Michael Jackson has no end-part III

                Michael Jackson was exposed to many things perhaps he should not have been at an early age. Jackson felt his innocence and childhood were stripped from him because he was thrown in front of adults and therefore, forced to mimic an adult, prematurely. Therefore, Jackson wanted to create an environment where children could just enjoy themselves and be carefree, and Jackson tried desperately to recapture his childhood and maintain his innocence vicariously through children, around which he surrounded himself. Even in 2003, Dr. Stan Katz evaluated Jackson, stating Jackson had regressed into a 10-year-old.  Katz’s analysis would also later serve in debunking allegations of Jackson being a pedophile.

It was as if Jackson wanted to help protect childhood, shielding children from harm. Furthermore, Jackson felt more comfortable around children than adults because children do not judge and criticize and are therefore, more accepting than adults.

Jackson once said during a 1992 exclusive interview with Ebony magazine:

“A great poet said once: ‘When I see children, I see that God has not yet given up on man.’  The innocence of children represents…the potential of every human being. But by the time you are an adult, you're conditioned…Children are loving, they don't gossip, they don't complain, they're just open-hearted…They don't judge. They don't see things by way of color…That’s the problem with adults: they lose that child-like quality.”

As a child, I remember hearing the crazy stories about Jackson “sleeping” in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. However, when I saw the photograph of Jackson lying there, I said: “Wow, that is so cool! Michael Jackson has a Jetson’s bed!” Seeing Neverland Ranch on television did not resemble a “strange circus” to me, but more so a fun haven. “Michael Jackson has his own Kings Dominion,” I thought. And when Jackson went from dark to light I thought, “Wow, how did he do that? He really is magical.” Hey, I was only five at the time; cut me some slack!

Nonetheless, some adults, and particularly the media, did not think so innocently. It was as if the media banished Jackson, sending him into exile because he was eccentric. Yet, his eccentricities are what made him so great. However, because he was treated so badly, and because he wanted to create the environment of which he was robbed as a child, he was forced to create his own world around him. Jackson couldn’t ever go anywhere nor do anything without being under a constant lens.

Jackson was constantly exploited and objectified— not seen as a person with feelings, which became even more evident when I saw pictures floating around of Jackson lying dead on a gurney, which totally shows a lack of respect not only for Jackson, but life and death, wholly. Jackson was not viewed as a man who deserved peace and solitude— as someone who wanted a wife and children. Due to his mega stardom, people believed Jackson was bold, strong, and aggressive, often confusing Michael Jackson, the entertainer with Michael Jackson, the person. Michael Jackson, the person, was tender, sweet, compassionate, and timid.