I wrote an article for HP that wasn’t published about beating up on yet another corpse—when Whitney Houston died. I wrote that Nelson Mandela’s release from prison came about as a result of Houston’s philanthropy. The dialogue she opened in her staged concerts for freedom in South Africa eventually led to Mandela’s release. Nobody wanted to print that because they were all too busy dissecting her while engrossed in the “drugs” conversation. A little thing like a direct link to Mandela’s freedom and Whitney was irrelevant when there was a more “juicy” story. Houston was also a freedom fighter just as Michael was.
It is sad to see that since “Entertainment News” is so profitable that outlets keep stories alive by milking the revenues. Michael Jackson warned that they even deliberately set celebrities up by making salacious or false claims because they know the celebrity will have to respond– thereby creating yet another story for them to run.
So, if we are really as disgusted as we claim about entertainment news then we have to tell them to stop the incivility and the baiting. And we, ourselves have to stop. That also means that we have to clean up our act on Facebook and Twitter. We have to stop being “Mean-stream” in commentary, in virtual interactions, and especially in “entertainment” news, magazines, online forums, Youtube and elsewhere. Our choice of words in rebuttal have to be civil and effective. We have to avoid “rants” for they have no effect except to alienate a reader and prevent us from touching or changing hearts. Who is going to listen to an angry ranter? We lose any credibility when we ask others to use civil discourse, neutral language and to stop bullying people (like Michael Jackson and others) when we ourselves, go on the internet and bully people. It’s hypocrisy.
The recent beating up on Kristin Stewart was brutal and Maureen Orth (yes, same one) did an “expose” in Vanity Fair about Katie Holmes that prompted Katie to call the ABC morning show and disavow Orth and the article. Paul McMullan, of “News of the World,” called a man without a moral compass, has gone on record about the tactics used by tabloids and he goes so far as to justify tabloid hacking and other underhanded methods as “necessary in pursuit of the truth.” What? Whose truth?
Actor Hugh Grant founded an organization called “Hacked Off” to fight back and he joined a probe into tabloid hacking that led to the scandal being exposed, to Scotland Yard’s investigation, to Murdoch’s testimony before parliament, to the closing of NOTW and ending in Murdoch’s recent resignation. Activism works when prolonged and assertive (not aggressive or violent.)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/aug/21/hugh-grant-joins-hacked-off-board
A word from Nick Davies, Author of “Flat Earth News”
There is a Science to Tabloid Journalism.
There are actual strategies to writing headlines and stories:
Large and red (thus the British name “red tops.”)
Use rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia or “buzz words”
Examples: Rhyme- “Wacko Jacko;” Alliteration- “Sultry Seductress Sends Signals;” Onomatopoeia- “Bees aren’t the only things buzzing;” Buzz words: “Obamacare,” “Flip Flop,” boy toy,” “shizzle.”
Use sensational attention grabbing headlines and copy. Exaggerate, inflate and overstimulate.
Use innuendo – don’t come right out and accuse or confirm, but “speculate” loud enough so that people assume guilt or complicity.
Use words to describe the “target” (a person) that imply non-human characteristics or less-than-human attributes. (“Freak,” “Weirdo,” “Molester,” “Anorexic,” “Addict,” “Recluse,” etc.
Use visual words that gets eyes on the page “Reveals!” “Exposes!”
Use words that depict action: “Slaps,” “smackdown,” “feud.”
Use words that elicit emotion: “betrayal,” “deception,” “blame,” “Shocking,” “humiliation,” “shame.”
Make it sexy: “sex,” “reveals all,” “sexy,” “sex tapes.”
Use hyperbole and hype
Photos: bait the celebrity or target to get the most unflattering photo, the most compromising photo, the most embarrassing photo, or the LAST photo of a celebrity. Those are what is called “the money shot.”
