I know lots of people on the org love to label Michael a "child molester" and take this where there is smoke, there is fire attitude. However, what if all the excuses Michael's PR team feeds the media are true?

What if Michael really just views himself as Peter Pan? What does this make him? How would all the haters react if Jordy and Gavin both came out tomorrow and said, "We both lied." What would that make Michael then? Yes his image would still be a mess. However, wouldn't that mean the world judged him and his intentions wrong?

I'm getting off topic...

I can't help but when I listen to "Childhood" feeling so terribly sorry for Michael. There is such conviction in his voice in that song. There hasn't been that much honesty in his voice since he wept at the end of "She's Out Of My Life." To say he wrote the song for attention or to justify the bad press is just cold-hearted. It clearly was a personal song for Michael, and one only needs to hear the song once to hear how personal the content is.



What about the above photo that Michael drew? What does one make of that? Is that how Michael sees himself? I mean is he just some scared little boy on the inside, who grips his microphone to escape his inner feelings? Michael once said he feels the most at home on stage, as nice as that sounds from a performance side of things, it sounds tragic on a personal level. Can you imagine only being happy at "work?" Can you imagine spending your days and nights like the walking wounded?

I know Michael is different. I'm not saying he is exactly the same as Joe Doe who works 9-5. However, I also know Michael is human. I honestly avoid listening to "Childhood" because it breaks my heart to think that is how Michael really feels on the inside. I hope that being a parent, and being able to give his children the childhood he missed out on, helps fill a void for him. (As well as makes his children's childhoods fantastic.) In countless interviews, his former producers and people who have observed Michael's children have said the children really adore their father. With that said, I hope Michael is no longer the loner he was in 1995 when he wrote "Childhood." I hope he is happy.

No I'm not trying to hold a Michael Jackson pity party here - so please don't accuse me of that. I'm just vibing my thoughts here.

Where does this leave us? I'm not sure. I guess the best way to conclude this opening post about this discussion is to leave it, with what fueled it in the first place:

Childhood
Written by Michael Jackson


Have you seen my Childhood?
I'm searching for the world that I come from
'Cause I've been looking around
In the lost and found of my heart...
No one understands me
They view it as such strange eccentricities...
'Cause I keep kidding around
Like a child, but pardon me...

People say I'm not okay
'Cause I love such elementary things...
It's been my fate to compensate,
for the Childhood
I've never known...

Have you seen my Childhood?
I'm searching for that wonder in my youth
Like pirates in adventurous dreams,
Of conquest and kings on the throne...

Before you judge me, try hard to love me,
Look within your heart then ask,
Have you seen my Childhood?

People say I'm strange that way
'Cause I love such elementary things,
It's been my fate to compensate,
for the Childhood I've never known...

Have you seen my Childhood?
I'm searching for that wonder in my youth
Like fantastical stories to share
The dreams I would dare, watch me fly...

Before you judge me, try hard to love me.
The painful youth I've had

Have you seen my Childhood...

Then his childhood was really cheesy and schmlatzy.

I can't help but retch when I hear that song. It's his very worst!

Moonbeam said:

you are not alone was the jam tho. you see his legs in the video?

i like mj but how can you even listen to that song? it sound like it should be a broadway show tune.

Christopher said:

I don't think JasonStar is sayin "Childhood" is a dope jam or something... he's using the lyrics as a reference point for MJ's psyche (he DID pen those lyrics).

To be honest, it doesn't help his case if MJ himself feels he is a child.

Yes, MJs handdrawn self portraits always seem to show a really suspect self-image.

None of this "Peter Pan" shit adds up when you consider MJ's shrewd business dealings, and mature taste in art.

CinisterCee said:

You are SOOOO right. That is the part that makes it kind of hit a wall, if you believe the childhood stuff being his true self. Not to mention the fact that some of his lyrics, deal with VERY adult themes.

Surely Peter Pan wouldn't have a clue what the fuck Michael was talking about in "Scream." Words like "With such confusion don’t it make you wanna scream
Your bash abusin’ victimize within the scheme" would have Peter Pan flying back to Neverland quicker then a 747. That isn't childish stuff at all.

However, even still, a part of me can't help but wonder if maybe Michael REALLY sees himself as a child, in spite of being a very mature business man and lyric writer. Hmmmmm

JasonStar said:

Exactly. Surely Peter Pan doesn't drink wine and own pornography.

It's not like a person isn't allowed to have his contradictions but I think MJ's perceived "innocence" is in this set of child-like values (or finely-crafted aesthetic).

