I'm sure a lot of you saw that Michael Jackson thing on 20/20 last night. Wow. Though he's obviously disturbed, the special provided at least a couple of reasons for people to feel more pity towards him than anything else. It was safely established that this guy never had anything resembling a normal life - and I don't mean that in the same way it can be said for anyone who's been a celebrity their whole life. The interviewer kept trying to make a point of explaining to Jackson that while he might see nothing wrong with his own behavior, the rest of the world had reason to think differently. After all, in this day and age, sleeping in the same bed as children not-your-own is a one-way ticket to Jeffrey Jonesville, no matter your intentions. What I found interesting was that Jackson is evidently completely incapable of following, much less understanding the morale and ethical code of the world he lives in. And in a way, it's not hard to see why that would be. The guy's never really been a part of normal, everyday society. I wouldn't condone anyone who goes on television and talks about sleeping with the Home Alone kid as if it's a good thing, but in some strange way, he came off more eccentric than evil or soulless.
Despite that, there were some disturbing moments during that expose. For me, watching him trying to feed his kid was the toughest thing to watch. My family, full of people who've spent plenty of time holding bottles up for babies' mouths, commented that he looked like he'd never held a kid in his life. I was more concerned that he was trying to feed the kid through the towel on the baby's head, making it seem like the damn milk was penetrating through the towel and into the baby's mouth like some demonic Michael Jacksonized version of filtration. The part when he confessed that he liked to drive around hotels in an electric wheelchair was pretty goofy too, but in truth, I'd probably like doing that myself.
He's obviously got some sociopathic qualities about him, though. There were some points where he was lying, clearly lying, and he seems to have forced himself to actually believe his lies. For me, that makes him a little more scary - you really can't tell for sure what really goes on in his life because he doesn't have that mystery inner thingamajig that keeps normal people from being able to pull off such tall tales. Then there's the nose thing. The creepy nose thing.
After watching the show and interview, I honestly don't believe he's molested any kids. I don't think anyone, even someone as loopy as Jackson, would go on national television and admit to sleeping with other people's kids in their bed after such allegations unless they knew in their heart that they did nothing wrong. There's one mystery factor in all of this, though - who the hell knows what Michael believes as 'wrong?' What we'd consider child molestation might seem more like a pat on the back to a guy who brings 45 mannequins everywhere he goes.
I don't know why I'm writing about this. I've got no attachment to Jackson either way. I just wish I had his ferris wheel. :/
Posted by Matt on 02/07/2003. E-mail me!
I moonwalk in simulated shame.
Chestnuts roasted by 
(((( ) still heart you.
I watched the M.J. interview/documentary last night, mostly hoping to have a laugh and cement my belief that he is honest-to-God certifiable (mission accomplished). I agree with Barbara Walters’ synopsis that in the end, I was left feeling mostly sad. Until today. Having visited Fark.com, I came upon the link to TheSmokingGun.com, where the court documents (sworn affadavits) of J. Chandler, the 13 year old that M.J. was accused of molesting, tell an entirely different story than M.J. did on last night’s program. Since I almost vomited reading it the first time, I am not going to quote it, but submit the link instead:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/doc_o_day/mjdec1.html
Perhaps this will change your belief, as it did mine, that he never molested any kids.
(Nevertheless, I still have the Michael Jackson puffy sticker on my mirror. I don’t even know if it will come off)