In order to get the story: pose as a salesperson, a lost out-of-towner, a repair person; or better yet, get a job with the celebrity: bodyguard, cook, nanny, gardener, pool boy, party server or bartender, etc.
http://voiceseducation.org/content/shocking-secrets-revealed-language-tabloid-headlines
(Voices Ed article on Tabloid Linguistics- Debra Schaffer, University of Montana)
ttp://voiceseducation.org/content/sensationalism-inflammatory-words-and-history-tabloid-journalism
(Voices Ed History of Tabloids- Rev B)
ttp://voiceseducation.org/content/weapon-mass-destruction-new-violence-and-wmd
(Voices Ed Words as Weapons of Mass Destruction- Rev B)
Rupert Murdoch migrated from Australia to Britain and set up shop to deliberately conscript shadow and to bring the shadow side of human beings to you front page and in living color. He studied the market and went after market share with deliberate and calculated tactics. He admits targeting Madonna and Michael Jackson in order to capture market share of youth– and gain younger readers. Michael and Madonna stories did that for him. He was the largest shadow peddler on earth. And there was no remorse, no change of heart and no second thought until the hacking scandal of last year when he announced that the Parliament and Scotaland Yard inquiry constituted the most humiliating day of his life. (Many did not believe his “confession” authentic.) The irony of that moment appears to have gone unnoticed by Murdoch who peddled humiliation of human beings for a living for decades. A man who considered himself noble had engaged in the most ignoble profession and the irony of his own shadow and complicity escaped him.
It seems his daughter may be having second thoughts about the nobility of the industry:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/23/elisabeth-murdoch-mactaggart_n_1825548.html#slide=899884
My suggestion is to write Elizabeth Murdoch a letter applauding her new “insight.” Most will never take the time to reinforce her faltering confidence and trepidation nor ask directly and clearly for change. That opportunity exists now. It would be so much more effective than “carping” on Twitter about how awful the press is and how degrading toward Michael. It would be energy better spent than complaining to the choir of MJ fans who already know how you feel about the tabloids. Jackson was dismissed by the tabloid press as a simple and shallow pop singer and entertainer and a non-human caricature that provided fodder for the red tops. If you decide to write a letter, send a copy to Inner Michael.
Mainstream journalism is infected with the same disease. In mainstream journalism the motto is “If it bleeds it leads,” meaning that the lead story if it’s blood and guts will trump anything else. You will hear the tragic news first and every outlet will try for an “exclusive” or interview with someone who is part of the story or directly impacted by it. The talking heads and pundits will follow with their analysis- and by the next morning, the prevailing “opinion” will be repeated as fact. Fact-checking costs money, tracking down and verifying sources takes time. In a tragedy, disaster or other lead story, there is a race to get there first and there is not time to check all sources and facts. Then other outlets copy and paste the story without checking the facts either. Michael Jackson also warned that if you say something (a lie) enough times, people start to believe it. Journalism in the Walter Cronkite era used to require two credible sources before a story was released as factual.
The science of tabloid journalism has unfortunately been adopted by mainstream media. There is a part of human nature that loves the pathos; there will always be gawkers drawn to gore. There is a mentality that has morbid curiosity, that drives by an accident slowly while craning-the-neck to glimpse the blood. There is a part of human nature that knows better, doesn’t want to but does it anyway. That is the tribal mind and the reptilian brain taking over where the frontal cortex of the brain would be more suitable and lofty. There’s a kind of mentality that, insecure in itself, is delighted to watch someone else fall. (“Shadenfreude”- a German word meaning: malicious delight at the misfortune of others;) There’s “Tall Poppy Syndrome” that gets angry and aggressive when someone else’s accomplishments tower over one’s own; it includes an impulse to “take someone down.”) There is the magnetism of human foibles: missteps, capers, sex, anger and humiliation and the relief that it’s not me. But none of that “me” crowd knows when their 15 minutes of negative fame will arrive.
