Jacko: A Picture Of Normalacy
by Jason Whitlock


MJs singing and entertainment skills are still unmatched.
I'm tired of all the Mike Tyson-Michael Jackson comparisons. It's unfair to the King of Pop, the greatest entertainer of all time.

Yes, I'm man enough to admit that I'm a huge Michael Jackson fan. I'm tired of his name being dragged through the mud. I'm tired of having to hide my enduring admiration of Jackson and his unmatched singing and entertainment skills.

The Jackson Family used to be black royalty in my childhood. They were bigger than the Kennedys and damn near more revered than the Kings. The Jacksons were the Cosbys before Bill ever birthed Theo or married Claire.

Now the Jacksons have been turned into a punchline, fodder for late-night TV monologues and spoofs on "Saturday Night Live." Joe Jackson was an abusive father. Tito ate too much. Jermaine had no talent. Janet is a tramp. And Michael is a child-molesting, skin-bleaching, face-lift-addicted whacko who is the singing-and-dancing version of Mike Tyson.

That's what we're supposed to believe about the Jacksons. I don't buy it, except the fact that Janet is a tramp, which has a definite upside.

I quit buying all the Jackson garbage after watching Michael conduct himself masterfully in the TV interview that rebutted the slam-job documentary on his life that aired the week before. Call me a naive fool, but I believed Michael on just about every issue. I thought Jacko scored a more decisive, more impressive knockout in his rebuttal interview than Tyson did in his prove-nothing, 49-second victory over the Black Rhino.

Yes, she's a tramp, but leave Tito and Mikey alone.
I want the Jackson-Tyson comparisons to stop. Tyson has proven time after time that he poses a threat to himself and the rest of society. I don't believe Michael poses any such threat. I don't believe Michael is a child molester.

You ask: Why would Michael pay a family $20 million to not pursue criminal child-molestation charges?

I ask: Why would any parent accept money in exchange for really punishing the adult who molested his/her child?

Look, $20 million to Michael Jackson is like a thousand bucks to you or me. Michael probably has $20 million stashed in a shoe box in his closet. If someone had molested my child, there is no amount of money that could've stopped me from wanting the perpetrator to spend 10 years playing hide the soap with Simon Adebisi of "Oz." I'd have sued Jackson in civil court after he was incarcerated.

Are Jackson's social habits weird and inappropriate by my standards? Absolutely. A grown man shouldn't want to have slumber parties with children.

But you know what? I don't have more money than I could spend in 10 lifetimes. I didn't have my childhood damaged by starting to work as a five-year-old boy. Michael just wants to be 12 again.

I can relate to that. I want to be 21 again. None of us wants to get old. It's just that most of us don't have hundreds of millions of dollars to build a fantasy complex, Neverland, to escape the reality of getting old.

Trust me on this, if I won the lottery tomorrow and collected $10 million, you'd probably never hear from me again. I would quit all of my jobs and move back to Ball State University's campus and spend the next 10 years trying to be 21 all over again. I would. I'd build a big house on the parking lot next to Ball State's duck pond, and I would throw parties every weekend. My family and friends would think I was crazy. But I would be content and perfectly happy.

Michael just wants to be young again. Can you blame him?
Getting old sucks. There's nothing but bad news. Messy divorces. Unexpected, tragic illnesses. Job layoffs. Sick kids. Sick parents. Lots and lots and lots of responsibility.

I don't blame Michael for using his money to create a fantasy world for himself where he never grows out of the most carefree time in a person's life. Michael wants to be 12 and host slumber parties. I want to be 21 and be on location for the next collegegirlsgonewild video shoot. Is there really that much difference?

As for his plastic surgery? So what? That's overblown. Everybody in Hollywood gets some sort of plastic surgery. Yes, Michael's nose looks ridiculous. But I don't care that Michael lies about how many times he's had surgery on his face. And I believe Michael's explanation that a skin disease has caused him to lose pigmentation over his entire body. He's not ashamed of his African-American heritage. It's just that Michael has travelled the world so extensively that he has evolved beyond racial limitations.

I know I sound silly defending Michael Jackson. His celebrity has made him eccentric and a little nuts. But he's no Mike Tyson. He's never been convicted of a crime. He doesn't deserve to be villified.

Jason Whitlock is a regular columnist for the Kansas City Star (kcstar.com), the host of a morning-drive talk show, "Jason Whitlock's Neighborhood" on Sports Radio 810 WHB (810whb.com) and a regular contributor on ESPN The Magazine's Sunday morning edition of The Sports Reporters. He can be reached at ballstate0@aol.com.

Awesome! That's how I understand him too.

Can I just add that Mike Tyson was setup!

Michael Jackson's a child-molesting racist and anyone who's not delusional knows that. Shit, he didn't even bother trying to deny making anti-Semitic remarks (and anyone who defends his right to make those kind of statements is either a racist or a hypocrite and quite possibly both).

