Dave Dave: Michael Jackson was like a Father to me. (video: heartwrenching)

[Triana]

THIS is the stuff the goddamned lame$tream media NEVER reported about Michael.

They reported on his 'white' skin (NEVER mentioned the vitiligo), his plastic surgery (what hollywood person DIDN'T have some?), stupid-ass stories about his personal life (LIES), and they propogated the extortionist accusations made against him about children. THERE IS NO WAY this man would ever hurt a person - ESPECIALLY a child. Hell he wouldn't even squash a bug on stage!! :loveya:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En5Q4syywcw

We've lost a true Angel. Michael was ALWAYS helping people like this. CONSTANTLY. And he was crucified for it instead of being loved (back) for it.

[hlthe2b]

1. society today: we either lionize or demonize public figures...

There seems to be little in between, though I've never met a human that fit either category exclusively.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Dave Dave is David Rothenberg. You remember him from his tragedy in the Eighties.

http://trishwilson.typepad.com/blog/2005/02/man_who_burned_.html

[Triana]

3. Ugh...

...his dad is one sick f*ck. How can anyone do this to their own child? Anyway, I'm glad MJ was there for him.

[99 Percent Sure]

4. I saw him last night on CNN during their 4-hour broadcast

of the burial. Gotham Chopra also told the story of MJ living at the 4 Seasons in NY where he kept cash hidden behind the toilet because he always liked having COH.

I'm glad they finally buried him after 70 days. The mausoleum is extraordinarily beautiful. God rest his soul.

[Bluenorthwest]

5. Michael did not speak about his good actions

because that takes away the good. But in showbiz, one is supposed to commodify such things. Mr. Jackson refused to do that. He did not use the suffering he helped to mitigate as tools to promote his career. He was a good man. He was a good Democrat for that matter. A rich, donating Democrat.
.
No one even bothered to listen to the words of what turned out to be his final public song, a fitting song for Michael's message in life. He was singing about the corruption of government and media, invoking by name great heros such as Martin Luther King Jr and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, saying if they were still with us, they would not stand for these great wrongs. He sang about FDR by name, and Democrats said 'vapid pop dance music'. The message of the song, what MJ was wanting his listeners to know, is that the powers that be don't care about the people. His last public words were thus: "All I want to say is that they don't really care about us."
If a white man had died after singing that song, he'd have been forgiven a million imagined sins. And people heretrashed his family. His family. For things they read about him in tabloids.
On the tabloids, I can only offer the lesson the days right after his death have to teach us. I say read the UK tabs, about how he was unable to sing, could barely move. They said his big show was going to be 15 minutes of MJ the rest, and I quote, "lights and choreograhpy". Now watch that last rehearsal video again and tell me what the tabloids know. He as serving it up, and that was just rehearsal. The tabloids said that he could not remember any of his lyrics, could not sing, and that the O2 Arena was chosen because it 'has the best lip synch technolgy in the world." Such tech is portable to begin with, and the producers of the show own the O2 as well as Staples Center where the rehearsals were. And then the memorial. Anyone who listens to the tabloids about anything is a media duped idiot.

Michael was a good man. And I did not get that out of the tabloids.

[Triana]

6. Well said Bluenorthwest...

...especially this part:

"Anyone who listens to the tabloids about anything is a media duped idiot."

Thing is, the damned media and tabloids certainly had the desire to pry into his personal life, sexual habits, his appearance, and to publicly persecute (shall I say MOLEST?) him for fun and profit based on the accusations of a couple children of known extortionists after his money, but they somehow - interestingly enough - never, EVER looked at anything good he did and he did a LOT of good in this world.

The media could have EASILY found and reported on this stuff whether Michael talked about it himself or not - all they had to do was look and ask - but they were more interested in gossip, lies, sensationalism, distortion, and in persecuting him for fun and profit. They didn't mind asking him about his sex life though - or reporting on that. Pfft.

The lame$tream media & tabloids - just like they're not interested in reporting the whole story or truth about health care, Iraq, torture, or any other person or issue - was not and is not interested in reporting the truth about Michael Jackson, either. Not in the 80s, 90s, 2000s, or now.

Interestingly enough, some DUers believe the media is and was telling the truth about Michael Jackson all these years and now - but they also know they don't tell the truth (at least not the undistorted truth) about anything else and haven't in years. It's a very interesting phenomenon.

They are still harping on whose damned sperm his kids came from. WHO CARES? He was their DAD, and he was a magnificent father by all accounts whose beautiful, intelligent, well-behaved children loved him very much and he obviously took great care of them and protected them. That's ALL that matters. The rest is IRRELEVANT.

And still, nary a WORD about the MILLIONS he gave to charity worldwide - the people like Dave Dave, the Farkas boy, and MANY others that Michael supported and helped - people/children he didn't even KNOW - the endless orphanages and hospitals he visited on his tours, including the one in Romania that he turned around in 24 hours (or he refused to go on stage) - NONE of it. The NAAACP, United Negro College Fund, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Brotman Burn Center, The Democratic Party, and on and on an on. His humanitarian legacy is as impressive as his creative one.

Personally, I WILL BE DAMNED if I will keep silent about it NOW.

[sabrina 1]

8. Injustice is what happened to Michael Jackson

And it's an example of how easily people can be convinced of something they don't take the trouble to look into. Anyone who read the original documents from the first extortion effort could not believe it was anything but extortion. In fact, MJ had filed an extortion suit against them. They were horrible people, a father who drugged his own child in order to get him to say what he would not say up until then.

He was acquitted on all counts in the last case because the lies were so obvious and the record of the mother who had tried the same thing before, was known to the jury.

