Ένας ακόνμα “μεγάλος” έφυγε. Ο λόγος φυσικά για τον άνθρωπο που έριξε τα φυλετικά τείχη στο χώρο της τέχνης, τον Michael Joseph Jackson. Δεν θα αναφερθώ στις λεπτομέρειες του θανάτου του, ούτε θα κάνω κανένα αφιέρωμα στη ζωή του – αυτά θα τα βρείτε παντού. Θέλω απλά να αναφέρω κάποιες πτυχές της αμφιλεγόμενης προσωπικότητάς του μέσα από κάποια στοιχεία και κείμενα που βρήκα στο διαδικτυο. Αναφέρθηκε ως παιδεραστής, τρελλάρα, μαύρος-που-ήθελε-να-γίνει-άσπρος και άλλα πολλά. Νομίζω ότι η αλήθεια με λίγη έρευνα είναι ενδιαφέρουσα.
Αρχίζω με ένα κείμενο που είχε γράψει ο ίδιος, σε ένα ξενοδοχείο τη δεκαετία του 90.
You probably can’t read the words in the note next to the accompanying photo of Michael Jackson, but they were handwritten by the singer himself during the mid 1990s when he was constantly on tour and just as constantly a subject of much public ridicule and condemnation. This note was composed on hotel stationery and, complete with original spellings, grammar, and format, reads as follows:
“like the old Indian proverb says do not judge a man until you’ve walked 2 moons in his moccasins.
Most people don’t know me, that is why they write such things in wich most is not true
I cry very very often because it hurts and I worry about the children all my children all over the world, I live for them.
If a man could say nothing against a character but what he can prove, history could not be written.
Animals strike, not from malice, but because they want to live, it is the same with those who criticize, they desire our blood, not our pain. But still I must achieve I must seek truth in all things. I must endure for the power I was sent forth, for the world for the children.
But have mercy, for I’ve been bleeding a long time now.”
M.J. (circa 1995) — “To Walk in Michael Jackson’s Moccasins” by Aberjhani
Θα συνεχίσω με τα lyrics του τραγουφιού Childhood:
Have you seen my Childhood?
I’m searching for the world that I come from
‘Cause I’ve been looking around
In the lost and found of my heart…
No one understands me
They view it as such strange eccentricities…
‘Cause I keep kidding around
Like a child, but pardon me…People say I’m not okay
‘Cause I love such elementary things…
It’s been my fate to compensate,
for the Childhood
I’ve never known…Have you seen my Childhood?
I’m searching for that wonder in my youth
Like pirates in adventurous dreams,
Of conquest and kings on the throne…Before you judge me, try hard to love me,
Look within your heart then ask,
Have you seen my Childhood?People say I’m strange that way
‘Cause I love such elementary things,
It’s been my fate to compensate,
for the Childhood (Childhood) I’ve never known…Have you seen my Childhood?
I’m searching for that wonder in my youth
Like fantastical stories to share
But the dreams I would dare, watch me fly…Before you judge me, try hard to love me.
The painful youth I’ve had
Have you seen my Childhood….
Και θα ένα απόσπασμα του wikipedia σχετικά με την υγεία του:
In 1986, the tabloid press ran a story claiming that Jackson slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber[51] to slow the aging process; he was pictured lying down in a glass box. Although the claim was untrue, Jackson disseminated the fabricated story himself. The singer was promoting his upcoming film Captain EO and wanted to promote a science fiction image of himself.[52] Jackson had a fourth rhinoplasty and, wanting masculine features, had a cleft put in his chin.[25] Then he starred in the Francis Ford Coppola-directed 3-D film Captain EO. It was the most expensive film produced on a per-minute basis at the time, and was later hosted in Disney theme parks. Disneyland featured the film in its Tomorrowland area for nearly 11 years, while Walt Disney World screened the film in its Epcot theme park from 1986 to 1994.[53]
Jackson in 1988, two years after he was diagnosed with vitiligo, here in the early stages of the disease
Jackson bought and befriended a pet chimpanzee called Bubbles, an act which extended his eccentric persona. In 2003, the singer claimed that Bubbles shared his toilet and cleaned his bedroom.[51] Later, it was reported that Jackson bought the bones of The Elephant Man.[51] Although untrue, it was a story that Jackson again disseminated to the tabloid press.[52] These stories inspired the pejorative nickname “Wacko Jacko”, which Jackson acquired the following year. He would eventually come to despise the nickname. Realizing his mistake, he stopped leaking untruths to the press. However due to the profit being made, the media began making up their own stories.[51][54]
Jackson’s skin was a medium-brown color for the entire duration of his youth, but starting in the early 1980s, his skin gradually grew paler. This change gained widespread media coverage, including rumors that Jackson was bleaching his skin.[13] In the mid-1980s, Jackson was diagnosed with vitiligo and lupus; the latter was in remission in Jackson’s case, and both illnesses made him sensitive to sunlight. The treatments he used for his condition further lightened his skin tone, and, with the application of pancake makeup to even out blotches, he could appear very pale.[55] The structure of his face changed as well; several surgeons have speculated that Jackson had undergone multiple nasal surgeries, a forehead lift, thinned lips and a cheekbone surgery.[56] Changes to his face were, in part, due to periods of significant weight loss.[22] Jackson lost weight in the early 1980s because of a change in diet and a desire for “a dancer’s body”.[57] Witnesses reported that Jackson was often dizzy and speculated that he was suffering from anorexia nervosa; periods of weight loss would become a recurring problem for the singer later in life.[58] Some medical professionals have publicly stated their belief that the singer had body dysmorphic disorder, a psychological condition whereby the sufferer has no concept of how he is perceived by others.[55]
“Why not just tell people I’m an alien from Mars. Tell them I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight. They’ll believe anything you say, because you’re a reporter. But if I, Michael Jackson, were to say, ‘I’m an alien from Mars and I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight,’ people would say, ‘Oh, man, that Michael Jackson is nuts. He’s cracked up. You can’t believe a damn word that comes out of his mouth.'”[59]
—Michael Jackson