I mean, is there anything sadder than being an apologist for a racist/pedophile because he once sang some songs that you liked? Grow up, man!

Ace said:

I'm actually Jewish and a huge Michael Jackson fan.
I'm not saying he is perfect and nor was the article.
I think you should consider the article's perspective.

thank god for the Internet or people like the one who wrote this tripe would still be walking around their homes, shut-ins, muttering this baloney to themselves.


well, they should thank god for it. the rest of us will just continue to roll our eyes.

michael is sketchy but i don't think he's a pedophile or an anti-semite. he's just an unhappy guy who realized fame couldn't save him from himself.

Normalacy? The word is normalcy.

Hard to take anything someone's written seriously with spelling like that.

Just sayin'.

.
[Edited 8/1/06 3:26am]

Jason, thanks for sharing the article! I loved reading it!

Ace said:

Have you seen MJ rapping a Kid?

If so, send me a tape! I'd love to see it!

Guess it's u who needs to grow up!

One should only judge when in full knowledge of a situation!

Your post was full of prejudice and it contained a clear attack towards jasonstar!

As homework I sugested the following song:

Dayspring said:

yeah....what they said. This article is really bs on so many levels.

In no way is MJ a picture of normalcy on any level.
[Edited 8/1/06 3:48am]

miguelbulcao said:

You sick fuck!

MartyMcFly said:

Ace said:

You seem a little delusional yourself.
For a racist/pedophile he sure seems to have-a-lot-of-muli-cultured-friends/get-found-unanimously-not-guilty-by-conservative-santa-barbara-jury.

The advantage of being in an internet text discussion group is that you have a second chance to make sure what you're saying actually makes much sense before you post it.

Chur

_

nd33 said:

So well said...so well said..so well said..Did I mention that was very well said?

JasonWhitlock said:

Yeah, but for how long? One's childhood does not last for 30 years.

JasonWhitlock said:

And we don't need hundreds of millions of dollars to stay young. Try taking care of your physical, and more importantly, mental health. That's a pretty good start to fighting off age.

JasonWhitlock said:

Your bills would be paid, but that doesn't mean you'd be happy.

JasonWhitlock said:

That's not getting old, it's called hmmmm...what do you call it?? Oh yeah, LIFE.

JasonWhitlock said:

Of course there is a difference. Those nasty little college girls are over 18 and the law says they can do as they please.

I don't hate MJ. Heck, I don't even dislike him. I feel bad for him and many of the folks who justify everything he does because they are infatuated with his fame. I also feel bad for myself. I just spent ten minutes typing replies to someone who isn't even here.

Can I just add that Mike Tyson was setup!

OdysseyMiles said:

Ace - Janelle would probably think you're an idiot.

To Jason; there was a time that MJ was considered relatively "normal" in spite of the unusual childhood. MJ wasn't always perceived this way. Of course, having 4 nr 1s by the time one was 12 and having girls of all ages screaming at you and wanting to tear your clothes off before you reached your teens, there was always going to be a possibility that he may grow up with a distorted, view of the world, but he is NOT the only child star that has been there...

So, if you had told me circa 1980 that MJ 20 years later would have gone from looking like a handsome, brown-skin brotha that he was, to a white-looking, distorted woman, and been accused of child abuse twice, due to a "lost child-hood" I would have laughed in your face. The fact of the matter is the "lost childhood" excuses have become so hollow now. As someone said childhood doesn't last for 30 yrs...
[Edited 8/1/06 13:52pm]

my only issue with mike is that he act like he aint got a functioning braincell as far as these kids is concerned, i mean now he is (i hope) but why did it have to take for him gettin accused twice and damn near goin to jail to realize that he cant be doin that n e more. mike ur 50 yrs old, and been reenacting ur childhood for wat 30 of them? its time to let it go man

Moonwalkbjrain said:

I hope he has..

miguelbulcao said:

I would like to add my thanks, also. It was a very enjoyable read.

JasonStar said:

VERY,VERY well said!!

"I quit buying all the Jackson garbage after watching Michael conduct himself masterfully in the TV interview that rebutted the slam-job documentary on his life that aired the week before."


He writes like a sports columnist, one who was desperate to make his weekly column deadline and needed to write about something, anything... Because this had nothing to do with sports. Not really.

Ace said:

co-sign

Ace said:

Yes, there are sadder things. Like being a racist who judges people without knowing the facts.

Where there's smoke, there's fire.

purplerein said:

exactly plus the FACT the he did/ said nothing to deny all the inappropriate behavior. indeed he tried to defend himself. the child rape stuff would just be icing on his already fucked up cake, imo.

skyecute said:

so who is this racist that's judging without knowing the "facts"?