These are reflections of the finest and highest incarnation of what it means to be human. These situations appeal to the dark side of the ego– its’ shadow. Human shadow has a kind of magnetism toward “the dark side” as represented by Darth Vader in Star Wars. It’s seductive and conscripts us: “Come to the dark side, Luke.” It delights and cavorts in sordid situations and their details, in salacious stories and tales of woe of those public figures or celebrities appearing “superior.” (I’d be wealthy if I had a dollar for every time I’ve seen a comment about how celebrities invite that scrutiny by being famous and they should expect it and “suck it up” because they’re so rich. That is Schadenfreude at work.) The fame or adoration of others is often the focus and a food for lament by those feeling disempowered, disenfranchised, alienated, poor, victimized, or wounded in some way by life. When the wounds are unconscious, they’re often projected onto others. The tendency is to tear down others in order to feel better about self. The shadow has trouble celebrating others. Jackson correctly identified this woundedness as an internal lack of feeling loved.
Tabloids, tabloid TV and some reporters know how to spin stories to appeal to shadow and have made a career, and lots of money doing it. (You know who you are.) Drama and adrenalin are addicting and that is the tabloids’ golden egg. Neurological studies have shown that life drama signals the release of chemical stimulants in the brain. There are people who thrive on drama because they experience addictive “hits” to the brain. You find these folks starting, having, and perpetuating Twitter wars. (Yes, Twitter can be addictive.) Anonymity in social media gives license to uncivil and tribal behavior. And this kind of activity alleviates boredom and the hum drum banality of life. Yes, there are tricks to the language and the presentation of the tabloids. There are covert tactics to “getting the story.” They have even resorted to Michael’s trick of using a cherry picker to peer over hedges and into private spaces and even to film weddings that were supposed to be secret.
The time I spent researching the tabloids for Voices Education Project was time spent wading around in these sewers where they peddle human depravity. It became necessary to take breaks and surface in order to breathe. Imagine living in that kind of sewer perpetually without surfacing for breath and balance. Imagine that “newsroom,” that “editing room” where any endearing human-ness or humanity is left on the cutting room floor. Imagine being applauded by your editor for “getting the scoop” when the scoop is someone’s sad misfortune. Imagine the shots thrown back after work and the high fives in the favorite pub celebrating the “getting” of some unsuspecting celebrity who will be front page fodder in the morning edition. (This is a widespread actual practice.)
And what would you imagine is the effect of a headline that declares so and so is “Near Death,” or “Doctors have little hope?” Do you think it helped, for example, Patrick Swayze get better or fight his cancer? What kind of ecosystem does it formulate for the target person? Imagine the impact of thousands of minds focusing on your illness and anticipating your death. We are learning that thoughts are things, that they have energy and impact. If you walk into a room where an argument or scuffle has taken place, you can feel something wrong in that room. The “vibe” left behind impacts you and can affect your mood and health. We know the impact of millions focusing love on an individual; think of the impact of millions focusing hate. Michael Jackson experienced both.
Before we think gossip harmless, we might remember that just because we can’t see something does not mean it does not exist. We are learning that in the quantum world, just the presence of a human mind changes the outcome of an experiment; human DNA placed in the same room, impacts materials inside glass vials. What do you imagine might be the impact of thousands focusing on failure, death, hatred or vicious gossip– when there is a target? Clairvoyants report that gossip cannibalizes (erodes or “eats up”) the aura of its’ subjects. Before we dismiss that completely as woo woo nonsense, we might think about how places and events feel to us (a chapel or cathedral feels differently than, say Alcatraz or Auschwitz.) Before you scoff, take a pound of love and put it in a box and mail it to me. How big is the box? How much does it weigh? How much area does the love take up and when you open that box, does the love stay congealed or will it spread equally throughout the room? By now you may be knitting your brows or laughing! So are you telling me, then, that love isn’t real? Can you see it? Prove it? So, how do you know it’s real?
By its’ effects. We know what effect false accusations have on people. We watched what happened to Michael Jackson. We learned what happened to those accused in the McMartin Preschool Case. We watched the Jonbennet Ramsey case and Patsy Ramsey’s cancer return and consume her. We saw Richard Jewell, accused of the Olympic Park bombing die and early death. Being accused very publicly of a crime you did not commit has a devastating effect on those who are victimized by it. How many similar cases can you think of? How must it feel to parents whose child has been kidnapped or killed to be accused on top of the frantic anxiety of a missing child? How can we prove that we are not watching people die by inches from the terrorist tactics of tabloidism?
