Inner Michael

Just like any other slice of the population, Michael Jackson fans come in assorted flavors. There are the fans who just go ga ga (not the ‘Lady’ kind) and there are those who genuinely see Mr. Jackson’s work for what it is: epic spiritual artistry and message.

And just like the general population, some have an internal locus of control and for some that control is external. Those who are driven by external forces are likely to knee-jerk in situations in their personal lives so their passions are no different. Anything MJ is a passion; anything about MJ can cause a knee-jerk reaction. Unfortunately, this is not a very effective way to live one’s life nor is it effective when trying to create change or trying to get people to examine alternative opinions to the ones they hold dear. Tangents and tantrums are rarely taken seriously. And those who rant about MJ are usually dismissed by serious journalism as untreated mental health cases and recruited by yellow journalism through its deliberate baiting of them.

Reasonable, rational and diplomatic dialogue makes headway because those who employ it are taken seriously. Whether legitimate or not, rants and groupie chants are usually dismissed as frenzy—and one step away from the inpatient ward. Who is going to listen when they have dismissed you as obsessive or crazy? You may have some intelligent things to say but that content is lost in the context. If your content is sane but you are coming across in a context that compels them to call you “nuts,” how is that effective for getting your point across?

That same general population also contains a segment with a taste and love for another flavor—the flavor of drama. Michael fans are also divided into those camps. There are those who prefer to be in a state of drama or trauma and relish the idea of racing around or running amok over the last MJ perceived “insult.” These are the “cry wolf” people and we all know that too many “red alerts” about wolves desensitize people enough so that when the real wolf is at the door, they see just another dog. The field of Neuroscience has identified that this kind of person craves the rush that accompanies hysterics and hysterical reactionary behavior. This kind of transaction with one’s environment is an artificial stimulant and counterfeit way to establish identity. It is a way to inflate reality in order to feel alive. So that behavior has more to do with feeling insignificant and in need of stimulation and confirmation than with actual righteous indignation.

Until they learn to stimulate their brains differently, there are people who will perpetually need the rush of those chemicals. They especially favor the opportunity to “stir it up” and frenzy stimulates the hormone of choice. These are the ones who rush to stand outside every venue where Michael is mentioned and cause journalists to use the phraseology of “crazed,” “dazed” or permanently “amazed” which means, blind to any flaws or missteps. Some journalists have, rightly so, said that Michael Jackson fans do not tolerate any negativity surrounding their idol. I have encountered that.

Michael Jackson did things in his life that – in the context of Michael Jackson and the world of Michael Jackson, make perfect sense. They are typically “so very Michael.” In that context and to a person who knows him or knows of him because they have taken time to research or follow his career, they are endearing. To the rest of the world, some of them can appear bizarre.

I understand, for example, why Michael would have stood on the roof of a car to wave to his fans as a way of acknowledging their loyalty and to reciprocate their love. I understand that because I have spent almost a year researching the man. More than once, Michael was surrounded by adoring fans so excited to be near him that they, lost in the excitement, almost crushed him. He took to jumping on the roof of vehicles to avoid being crushed initially and then to let them see him, get a clear look and to wave at them. Since Michael was a film buff, he often had a camera crew filming his public encounters.

But not everyone has spent months learning ‘who was this Michael Jackson, anyway?’ and for them, the idea of jumping on the roof of a car to wave to people seems a little strange. And jumping on the roof of a car during a legal procedure where you are being arraigned for a horrendous crime against a child, seems not only arrogant, but a flippant insult to the laws of the land and the justice system. When you’re arrested and brought into the case wearing handcuffs and you leave before your trial dancing on a car roof, that might inflame some people. Especially people who don’t know you. Like it or not—and it is grossly unfair, but especially with that type of crime, people assume your guilt the minute the accusation is uttered. Just hearing of the possibility that someone harmed a child in that way brings out the fierce internal animal in every parent and most adults. That kind of flash anger isn’t rational. But it’s human. And when you are wealthy, the average Joe figures you have the money to buy your way out of any legal hassle. The point is that in any situation, it is wise to look at and from all perspectives and all angles of a situation—before going off the deep end. How many of us can claim to do that? How many of us withhold judgment until all the facts are in—in everything we do?

Michael Jackson was a consummate businessman and performer who knew how to create a powerful stage image, but seems naïve at times about creating his personal one. And I’m sure that being surrounded by ‘yes’ people didn’t help. Otherwise, why did no one tell him that holding hands with a male child when you are a grown man, especially while they are filming you for a TV special, is probably not wise and may look a little odd? Those who know Michael, know that it was because Michael believed in openly and generously showing affection for children. All children. And by all adults. Michael believed it was everybody’s responsibility to embrace and show unconditional love to all children.

Hillary Clinton in her book It Takes a Village, promotes the idea that regardless of who a child’s biological parents, the entire community is beholden to that child and responsible for their upbringing. That “community” today, is the whole world. For example, it is truly unfair to bring a child into a world where war is still used as a means for settling differences. War is nothing short of global child abuse. And that is how Michael Jackson saw it. He lived that: “it takes a village” philosophy with children, all the children in his life. Because he was Michael Jackson and a larger than life figure, he was a hero to many kids—especially inner city kids; he was beloved by children of all ages. He also had an aura about him that was like a magnet to children; he had not allowed the “adult world” to capture his innocence and children could sense that invisible energy. Unlike an adult who would prey on children and whom children recognize because they feel creeped out, he was beloved and followed much like the pied piper. It was a genuine and constant phenomenon about Michael. Lots of people felt it. And that invisible aura was the very thing that got Michael access into some of the most closed places in the world. It got him behind the iron curtain and into audiences with national leaders. It allowed him access to children’s orphanages anywhere in the world where he gifted children with toys and joys and donated medical equipment to hospitals in cities where he toured. Michael believed in healing. He was himself, a healer. In every concert, he had children brought in who were in every kind of condition—in wheelchairs and beds and walkers. Michael Jackson had a huge heart and nobody ever said no to Michael.