Still, people still ran around calling him a pedophile. They should think how easy this can happen, false accusations, but only IF people believe tabloid journalism and extortionists. Sadly, I think all of them contributed to his death. I cannot imagine what it did to him, someone who would never hurt a fly. The lying tabloids even claimed McCauley Culkin was a 'victim' which he completely refuted and was a witness for MJ.

I hope karma catches up all of them ~ but mostly I blame the media ...

[Triana]

9. Damn right - horrible injustice and persecution - Michael even said himself

the media were "scum" (that's putting it nicely). And his mantra about tabloids was:

"If you see a tabloid, burn it"

His anger with them (media and tabloids) was - just like it is here on DU regarding their twisting and lying about political issues - righteous and justified.

The media tell the truth about NOTHING - not health care, not the pre-invasion evidence (or lack thereof) of Iraq, not the appointment of a moron as President or a stolen election, and certainly NOT Michael Jackson - or anyone else for that matter.

Yet people still believe their crap about MJ (when they don't tell the truth about anything ELSE - why would they be telling the truth about him, either?). It boggles the mind.

[sabrina 1]

10. Another thing that the media could have pointed out.

What father, if he really believed his child had been abused would settle for money? Any father I know would be outraged at the thought of allowing a child abuser to go on to abuse others and get away with the claims he made.

They had evidence that it was extortion from the beginning. I think MJ settled and dropped his extortion suit because he was not willing to drag the boy through a horrible trial and he knew all they wanted was money.

I think the last time, he decided to make them go to court and try to prove the lies they were telling. I suppose he thought he would be vindicated, as he was. But not to some in the public, who prefer to think badly of people. He was a person, with feelings who quietly did so much good in the world despite all the bad things that had happened to him.

I wish that freedom of the press included 'to tell the truth, to present facts'. But with a ruling not so long ago giving Fox News the right to lie, like you, I don't believe anything I read in the press, tabloid or otherwise, until I check it out with more reliable sources. I hope a few of them have some sleepless nights over what they did, like the extortionists, for money.

[Triana]

11. those extortionists and the media who persecuted MJ for years...

...will have to answer to a higher power for their dirty deeds. The SAME one that created Michael Jackson. I take comfort in that, at least.

I'm not religious but I do believe in KARMA and a higher power in the Universe. It all comes back around. Guaranteed.

Michael was a magnificent human being. His humanitarian resume is as storied and extensive as his creative one. He was incredible. He didn't brag on his humanitarian work. No one who does it for the right reasons does. And he did it for the right reasons. After all this World put him through - this incredible human being - he kept giving right up until the end. He gave everything - his heart and soul poured into his art and performance, and SO much to charity and humanitarian efforts - it's in the Guinness and that doesn't even cover all of it.

The World has lost a precious jewel. It may not know it yet, or ever (well many of us do).

There will NEVER be anyone like Michael Jackson again. And this is a HUGE loss to humanity.

The media always negatively defined him because he was "different". It made them a lot of profit. Whole "journalism" careers were launched out of the persecution of Michael Jackson. If one wanted to do a study on what's wrong with the media today, that would be a good place to start.

And GIVERS are different. The World is full of takers, fakers, shadow-makers. When a giver comes along who doesn't fit the status quo (takers), (s)he's crucified, destroyed, then abandoned - just like Michael. Lied about constantly, and called a "freak" and a "weirdo" based on those lies.

Few people leave this entire world a better place than they found it. Few people give more to the entire world than they take from it. Not these days. But Michael Jackson did.

When someone comes along who exemplifies brilliant talent and creativity, plus humanity, love, giving, forgiving, caring for the planet, the disadvantaged, taking care of sick and deprived children, - (s)he's crucified by a tabloid vulture-culture and the tabloid junkies who patronize it, not to mention greedy extortionists who aren't above prostituting their own children to lies for profit, and various and sundry other sidewinding snakes (such as many of those in Washington DC and government) out to get a piece of hide and chunks of money, or to climb to the top of their "game" by destroying other people in their path. People like Michael Jackson.

If Michael Jackson was a "freak" -- then "GOD" BLESS THE FREAKS - for they are the Angels among us. And THEY are the Ones who Change the World. And so he did.


CHANGE THE WORLD

[sabrina 1]

12. I think the problem is that most people now are

pretty cynical. We've all been exposed to too much sensationalism. The media focuses on the horror stories, and rarely on anything that is good, because they say, 'it sells'.

As a result, we are attuned to 'getting' the 'bad guys' and once the media declares someone is bad, the people don't bother to find out whether it's true or not. I don't know why that is as most polls say people do not trust the media.

MJ was foolish in the sense that because he knew his intentions were sincere, he thought people would see that. And he saw no reason to change his behavior because HE knew he had done nothing wrong. Some of his friends did try to warn him about the climate we live in.

He should have protected himself more and realized that were sharks out there, willing to do anything, as those extortionists proved, to make money.

I believe in Karma also, and would not want to be in their position, and that includes the media.

But, in other parts of the world, he remained popular and most people in Europe and Asia, did not believe the accusations against him.

I hope one day, the children will tell the truth, one of them grown-up now. That would be the right thing for them to do.

[Triana]

13. They should tell the truth. It's on their heads if they don't.

They participated in a seedy, greedy plot to destroy an exceptional, innocent man. Frankly, I don't know how they sleep. I really don't. And people wonder why there are now more psychopaths in the world than ever.

It appears that maybe part of the reason is we're training them - like these two.

[Catherine Vincent]

7. Excellent post!

:thumbsup: