Michael Jackson, to be Finally Left Alone

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In his Leave Me Alone track, which was originally released in 1987, Jackson had pleaded with the media to "stop doggin' [him] around." Some eight years later, with the insanity surrounding his life having reached an unthinkable high, he would tell the same folks to "stop pressuring [him]" in Scream - a song he recorded with his younger sister, Janet with tremendous frustration and anger. Anyone who has seen the video Scream knows just how tormented Jackson had become with all the press intrusion, screaming and begging for "somebody" to "please have mercy cause I just can't take it." But showing compassion and empathy for fellow man, who was clearly struggling with something deep, something beyond him, was too much to ask for. We're only human, eh. It's only when someone else's problems mirrors our own life battles, our own demons that we can pause to empathize. Let's face it: we are an incredibly self absorbed creature. Rarely do we ever look to evaluate, understand and ultimately judge people on their own terms; it has to be on our terms or nothin.' We're bitches, straight up. What else can we possibly be, if we see nothing wrong with the kinds of nasty coverage Jackson had been garnering in the last decade or so? What else can we be, if we actually bought and reinforced all the meanness that had dogged Jackson? Maybe just confused, easily misled, and uncritical.

Yes, Jackson was unconventional. Yes, his face, in many ways, had ironically, come to mirror his Thriller look - scary and unfathomable. Neverland, his unique attachment to children, his marriage to Lisa Marie Presley, his children, who only traveled with him with their faces covered, the umbrella, complete with carriers, that followed him - nothing about the man or his lifestyle was relatable for most of us. Maybe just his money and fame - who we either have or are lusting over. Other than that, Jackson was a straight up weirdo, to be trashed without any mercy - the mercy which he ultimately asks of the "Father" above in Scream. The profit centered media certainly isn't capable of it; nor are we normal folks who've long abandoned him and his un-relatable pain since he started to stray away from our perception of "normal" or "cool." The whole thing actually has a certain high school drama feel to it. The shy, sensitive, reclusive, "weird" kid who sees the world differently can't seem to fit in any clique, so he spends his high school years dodging bullies and fighting "weirdo" labels. Adulthood, of course, promises that "weird" kid nothing better as Michael Jackson's ordeal reveals. I only draw the parallel so as to show our lack of sensitivity growth from our teens into our twenties, thirties, forties and beyond. If someone doesn't quite fit our definition of "normal", she doesn't quite look like us, appeals to us - fifteen or thirty - we're still gonna be a bitch about it. Where in high school, we took our queue from the popular boys and girls, as adults, we still rely on those menacing leaders in places where we have to exist with others - namely the workplace, which boasts cliques of every kind.

With famous people, we take our queue from trash publications and shows that are purely motivated by profit. To say Michael Jackson's unique mental state eludes the publishers and creators of the multi billion dollar media industry is naive. They just don't care - the weirder the caricature, the more attention it draws, and the more profitable the story and ultimately their business. Empathy is only afforded, if ever, in death. There's no profit in trashing the dead as there's limits to our meanness (God bless), so the profit seekers gotta adjust accordingly. And boy have they ever with Michael Jackson's passing away. In all the years I have seen him covered ( I belong to the Bad generation), never have I seen such generous coverage of the man and his problems. All of the sudden, it's the music not the "weirdness" that matters. It's his immense contributions to music rather than his unconventional lifestyle that is capturing the headlines. Finally, in death, the media is giving Jackson the respect he deserved in life. I wonder what Eminem has to say now, having put out one of the most disrespectful videos on Jackson - one which BET refused to air. Imagine Eminem's audacity, a mediocre rapper by all accounts - he neither has Biggie Smalls lyrical flow or Tupac's humanity - who dared to vomit on a Michael Jackson look alike in his Just Lose It video. Imagine the audacity of all the music channels who ignored Jackson's plea for basic decency towards him and respect for his contribution to music. But that's how flaky the entertainment world is - out with the old and in with the new. But wait a minute, that sounds awfully like us too...

Just like everyone else, I don't know anything about Michael Jackson beyond what I have seen on television and read in the papers. Common sense tells me though that he was a deeply tormented soul - someone who begged our sympathy and understanding more than anything else. Nobody enters this world to be "weird"; nobody enters this world to be hated; nobody enters this world to go out like Michael. And if his songs reveal anything, Michael Jackson was a deeply sensitive soul who not only wanted to be loved, but wanted love for everyone.

~Addis