We understand the impact of cultural memes, trends and public focus. The late eighties and early nineties were full of paranoia about adults in the company of children about satanic ritual abuse with children, false memory syndrome by therapists and false accusations of domestic violence and child abuse in custody cases. The discovery of the shocking statistics involving the incidence of incest, particularly in rural America set a pseudo-puritanical culture enamored with appearances on its ear. Follow that with the “X Files of the nineties and its’ “The truth is out there” meme and paranoia about potential alien encounters, and you get a jumpy populous looking for trouble where there isn’t any. And you net false accusations and destroyed lives.
It was a boon for tabloids deliberately designed to appeal to the lowest (human) common denominator, it’s an addiction served up with glee by those who willingly compromise their morals and perhaps their souls. Think of how disillusioned, angry and sad one must be to want to peddle this kind of darkness for human consumption. No one is respected in a space that believes nobody is “OK”– not self and not others. In a climate like that anything goes and carried to the extreme results in a no-rules anarchy.
We tend to forget that everything has a spectrum– light, sound, love, sex, compassion, kindness and human experience. There are extremes at both ends. The tabloid hack and tabloid consumer have a shared mindset of disillusionment and sardonic bitterness that breeds anger, cynicism and sadness that is alive and bathes the being (mind, tissues, cells, bones) itself and creates someone who is eaten from the inside out by her own parasitic drives. Those who consume it feed their inner parasite that gobbles up humans for sport; how can that be good for anyone?
Putting that kind of creative “gift” out to the masses certainly doesn’t present a call to greatness, does it?
What must the children and youth (who are watching) think of the practice and role modeling of publicly bullying people who have achieved greatness? What of greatness, then, is there to aspire to? The consequences are immeasurable and they are being played out now in schools all across the world as bullies end their summer vacation to take up their unhealed (un-fed) wounds and project them onto others in this new September school year. To ignore their (our) pain is to invite generalized bitterness—a metaphorical American Columbine that all too often erupts in a real event. If you study that tragedy (and others) you will find disenfranchisement and disillusionment at their core.
“So many people today have lost the ability to think and have unknowingly given over their minds to the media, to their peers, and to society. The result is that they’re the product of the collective mind programming that dictates the clothes they wear, the way they stand, the places where they shop, their dreams of success, the goals they pursue, and more. A special form of brainwashing has taken place.
“In many cases, bumper-sticker mottoes have become our beliefs, and we behave accordingly. “It’s okay to get even” and “Go ahead and make my day” become principles we adopt, expectations we plan for, latent hostility we cling to, and so forth. We’re brainwashed by opinions–everyone’s opinions–but how about yours? Who are you, after all? Eldon Taylor ~ Excerpted from What Does That Mean? Exploring Mind, Meaning and Mysteries!”
The ego has two sides– shadow and bright shadow. The shadow is the part of us we’d rather not acknowledge so we live in denial of our shadow self– and we project it onto others. That is why an accusation/judgment made about another is really a confession of the person doing the judging. (“Judge not, lest ye be judged.”)
The ironic part of this perpetual scramble to avoid shadow is that we somehow think that those deepest, darkest desires of humanity (ours and others) are unique only to us. If we acknowledge those thoughts, we judge ourselves evil (heaping on still more judgment.) We then work harder to hide that part of ourselves from the world because we must certainly be the lowest creep on Earth to have thoughts like that! That is our woundedness talking. And actually, sometimes those thoughts reflect archetypes common to all humanity or reveal our deepest fears and tabooed desires. We leap to bury the shadow from sight because we are embarrassed by it.
The shadow is where we are wounded– and deeply so by our own judgments and the judgments of others, by the tenets of culture, religion, education and all manner of indoctrinations heaped upon us that condemn us and create internal woundedness converted to shadow. So to do shadow work and examine our wounded selves in order to convey compassion and healing to that part of us that hurts so—is in service to the world. Michael Jackson cleverly used this knowledge in his art to provoke examination and to teach. His art was in service to humanity. The courage in that is self-evident.
