The Psychology of Michael Jackson.

"Young Michael Jackson"
There is a saying; only the great are persecuted. History proves this somewhat true. The corrupted evil of time; Adolph Hitler, Pol Pot, Attila The Hun etc... were never hated during their lives. They were only universally despised long after time and rational thought proved their true destructive nature and hate for humanity. Whereas names like Martin Luther King, Jesus Christ, and even Madonna to a lesser degree; who preached a tolerance and equality were - in their times, treated like renegade stains of the human race. In the past few decades, no other name personifies this notion than a man whose musical talent was only bettered by his empathy for living creatures; Michael Jackson...

Michael Jackson was born as the eighth of ten children, into a poor, working-class American family. Somewhere along the lines of youth, his Father discovered the boy's prodigious talents; deciding to fulfil his own failed musical ambitions through his children. With a sensitive five year old boy - able to burst out soulful, powerful vocals; coupled with the ruthless sword of ambition, the global success and universal fame eventually rolled right in for the Jackson clan, desperate to escape the clutches of poverty.

As is consistent with success, the spoils came at an immense price; in this case, a collection of childhoods. Their father enforced upon them a strict work ethic upon which would scare most adults - let alone a collection of young boys. He would often use violence of a physical and psychological nature, to keep his dreams alive unhealthily through his children. As one of the youngest and most talented, Michael would not only have experienced direct hostility in resentment, jealousy, and bitterness towards his skills, but also seen his own family seduced by the madness, of all that this corruptive world within a world of it's own had to offer.

By the time Michael Jackson had reached early adulthood, he had already lived the ferocious hurricane of fame; a world where sex, drugs, politics, and corruption run rife. Ask anyone who has been exposed to the dark nature of life before mature enough to fully understand it, and search for the happiness behind the jaded eyes hardened from repeated exposure to excess. Better yet, Google almost every child star of history; surviving through it with sanity in tact is the exception, and definitely not the rule.

Michael Jackson never had a childhood, and spent the rest of his life fighting within himself to reclaim it. He wanted to be the child he never was; surrounded by other children, going to theme parks, eating ice-cream, watching stupid movies and staying up late, having sleepovers, and riding bikes and bumper cars; all the stuff we take for granted as a given. Not too much for a man who never had the chance, to ask for. Sure the manner in how he did this was easy to misinterpret. But, much like the naked baby penis on the cover of Nirvana's Nevermind album, those who see it as sexual are really the ones who need to worry; not the makers of the cover (he is swimming for a dollar from birth, it doesn't take much to figure out the subtext.)


"Older Michael Jackson, still full of heart."
Sadly, a bitter, jealous, and quite hateful media, were out to destroy a man of his powers and credibility; built on part skin colour/part reminder of all the aspects of sheer good in his life, which reminded them of all the bad in theirs. They set upon accusations of the man through mass propaganda; calling him everything from a bizarre weirdo who slept in an oxygen tank, had a chimpanzee for a best friend, wore funny gloves and clothing, and collected the bones of John Merrick - the infamous 'Elephant Man', of Victorian England. Eventually, seeing that none of these accusations were working, stopped so low as to imply him being possibly the worst thing you can accuse anyone on this earth of being... a child molester. His incredible voice, songs, and humanitarian work, were all conveniently glossed over.


Michael Jackson never abused a child in his life - doing quite the opposite by giving them a reason to smile. He was tried on twelve counts of these claims, and acquitted for every last one. Even now, there is not even a microcosm of evidence, to show he was nothing more than a very sensitive man, who wanted lesser fortunate children to experience the wonders of childhood, which he himself had so publicly missed out upon. The irony in these claims is that the negative, sensationalist media; who spew hate from every conceivable angle, are almost as detrimental to a child's future as some forms of physical or emotional abuse. The good in Michael Jackson was being defined as evil, by evil; but throughout history, when is this ever different?

He was not perfect. He suffered from Vitiligo - a disease which changes skin pigmentation, which can be argued as a subconscious rejection of his skin colour; but when you listen to his song lyrics, you realize - like all good men, he saw humans as humans, and not colours or classes. He did have a lot of plastic surgery, and was scalded for this. Yet so have people like Joan Rivers or Barry Manilow - and where are their criticisms for being middle-aged and having faces like a white version of The Mask? He was ridiculed for protecting his children's faces from the media - but why wouldn't he? He most likely loved his children, (who lose out more than anyone, as they miss out on growing up with a Father) and did not want them being hounded and tortured for both their association and looks. He once hung his baby out of a window, for a microsecond. Pretty stupid, yes. But enough to crucify him over?

In the end, Michael Jackson was simply a very talented man from a very rough upbringing, and the mixture of the two adapted his psychological state to a point of being stuck in a moment of forced regression. He was not a normal man in the conventional sense, but his heart and love were very human, and very much genuine. Beyond all this, go listen to his music or examine his philanthropy; the guy was an absolute saint.

Thankfully, he was a man who had millions of fans. And they are fans who never turned on him, gave up on his kindness and warmth, and still love the man as much as they loved the music; as well as being able to separate the two, whilst still appreciating both. Two hundred years from now, Michael Jackson will be seen as the victim, and the media the persecutors. I just wish the message got through a lot sooner...

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3 comments:

  1. A heart to show he loved the world even when it hated him. We miss you always MJ!

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    1. History will show his true nature; that of a pure hearted and sensitive man. It will also retain every awesome song and dance move he ever created! And there are many of those thankfully. :-)

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  2. May I say that, in general, your article is a good one and at least shows some compassion and sympathy towards Mr Jackson and that is commendable, realising Michael's love, care, empathy towards his fellow man plus his sensitivity towards others I'm glad you picked up.

    However if I were to point out a couple of salient points: Despite your rightful criticism of how the media treated Michael during his years on this earth; yet you chose to use for the older Michael a photoshopped media picture that does NOT do his personality justice - it just farms the "weirdo/freak" image same media hoped to brainwash and perpetuate the lazy general public masses with over the years! There are far more other pictures you could have chosen to use to be honest!

    Also, Michael's Vitiligo wasn't a deliberate choice - he had this from birth and it was a source of much physical, emotional and psychological pain and hurt to him! Michael was proud to be African American and again, the media tormented him, calling him a liar, including one of his own race, Oprah Winfrey, which is inexcusable!
    Vitiligo and also discoid lupus which Michael had both are auto-immune conditions - the more stress and torment he received from the press, the more both conditions attacked his physical and emotional heart and soul!

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