Poor old Michael Jackson. So out of touch.
YouÂ’d think if he was going to do a big TV interview to show that the pre-conceptions and rumours were wrong that heÂ’d have a big team of advisers telling him the kind of stuff to say, and the stuff not to say. If he has then they are doing a truly appalling job.
“I know Mike, why don’t we scotch those kiddie-fiddling allegations by having you sitting with a 12 year old boy and holding his hand, whilst you admit that you let him sleep in your room. Then everyone’s going to love you.”
Was there no-one there to say, “Let’s not do that, it’s weird.”? And if there was did Jackson just over-rule him?
In a sense you can almost see that it’s a good plan. “I will be totally honest, I’ve got nothing to hide. I don’t see anything wrong in what I’m doing, so why lie?” You do start to think that, yeah, Jackson has an unusual take on life, but quite possibly his friendship with kids is extraordinarily innocent. He’s had a lot of bad stuff happen to him, he’s lived his life in the most bizarre of circumstances and psychologically he has remained as a child and so feels comfortable in the company of other kids. It is ignorant and judgemental for other people to read ulterior motives.
Yeah, OK. I almost buy that. Because itÂ’s the only thing that makes sense of the devastating and unnecessary honesty.
Oh, but wait, Jackson also says he has only had plastic surgery twice, on his nose and no-where else. He claims to be being completely truthful, despite the interviewerÂ’s disbelief and the fact that his face has changed in strange and unnatural ways.
So if that’s honesty, it kind of puts his earlier “honesty” in a different light. Maybe he has fooled himself into believing his face has changed on its own, which also unfortunately means that he could also have fooled himself into believing that his relationship with children has not crossed a particular boundary.
In the course of my research for my book I found a series of letters from Lewis Carrol to the parents of some pre-pubescent girls he wanted to photograph. His attempts to make his motives appear innocent and to give excuses as to why the parents should not be present at the sessions is amusing until you think about the dark side of whatÂ’s going on. Eventually he gets affronted that there has been the implication that a chaperone is necessary and says he doesnÂ’t want to do the photos now and how sad the world is for thinking his interest is in anyway suspect.
But I still feel sorry for Jackson. His life has been so abnormal it is no surprise that he has such unusual views. I think heÂ’s fooling himself, but that doesnÂ’t necessarily mean that he has abused these kids, even though practically anyone else would see why having unrelated kids sleeping in your bedroom is a bad idea, whoever you were and whatever had been said about you before.
He must have PR people and they must be aware of how all this stuff makes him look. Is it possible that the PR people are happy for him to appear this way, because it gets him massive exposure and that makes them money? Or is Jackson so in charge of his life that he can tell all his minions that he knows what heÂ’s doing and not to interfere?
Maybe it’s the latter. I liked the incredulity he displayed when Bashir suggested that the stuff he was buying in Vegas might be “tacky”. He couldn’t even countenance it. Anyone who challenges him is ignorant or silly.
Poor old Michael.