We would do well to follow his example of looking at the “Man In the Mirror” and acknowledging our woundedness that is hurting and unloved, to cradle that woundedness in compassion and as much forgiveness as we can manage, and to remember our brilliant self.
When we are no longer compelled to hide the shadow self, we are no longer compelled to project it onto others. When there is no longer a need for projection, there is no longer a need for shadow peddlers to offer us front page choices as moving targets for our projections. Then we have no need to be “throwing stones to hide your hands.” Rather than hide our wounds in shadows and the shadow, we would do better to embrace and with compassion the human wounding within that causes us to be so miserable. It is an infantile and immature part of self that hurts inside. Better to cradle it with compassion and love than to hide it and need to expose it with glee when we project our own shadow onto others.
There are enough warriors for darkness. We need warriors for light– those who celebrate the accomplishments and gifts of others. Warriors of light see that light mirrored in all human beings. Michael Jackson spoke often of what he saw in each human being, and especially in children. All too often celebrities become the target of cultural abuse by disowned and projected personal and collective shadow. “Celebrity” or “fame” is the green screen for projection. How ironic that it’s the color green.
8 Comments
Barbara,
I think about the next onslaught regarding Michael Jackson. I know that the vultures (we all know who they are) are still out there. I also know that anyone, anyone can make an accusation and once out there cannot be retracted. His memory and his good name…my God. When will it end? Michael would still be with us had the vampires and vultures not picked away at him for most of his adult life. The 2005 trial slowly killed his gentle spirit. Although a warrior, he was too fragile for this world. I am so angry at BET and MTV for not playing his music for not airing his amazing concerts. After he died, the only tributes included the “bizarre” and the accusations. What about his humanitarian work? What about his MUSIC, his genius? When will his so called friends and family finally make a documentary about all of that to set the record straight? It angers me, Barbara because I feel helpless. I have never, ever felt this away about a pop star… because he was so much more than that. His genius, his generosity, his L.O.V.E messages, his lyrics, his dance, his light. That is what reeled me in.
Katie
Katie, You join a legion of others who feel the same way you do. Every one of them is frustrated as well. The anger is warranted but what one does with that anger is key to a solution. Mine went into the “Words and Violence” project which was the first tribute work published and which examines the media involvement. In the course of its’ development, that project began to take on fuller dimensions and had the look and feel of a grass roots and wholly organic movement. Then Marilyn, the director, noticed too and said: “we have the makings of movement here.” It gained momentum and took on intention. Then a medical crisis slowed everything down. It’s not that the intention isn’t still there– it is. It looks to be a question of timing, but no one can be sure. There is still the behind-the-scenes work going on. I am going to trust that the Universe and a greater wisdom has a better timeline than me.
Meanwhile i watched the MJ Fan Community fracture, become aggressive, start infighting and take on all the characteristics of conflict escalating to war. People behaved in less than honorable ways and people whom I thought were light warriors became inadvertant renegades. I was bullied, Marilyn was bullied, people tried to sabotage the Voices work by trying to redirect it or recruit from its ranks for other projects while I was trying to focus peoples’ anger into productivity. I was personally targeted with a claim of plagiarism by someone who has no body of work, no publishing portfolio and whom i had actually invited to submit something for the curriculum to facilitate her own healing. I knew that re-directing that anger into work brought a kind of purpose and healing. It did for may who worked on the curriculum; they felt less helpless and like they were contributing to a legacy. They were.
Getting onto the Huffington Post is a process and at the same time I was promoting Voices, I was pitching work to the editor of the Huffington Post. When I received an answer, I was already re-working an article for submission that I had published the previous October (October was Anti-bullying month.) It was about bullying and addressed the planned Discovery Autopsy and the editor was examining my extensive body of work about bullying at Voices which is what “Words and Violence” is about. They also were examining my other published work. That person, whom I had invited to heal and contribute to Voices, and who has no portfolio and no body of published work wrote to the H.P. editor and made an accusation of plagiarism. The editor wrote to me and said they supported me, could see the quality of my previous work and the extent of my portfolio and in particular, bullying, and said they preferred that they handle the problem for me rather than me handling it. That person and her “friend,” had they succeeded could have sabotaged an alternative voice to the usual detractors and just before the Murray trial. So some who suppose themselves MJ advocates are rather short sighted and don’t consider the long term or broader consequences of their actions.