Here's an article, I really do not agree with the bolded statement:

Arrested Development
The tragedy of Michael Jackson.
By Jacob Weisberg
Posted Tuesday, June 14, 2005, at 6:35 PM ET


I've never believed Michael Jackson was a pedophile. To begin with, he doesn't fit the profile. Child abusers tend to do the same thing again and again. According to one study, the average molester of boys commits 280 crimes over a lifetime. Yet despite the lure of getting rich by making accusations against Jacko, only two alleged victims have ever come forward with detailed allegations.

What's more, those two accusations, separated by 10 years, don't conform to a pattern. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the accuser in the recent case—the cancer victim—alleged groping by Jackson. Jackson's previous accuser, whose family settled a civil suit in 1993 for $20 million, accused the singer of more extreme abuse, including oral sex.

But the main reason I never bought the prosecutor's depiction of Jackson as a premeditating sexual predator "grooming" his victims is that it doesn't ring true in psychological terms. Whether or not he has ever touched a boy inappropriately, Michael Jackson seems too emotionally stunted to act in any grown-up way, including a deviant sexual one. Naive, juvenile, and terribly damaged, he seems pathetically incapable not just of criminal intent, but of adult consciousness.

People tend to throw up hands at Michael Jackson's multifarious bizarreness. But is it really so strange? The boy was forced to work by a cruel and physically abusive father starting at the age of 7. (If he'd been sent into a factory or coal mine, instead of onstage, we'd have more compassion for him.) As a boy, he was denied what even most abused and underprivileged children have: school, friends, and play.

Instead, Michael was made into a performing sexualized freak, a boy whose soprano voice kindled passion in grown women. He was made to witness adult sexuality at an age when it can only have been terrifying and incomprehensible to him. By 10, he was performing in strip clubs and hiding under the covers in hotel rooms while his older brothers got it on with groupies. At 11—the age at which his psyche seems frozen—he was a superstar. "My childhood was completely taken away from me," he has said. Almost everything that seems freakish about him can be explained by his poignant, doomed effort to get his stolen childhood back.

To describe the world Michael Jackson has created around himself as a childhood fantasy isn't quite accurate. Thanks to wealth and celebrity, he has been able to live as a superannuated child. With the help of plastic surgery and dramatic affectation, he has made himself look and sound pre-pubescent. He amuses himself with fancy toys, fantastic pets, amusement park rides, and a personal magician.

What emerged at the trial wasn't the picture of a man playing with children in order to seduce them. It was the picture of a man playing with children because he sees himself as one of them. He and his friends in the "Apple Head Club" stayed up all night playing videogames, watching television, and eating popcorn. In the absence of parental authority, they would sometimes drink wine out of Coke cans, make crank calls, look at dirty magazines, and try to gross each other out (head-licking, anyone?). A child in his own mind, Jackson sees all of his behavior as completely innocent. It was a sleepover party, not a seduction or even the sublimation of one. Hence his sincere-sounding admission to Martin Bashir, the British filmmaker whose 2003 documentary Living With Michael Jackson initiated his recent troubles, that sleeping with young boys is loving, and not sexual. Jackson appears not to comprehend adult sexuality enough to get why people might divine a more sinister intent.

There is, of course, a literary precedent here. "I am Peter Pan," Jackson told Bashir. Even without his cosmetic remodeling as Mary Martin, this identification would be hard to miss. At the Neverland Ranch, as in the Darling nursery, the boys all sleep in the same room. Michael, like Peter, casts himself as father, big brother, and ring-leader. He takes his lost boys on romps and adventures. Girls are not welcome. One of the few exceptions was his sister, whom he calls "Tinkerbell." But as Jackson knows, Peter Pan is not entirely a happy story. The boys will return from Neverland and grow into adults. Peter cannot.

A more interesting comparison may be between Jackson and the author of that fantasy, J.M. Barrie. Like Jackson, Barrie suffered from a kind of arrested development, brought on by the death of his beloved older brother when he was 6. According to Andrew Birkin's book J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys: The Real Story Behind Peter Pan, Barrie's marriage remained unconsummated, while his deepest relationships were with the Llewelyn Davies brothers, the five boys he met in Kensington Gardens in London who formed the basis for the characters in Peter Pan. Barrie performed tricks for the children, played with them, more or less moved into their home, and fantasized, in print, about sharing his bed with them. But there is no evidence of any physical involvement. The best guess is that Barrie was celibate or asexual.

Today we find the idea of nonsexuality more bizarre than deviant sexuality. But in Michael Jackson's case, it seems more plausible than any other explanation. All of Jackson's oddities seem to be reactions to what he suffered as a child. Manhandled by strangers, he became a mask-wearing, gloved germophobe. Tyrannized and abused by his father, he turned hyperbolically gentle and generous to children. Terrified by adult sexuality, he froze in pre-adolescent immaturity.

"I haven't been betrayed or deceived by children," Jackson once said. "Adults have let me down." Kudos to 12 in Santa Barbara, Calif., who didn't.

