz. He redefined pop music and dance with Off The Wall (album) and Thriller. He may not have invented the Moonwalk dance step, but he debuted it to the world, superbly. At the time, few dancers could do it well.
Helped by his influence, much of the old pop-music power structure that restricted innovation was broken up. New eras of music and performance just exploded during the 80’s.
And that was just his early years.
The other thing that accompanied his many storied career first’s and doors he opened, was that from the way he presented himself to the public: He was just weird. I wonder if the weirdness was partly to distract from other things in his life that he wanted to hide.
A photo of two of the most different people on earth, imo. The icon of unconventional, and the icon of conventional.
IMO Michael Jackson spent years, a significant portion of his adult life, attempting to acquire as much control as he could exert over children, especially boys, in his preferred age range. Eventually, even growing his own children as a safer, more private and custodial route to control. IMO!
IMO, this pattern of developing child-magnet attractions to be a part of his life, then getting as many kids as he can in his orbit, is a pattern observed in a lot of child sex offenders, including the one in the thread title. MJ’s scale of attractions may be extraordinary due to his wealth, but the pattern is familiar, if you think about it.
It could be sports, horses, access to music and music production, a particular collectable, clubs and interests … anything that attracts people to gather in an atmosphere conducive to credibility and trust. The common interest, the common amusement, is a powerful people-magnet.
The 2005 trial was the beginning of the end for Michael Jackson, in spite of the not-guilty verdict. From the day the trial was over in 2005, Michael Jackson was in a sort of slow collapse, health-wise, financially, in every way, until his death 4 years later at the age of 50.
Michael Jackson never returned to Neverland Ranch after his 2005 acquittal.
I have a feeling that his legal team made it very, very clear that Neverland was over, if he wanted to stay out of prison. There used to be a crass term for underage sexual partners: ‘jail-bait’. Neverland wasn’t just child-bait for minors, it was prison-bait for Michael Jackson, after the trial.
The horse trainer in the title hasn’t seemed to figure that out about horse showing, horse camp, etc.
After the trial, Michael Jackson stayed out of the U.S., living for some time in Bahrain and then in Europe. His health had always been fragile and was worsening. After years of extravagant spending and legal expenses, as well as settling with complaining victims, he was in financial collapse. His businesses were failing, employees unpaid. Neverland was first closed, then was sold off, after months were spent selling off exotic animals and amusement rides.
In 2009 Jackson returned to the U.S. to prepare for a series of 50 concerts in London, then a world tour, intended as a financial reset. Even though his CA home at the time was near foreclosure. And even though those close to him were doubtful he was healthy enough to do even a few of the shows he was planning, not to mention the tour, tickets already sold out.
But of course, shortly before the performances were to begin, in June of 2009 Jackson died at age 50 of an overdose of drugs that are normally used as surgical anethesia, that he was using to sleep. His 3 children were about 13, 12 and 7 years old.
IMO everything about his life and lifestyle, particularly his involvement with young boys, tore down the career and the empire he built, and led him to this untimely end.