Both the “bigger picture” and the “worst case scenario” must be considered in activism and peace and justice work. Michael Jackson was all about peace and justice and when those who claim to admire him, his work and life engage in self and ego centered sniping at others who share the circle, it is not attractive and does not help his legacy. There are times I have thought Michael would be apalled at the behavior of his fans. And I am quite sure he would hang his head with sorrow thinking he had failed in delivering his message.
I never retaliated but quietly went about the business of being the only clergy voice at H.P. who might provide a counter voice to those very people you accused by name here (deliberately omitted.) Since the editor took care of it, I stopped all contact with the accusor and those offending parties. And since Voices is about peace and conciliation across the world, that individual and the “friends” who encouraged her are not welcome there either, especially after bullying Marilyn– the dedicated and tireless Voices’ director. Apparently the bullying of me has not stopped as the individuals continue their campaign of bullying behind the scenes and have now libeled me as well. I don’t take the issue of reputation lightly; I have fought and won cases before so my attorney is kept informed. If it continues, I will take action. I have experiences just a sliver of the stake driven into Michael Jackson’s heart and I don’t know how he survived all that he did. My admiration grows exponentially for his strenght and stamina. My compassion for his humanness and faltering grows with it. As it does with everyone involved– for there is a lot of LOVE yet needed to become fertilizer to save the crop of humans on this planet from its’ drought.
Betrayal is an equal opportunity planetary pastime here too. Others who were compatriot warriors for truth and wanted to expose the media terrorism and whom I thought loyal, generous and ethical did things and said things that seemed out of character. I still stagger in disbelief. I had travelled to L.A. and when I was there, my phone calls were not returned. An irrational accusation followed after I came home and went straight to the emergency room to be treated for a life threatening infection I got while crawling around Neverland with a healing ritual.
I incurred a series of losses and my life was turned upside down by a medical problem. During that time, someone I had collaborated with had a change of personality with the onset of the proverbial “15 minutes of fame” and refused to honor an agreement regarding Voices to give them an exclusive to an article written for them. That was particularly hurtful to me and then something I said which was harmless was taken out of context, misrepresented and broadcast to a larger audience. I felt Voices deserved better because when the film “Man Behind the Myth” was released, Voices reviewed it and immediately hosted it on their site, thereby preserving the educational copyright, because they felt they “should not back away from controversy.” Not everyone would have been so steadfast given the film’s subject and content. All those things hurt because I respected and cared about those people; the scars are permanent.
That’s difficult because it erodes trust. And trust and our word is all we have. We trust that tomorrow will come, We trust we will be granted another day of life. We are born trying to trust that the world is a friendly place. It destroys our innocence when we discover this new place we have landed is not user friendly. It hurts when we are not validated and in emotional terms, that translates to ‘we are not loved.’ It’s a deep wounding.
I know fans have been battered. I know they have been insulted. I know they clamor for the truth. And I know they are angry. They have been battered by every kind of insult one can think of and some that one could never have seen coming like the Discovery Channel Autopsy. Then came the Murray trial. The fans have had wave after wave of injury wash over them. They have had their faith stolen and their hope for a just outcome crushed over and over.And still they rose to stand another day.
Many I have had contact with understand this spiritual emergency for that is what it is and spiritual emergencies will turn your life upside down and your inner life inside out. That is Michael’s true gift to his fans. I am not sure they are in a place to recognize it. The Jackson family attack may have been a reaction to something they perceived as friendly fire but may well have been a geniuine family attempt to circle the wagons and protect their own– whether right or wrong, poor timing, ill conceived or not. That is the most viscous attack I have ever seen and the most divisive. It involved mind reading, speculation, venomous anger and a great deal of unexamined assumptions and was all the while, fueld by the media. The fans became its latest casualty. For the fans joined the ranks of those encouraged and cheered on by manipulative media.
I understand the longing to have the truth revealed once and for all; I am a truth advocate. But it is not going to happen that way and we need to learn delayed gratification for this is going to unravel slowly for that is the only way it can be effective. Things that happen flash-bang do not last and the lessons learned to not permeate or foster permanent change in a culture or a world..
The bum rush to judgment, and the friendly fire are mistakes– whether they are personal or not, individual or collective. It is not OK to win the battle for the sake of losing the war. (I don’t like to use military language but it is the language we best understand– we are a violent people.) And that is what we need to see, address and change. The friendly fire has caused grave sadness and watching those who are broken falter by “shooting themselves in the foot” after such a long time on the front lines is especially heart-wrenching. I truly believed that the fans were Michael Jackson’s greatest legacy. I’d still like to believe that.
I have questions now– are they too injured to be rational? To cynical to hope? Too jaded to be effective? Too battle weary to continue? I don’t know. I asked those questions of myself. And I am still here.
Barbara
Keep the faith. There are many out there who admire your efforts and your insight, value the voice you have given to the voiceless. Don’t let other agendas derail your noble cause. Although Michael believed that his fans were truly his greatest legacy they can come in many disguises, some are just not who they say they are, while others prove to be invaluable to the cause. And along the way many will fall and many will fail. We are continually being tested but must stay on course. The answers will come but we must be patient. In the process much will change and in the end we may see a very different core of supporters and activists as compared to what we are dealing with today.
In the future, people of substance will come together and continue the work required to hold the center as a new world slowly takes hold. We can not walk away from Truth, Michael Jackson’s message resonated for so many of us. It’s all for LOVE….I wish that LOVE would come today….
Me too, V. But LOVE can’t come or get in if we are angry, spiteful, rigid, jealous, hateful and mean. LOVE can’t come today unless we invite it and EMBODY it. (Let it in) It’s not a passive mystical wind that is going to blow through and magically change everybody to a state of LOVE. The embodiment of LOVE takes work– taking honest inventory of oneself, claiming the shadow, embracing and transforming the wounding and we have to STOP projecting it onto other people because then “the whole world has to answer right now” for the places we hurt and haven’t healed. Love means looking into the eyes of the other and seeing the Divine there. It means knowing we are personally one of a kind but collectively there is only ONE KIND and ultimately, it is the ONE.
Over and over Michael sang about the mirror, Those are not empty words or meaningless lyrcis. A thousand times he asked: “make that change.” To “make that change” we must “be the change.” And if we are not being the change we need to “make that change.” That is a plaintive plea from a planetary visionary. We don’t get them here often.
I appreciate and admire your efforts. Your website has helped me to come a long way in how I have handled the loss of MJ and has helped me to understand how and why people can be so cruel to other people. It’s amazing how warped are so many people’s perspectives of how they treat other people.
It’s not as if these bullies don’t understand the power of their judgemental words and the things that they are doing to other people. What’s the most amazing thing is how they expect the people they attack to accept what they are doing to them. It’s utterly amazing.
I have not participated in the fan community for several months because of cyberbullying. I never would have dreamed that so many people who are admirers of the same unifying, and loving individual could be full of “so much hell.” It’s nothing short of insane. But it’s like Victoria said, “Many will fall and many will fail.” There is that one scripture that says, “the wheat and the tares grow together” …. You know.
I’m glad to see that you are still here doing Inner Michael and the Voices Project is more than awesome. Please don’t ever stop. Much love to you and yours.
Please take legal action. I really believe Tom Mesereau, and not just me, would encourage you to do so. LOVE does not mean people who terrorize and slander you never have to say they are sorry.
I apologize I am unable to write words of encouragement to Elizabeth Murdoch. What she is doing just feels to me like all those people who came out as Michael’s “friends” with many accolades after his death, but were nowhere to be found when he called on them in 2005. I just feel so leery. My body did not react well to her “insights”.
Thanks, G. The ego can get in the way of reason. Ego-centric people really believe they “know” and that they are “right.” Combine that with impetuous youth and fire-in-the-belly passion, and you sometimes get chaos. In this case, I I believe they just didn’t THINK. There was no reasoning, no consideration that I had already produced an entire body of work on bullying and had published a previous version of my submission to H.P. But it would have been better to contact me first and ask instead of jump to conclusions and act without adequate information. People condemned me and bullied me before and without, knowing all the facts. Isn’t that exactly what happened to Michael? Is the pain of that any less for me than it was for him? It was a very wounding experience as it was for Michael– yet his wounding was very publicand lay open and festering for all the world to see. As I said, given the scope and protracted nature of his bullying, I don’t know how he even showed up for life.
What is disheartening is that the same thing that happened to Michael is repeated in the fan community: Something happens, there is inadequate or preliminary information, unexamined assumptions are made and and angry swarm goes to Facebook and Twitter destroying everything and everyone in its path. It’s ugly. And the rest of the world gets to watch in disbelief as “Michael Jackson fans” behave in a manner that is “bizarre,” “weird,” and less-than-human. Jackson fans are a vast group but a minority in the world. And they don’t think how their behavior is perceived by those outside the circle. Much of the world already has an opinion (false and based on a deliberately constructed false meme) about Michael Jackson and they have moved on since his death because they are unaware of the truth and the true nature of the damage done. To them, watching fans behave in (to them) bizarre and weird ways reinforces what they already thought- ‘he was crazy and his fans are crazy too.’ Add to that the nastiness of the attacks, and the tendency for the swarm to split into smaller swarms and turn on one another. Now the fans become not just looney but dangerous and perhaps even evil.
Does anyone think for one moment that this would please Michael? Make him proud of his fans? And does anyone believe that after watching that kind of aggressive and nasty behavior that Michael Jackson was all about LOVE and PEACE and his fans learned that from him and they continue the tradition in his memory and in his name?
Whatever good works and whatever compassionate and philanthropic projects are done in the name and memory of Michael (and there are many) are overshadowed by the swarms of fans and what they demonstrate (demon-strate) to the world in their behavior. So when the world thinks of Michael Jackson and his fans, do you think they smile and think of LOVE and PEACE?
Regarding Elizabeth: I also do not believe she is completely sincere in her remarks but it appears she knows “something’s up” and letters can do a great deal to change minds if they are written well. Imagine if Elizabeth got say… 10,000 letters saying: “Yes! I have been waiting for someone to realize that it’s not a good idea to perpetually feature the shadow side of human nature for it gives us nothing to inspire us or aspire to. I have been hoping a publisher would recognize the damage this has done to humanity and to begin a trend in the other direction! I have been imagining how it would serve humanity and the world better to give up this practice in favor of….” And then tell her what you DO want.
I suggested that people respond much better to “I support you in your realization/mission” that they do to being criticized for their past or current mistakes. The last thing that is helpful is to reinforce bad behavior. If you are trying to teach something or retrain minds and thinking, it’s more tactically effective to reinforce when they are moving in the correct direction. It is better to encourage the correct behavior or to reinforce it when it is demonstrated in order to nudge someone along the better path. It’s “behavior modification” and it works to get the point across because people are wired to recoil and defend when they are attacked but remain open and malleable when they are praised. You are not condoning past behavior, you are encouraging a new direction. And if the person succeeds and thinks they did it all on their own- all the better. It makes you a stellar teacher.
Better to see the bigger picture, envisioning the best outcome and move forward toward something better, than to spend the rest of your days in a corner licking your wounds whether they are justified or not. ~B
OK I get you now. Its like that African tribe who, when a member does something wrong the tribe surrounds them and take turns telling the wrong-doer things they remember about them that are good and good things they have done. Behaviour modification – got it.
These factions in the “fan community” are really sorrowing and I am sure would appall Michael. This is why I too, like Joslyn, do not belong to or go near, any “fan communities”. Its hideous and toxic what one can be drawn into there. A tragedy, considering they are devolving to behaviour that killed Michael and is the antithesis of what Michael asked of them.
Guess what – I’m learning to love myself too much to spend something as precious as my time and energy in those places?