So even though that is the spirit in which Michael Jackson ministered to children, most people either do not know that side of Michael or do not understand that kind of innocent generosity. It is hard to remember that place where innocence once lived. For some of us it was s a long, long time ago. And yes, we are conditioned by: the seriousness and consistent insults and demands of adulthood; the cynical nature of humans who have learned that in order to get what you want, you have to strategize; a culture that is estranged from its inner child and an innocent belief in goodness.

It is true that many people do not know Michael Jackson. The influence of tabloids who used this gentle man and humanitarian in sensational headlines and photos simply to sell their products, was a factor that contributed to the widespread misconceptions about him. Their deliberate seeking out of people who were willing to say anything about Michael for the money which they gladly paid, made the tabloids a fortune while they left his reputation and image in wreckage. This battering of him and his reputation escalated through the years because it had to in order to sell more copy. A public desensitized to all things Michael, they were primed to believe anything, especially anything out of the ordinary because that is the caricature they had come to expect. Lots of people still believe the tabloid caricature.

So it is easy to see why Michael Jackson fans would be upset about any “new” or “previously uncovered” information about the life of Michael Jackson. Or why they would be upset when the same old tabloid version hits the screen once again. It’s easy to understand how they would gang up on somebody who conscripts or exploits his name for their own agenda, especially when that agenda is dark and sinister, or to make a buck off his notoriety. Or why their grief and anger is resurrected by yet one more person who believed the tabloid portrait and wants just one more pound of flesh even when that flesh is no longer alive. It’s because they have seen treachery toward Michael rewarded again and again with money, promotions and publicity made by siphoning life from the man, his fame or fortune. It is because they know the real man, not the caricature.

Yes, they are very fatigued by the constant onslaught. They are disheartened by the indifference of the press to the true portrait and character of Michael Jackson. They are mortified that the tabloid industry continues its underhanded practices without remorse or abatement and that it now targets others also unable to fight back effectively against an unstoppable greedy monster that will continue to use and abuse them only to sell more copy. They fight against this injustice but they don’t make enough headway for it is extensive, invasive and pervasive. So they hurt. And they grow weary of hurting.

They forget sometimes that it doesn’t help people to know Michael Jackson when you constantly scream “foul” at them. They lose their cool occasionally and call names and say things their parents would blush at. Sometimes they get involved in things that are beneath them. Sometimes they get fierce when the purposes of the Michael “hangers on” are devious or downright evil; so in those cases, expect it. Sometimes they are easily led by those who would have used Michael had it suited their purposes but since he no longer is here, they’ll use the fans. They will sometimes get misguided information and be recruited for others’ agendas as is happening right now with someone who has political agenda and will use them for his own purposes. And they will fall for it because they have big hearts; Michael taught them that. Sometimes they will forget their manners or forget that Michael himself said that aggression is not the best way and that what the world needs (and these shadow users presumably) is a little more love. So try to understand that yes, sometimes they are crazed or crazy because that is in their nature, but most times it’s because they have had enough.

What people don’t know is what a humanitarian and global activist Michael Jackson was; they forget or they don’t know that he was innocent of the crime he was accused of and found not guilty on 14 counts. Not guilty on even one count! They don’t think long enough to question what was really going on there? And they get sidetracked by the mental images painted for them instead of by them. Tabloids hand-feed their constituents because they assume these are uneducated people who cannot think for themselves. I hope they are wrong but don’t ask me to prove it.

Do you doubt for one minute that if tabloids had hunted and haunted Gandhi the way they did Michael Jackson that his legacy would have been sullied? That we would have a different picture of the man? That he would have been awarded the Nobel Prize? That he would be considered hero for the world? A global peacemaker? Are you kidding me—a man who wandered around the planet half naked wearing a diaper or a robe holding a staff and looking very much like Jesus? The tabloids would have had a field day with him. Lucky for Gandhi the Globe or Hard Copy’s heyday was not in his time.

There are other Michael Jackson fans who are not as visible and maybe even more dedicated. They don’t hang out at forums or launch headlong into the fray. They don’t gush. They are not addicted to it nor are they into the drama. They admire the man; they love his message; they marvel at his dancing; they appreciate his voice; they find beauty in his face and form; they miss his presence on the planet and they feel intensely the loss- not just for themselves personally, but also for what the world lost. They genuinely mourn the undiscovered Michael but they are thoughtful and reasonable and measured in how they go about the business of being an admirer or advocate for Michael Jackson. They want to see the media behave more charitably toward not just Michael, but others whose only “crime” is their celebrity. They tend to not get swayed and recruited by the unscrupulous but remain steadfast in the loyalty and dignity of their mission. They understand and accept the human flaws in a flawed human being but they also do not underestimate the spiritual attainment that Mr. Jackson reached in his lifetime. They get the full magnitude of what it means to be a Michael Jackson fan and what being Michael’s legacy means. Michael often said his fans were his legacy and these people take that role seriously. And above all, they reflect the grace and dignity Michael demonstrated to the world in the face of the unthinkable and unbearable. They bear their pain with this same dignity and they channel their energies into change in Michael’s name.

They hold admiration for Michael Jackson, his life and work and they hold space for change by beginning that change within. They take on the shadow that held Michael Jackson hostage and they take on the world’s shadow that holds us all in its grip now. They work toward making Michael’s dream a reality on Earth: Heal the World. These people mean it. They intend to do it. That is not just a fan; it’s a force. And a Force.

These are people I want to hang out with. These are the people whom I will address in my next post.