Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Michael Jackson suffers cardiac arrest

Iowa_Flames_Fan · 06-26-2009, 10:25 AM

I think the "pedophilia" angle is a really tough one in this case. The actions of the family look more like extortion than the actions of a family seeking justice against someone who abused their child, but that doesn't mean he didn't do it. However, it's worth keeping one thing in mind: until Martin Bashir's hatchet job on Michael and the boy in question, the family had no interest in going to court.

My instinct--based on nothing other than seeing interviews with him--is that he was not a child molester, but a deeply unhealthy, broken individual who believed that he was still a child. In the Bashir documentary he seemed perpetually confused, naive, and like a person who was being victimized by the people around him constantly.

With that said, I wouldn't want my kids "spending the night" with a person who so clearly believes himself to be a child. I think that sort of "Peter Pan" syndrome leads to profoundly unhealthy relationships with children, and do have the risk of being harmful even if they aren't abusive.

I don't know for a fact that he didn't abuse the boy in question. But nor does anyone else "know for a fact" that he did. But Jackson doesn't really fit the profile; pedophiles are adults who victimize children in a predatory way--they get off on power, control, hurting, etc. They are truly evil, scum of the earth people who deserve no sympathy. The thing is, the vibe I got from Jackson was different--it was more like he was in every important sense a child himself, vulnerable and sad as well as neurotic and mentally broken.

And he was clearly a musical genius. The Chaplin comparison is a good one; there's no escaping the fact that Chaplin liked very young girls--he was sort of famous for it. But that doesn't change the fact that he transformed the world of film. Michael Jackson was on the same order in terms of being a musical innovator.

06-26-2009, 10:25 AM	#405
Iowa_Flames_Fan Referee Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Over the hill Exp:	I think the "pedophilia" angle is a really tough one in this case. The actions of the family look more like extortion than the actions of a family seeking justice against someone who abused their child, but that doesn't mean he didn't do it. However, it's worth keeping one thing in mind: until Martin Bashir's hatchet job on Michael and the boy in question, the family had no interest in going to court. My instinct--based on nothing other than seeing interviews with him--is that he was not a child molester, but a deeply unhealthy, broken individual who believed that he was still a child. In the Bashir documentary he seemed perpetually confused, naive, and like a person who was being victimized by the people around him constantly. With that said, I wouldn't want my kids "spending the night" with a person who so clearly believes himself to be a child. I think that sort of "Peter Pan" syndrome leads to profoundly unhealthy relationships with children, and do have the risk of being harmful even if they aren't abusive. I don't know for a fact that he didn't abuse the boy in question. But nor does anyone else "know for a fact" that he did. But Jackson doesn't really fit the profile; pedophiles are adults who victimize children in a predatory way--they get off on power, control, hurting, etc. They are truly evil, scum of the earth people who deserve no sympathy. The thing is, the vibe I got from Jackson was different--it was more like he was in every important sense a child himself, vulnerable and sad as well as neurotic and mentally broken. And he was clearly a musical genius. The Chaplin comparison is a good one; there's no escaping the fact that Chaplin liked very young girls--he was sort of famous for it. But that doesn't change the fact that he transformed the world of film. Michael Jackson was on the same order in terms of being a musical innovator.