Morrigan's blog: "I rant...therefore I am."

I just watched the Michael Jackson memorial on television. And while I am a little put off by the media sensation surrounding his death, this service was beautiful. I can understand the need these people felt to memorialize him...to emulate him...to celebrate him. 

So much of the media hype that's surrounded him throughout his life and now in his death has nauseated me. But this...this gave me hope for humanity. So many people coming together to mourn and celebrate the life of one man...ONE MAN. The world united in a common grief. We can still work together after all.

Anyone who frequents the MuMMs has seen much of what I have to say on this subject. I am very vocal regarding it.

I've sat on this site watching people make horrible jokes about this man and call him a pedophile. And, it's sickening. Whatever you believe he did in his life...whatever wrongs you attribute to him...he is a man who never had a moment's peace while he was alive, and now that he's gone, he still doesn't get that. To everyone who says things like this, I hope that when YOU die, people drag out the most embarrassing, humiliating portions of your life and thrust them into the spotlight. I hope that YOUR memory is shown so little respect that people have a good laugh at YOUR expense.

For my part, I never believed any of the allegations against him. I don't think that it would have ever occured to him to hurt a child...or to hurt anyone. He was, in many ways, a child himself. He surrounded himself with children because they were the only people he could trust...the only ones who wouldn't just say what he wanted to hear so that they could share in his spotlight and his fortune. Children are honest and they are full of magic and adventure. They taught him how to play...and they allowed him to live vicariously through them the childhood that he so wished he could have had.

When people call him a pedophile, they are only showing their own ignorance. Yes, he settled out of court when the first allegations were brought against him, but that was NOT an admission of guilt. I've had people say "No one would pay THAT much money unless they WERE guilty". But the thing is...to you and I, it was a fortune. For Michael Jackson, a man with BILLIONS of dollars at his disposal, that was just a drop in the bucket...a small price to pay to bring an end to the humilation that he...and the children involved...were being put through by the police and the media. He was hounded, convicted without a trial, served with papers that allowed strangers to come in his home and photograph his genitals...and he knew the children were being subjected to the same kind of treatment, just because their parents wanted money. "Embarrassment" is an understatement. "Depraved and humiliating" is closer to the truth. In fact, though people don't seem to know this, the children involved later came out to the media and stated that Michael NEVER did any of the things he had been accused of. And when some other money hungry parents brought charges against him years later, he chose to clear his name by going to trial...and was CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES. Of course, people tend to forget that little fact. They also tend to forget that people are "innocent until proven guilty". Not the other fucking way around.

Here was a man who was thrust into the spotlight at an early age. His father's favorite nickname for him was "Big Nose", warping his self image and spawning his obsession with plastic surgery in a quest to reinvent himself. If, as a child, he didn't perform well in rehearsals, he was abused. And even after that abuse ended, he spent his entire lifetime in that spotlight. He never had privacy or anything resembling a normal life...let alone a normal childhood. He ached for that which he could never have.

I had a conversation with a friend who happens to be a licensed therapist. She gave me her educated opinion on the subject. She said "As a therapist, what I've seen of Michael Jackson over the years has made me think that he was asexual. He was, mentally a child...a child who had the ability and financial means to create whatever fantasy he wanted to. He would have never done the things he was accused of and I would have trusted him with my children." Hmmm.

I admired him and I pitied him at the same time. He had an amazing talent and an amazing heart.  Yet, everyone chooses to linger on the bad things they think he did. They forget that he was HUMAN. He was allowed to make mistakes and he was allowed to make poor choices. His poor choices were just more public than most. I advise everyone to remember that, whatever else he was...and he WAS damaged, in his lifetime he did more good than any of us will ever even think of doing.

Michael Jackson wrote “We Are The World” with Lionel Richie in 1985 and performed it as part of an all-star single to raise money for Africa in 1985.

The Millennium-Issue of the “Guinness Book Of Records” names Michael as the “Pop Star who supports the most charity organizations”.

Michael Jackson has supported the following charities:

* American Cancer Society

* Big Brothers Big Sisters

* Boys' and Girls' Clubs of America

* Childhelp USA * Children's Defense Fund

* Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation

* End Hunger Network

* Great Ormond Street Hospital

* Jane Goodall Institute

* Make-A-Wish Foundation

* Prince's Trust

* Ronald McDonald House Charities

* Starlight Children's Foundation

* TJ Martell Foundation

* United Negro College Fund

Whatever else you believe of him...and, as I said, I have always believed that he would have never intentionally hurt a child...he did these things. He traveled to impoverished countries. He supported worthy causes. He cared. He did more good in his 50 years on this earth than all of us together will ever accomplish. He broke down barriers and brought people together. He changed the face of music and dance. He gave all that he was to the world that, in return; hounded him, made fun of him, called him names like "Wacko Jacko", made a mockery of his entire life and his family, and finally drove him into a reclusive life. He lived at the mercy of the media. He had so little control over his own existance. And that's a sad way for ANYONE to live.

RIP Michael Joseph Jackson. May you finally be at peace.