Jacob

Weisberg said:

Exactly the same reasons I would say that it is not a very good look when a child accuses him of doing something inappropriate as an adult.

CinisterCee said:

Namean, y'all ?!

I just got this today:

It's a bootleg called 'The Soul Train Sessions'. It's got all of the J5/MJ appearances on Soul Train (at least I think it's all of them). It's fucking awesome! Only ever saw a few performances from it before. Even though all the peromances are lip synched, it's still amazing. Plus it has some nice interviews. Love it!

On this board for years, numerous MJ diehards would parrot the star's claim that he was akin to Peter Pan, a musical wunderkind who never grew up because of his parents' (or, really, Joe's) denial of a normal childhood for him.

Those same fans, however, never were able to answer a glaring contradiction: that Jackson, for decades, has written about mature, sexual, emotional relationships. Wait, that's not true: One fan did say that MJ has a vivid imagination and is able to imagine what it's like to be an adult.

Also consider the mounds of porn investigators found in MJ's ranch. Peter Pan's disinterest in sexual things? Apparently not.

Another hole in that theory is his role as a father. Observers say that he is a good, doting father who acts responsibly for his children. Doesn't sound childlike to me.

The bottom line to me: Jackson has been writing songs from a victim's standpoint for decades. He doesn't appear to be someone who -- publicly, at least -- is interested in taking responsibility for his life. "Childhood" came at a tough time in his career, when public speculation was dwelling more on his relationships with little boys than on his music or in his weird, leaked-to-the-press stunts.

So, no, as usual, I disbelieve Michael Jackson's claims.

Childhood is one of those MJ songs that you either hate or love. I'm very found of it, but it would be great if it had been done only piano+vox à la We are the world (demo) imo

I believe that his childlikeness is real - but only in a sence that he just LOVES to play. You can see that in Home movies or any other "private shots". But I don´t think that it rules out the fact that he is an adult as well or at least someone who has experienced a lot in his life, and had to deal with it. He is also naturally curious, interested in everything and even though some of the people might not agree,I think he is also wise no matter how many times he has screwed up.
And BTW, I love the song.
[Edited 11/29/06 5:31am]
[Edited 11/29/06 5:32am]

I just don't buy it. Childlike, my ass! If you want to know the truth, I think MJ is a Master Manipulator. His actions have been very shrewed, very cold and very calculating, extremely unchildlike.

Think about it...

The marriage to Lisa Marie: That took some serious thought because at the time if MJ had married any other woman on the planet, the press would have crucified her. MJ had to think long and hard on this one, "Who can I get to marry me that the press won't fuck with?" "Oh, I know...and I know HOW to MAKE her do it too!"
I know damn well y'all didn't buy that "they married out of love" bullshit!

He surrounds himself with children and families that have problems and issues. Never happy, healthy, children that are more than likely to tell if there are any wrongdoings going on. Not very Peterpan like...Peterpan loved ALL children.

I think MJ uses that lost childhood bit as a guilt trip to make people feel sorry for him because they know he didn't have a childhood in the sense of getting to be a kid and being able to do the things that normal kids did and he's been using that to his advantage.
[Edited 11/29/06 7:26am]

horrid lyrics.
I don't think I've ever heard that song
More of MJ's justification for doing whatever he pleases.

dag said:

If by "play" you mean "try and penetrate a male child's buttocks with his penis".

dag said:

I understand his curiousity inspired him to to spend time with a representative cross-section of the Jewish community and - once that thorough research was completed - he moved on to telling people about his findings. I understand he was also curious as to whether he could completely torpedo his career by adding racist remarks to his child molesting.

Ace said:

Anyway, Michael is a pretty complex individual. He probably knows that's been screwed up IMO. I love the guy and I respect him but I know that's he's always been.....unique. He had to grow up really fast and the result of that was him not fully growing up emotionally

bboy87 said:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...dissonance

I thought the song was cute and sad at first. Now I just think he smells like little boys' booty holes.

And am I the only one who sees the irony in Michael Jackson bitching about his childhood when he's trying to stick his tallywhacker in young boys' asses?

TommyRoss said:

Hey, folks!: C'mon over to my companion thread, "What if the Easter Bunny existed?".

lowkey said:

I don't know which song sucks the worst. "Childhood" or "Heal The World". I believe that Michael is the way he is because of the way Papa Joe treated him. And the fact that he was not ready emotionally for the pressures of fame as a young boy when the Jackson 5 hit the big time

thedoorkeeper said:

There we go.

TommyRoss said:

what about the stories of Michael threatening Joe he wouldn't sing again if he got hit.


Michael probably had it the easiest when it came to the treatment from Joe because Joe needed Michael in order to succeed.


Michael is a good at trying to get people to believe what he wants them to believe.