Quote:
Originally posted by LordKathen:
And now for something completely different...
I cant beleive this post has gone on this long. I posted a thread about an abducted girl in my town, and have gotten replies from a few of you. This thread has gone on for a long time now. I was hopeing to discuss abduction issues and I dont know what else. This guys life means nothing, this little girls life means a lot more.
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It's hardly surprising, nor does it say anything about how much these two issues are valued. Michael Jackson is a controversial figure, and with the documentary of course there will be debate over who he is and what he does. People have different views about him, that's what sparks debate and conversation. The abduction of the little girl, though far more important and sobering (or perhaps not, those alleging MJ's paedophilia might say), doesn't exactly encourage a lot of debate and exchange of different opinions. I imagine most people feel
very strongly about a 4 year old girl being snatched, but they all feel the same way - that it's awful and terrible and they hope she's okay.
Regarding Michael, I think it's surprising that so much is being made of this television special - as if we now
know him and what he's all about. For one thing, we only know what the reporter wanted us to see, and as Timber said, condensing 8 months into 2 hours, of course only the most controversial things will be shown. For another, it's not as if this is some sort of hidden camera expose. Having teams of cameramen, an interviewer, and whatever else following you around will change your behaviour. 'Look how he fed the baby!' someone commented. Yes, it was very awkward, and little Blanket (
) probably didn't enjoy it at all, but would he feed him like that all the time, when the cameras weren't on him (or even if they were - how would we know, Martin didn't show us), with the veil and the shaky leg? Probably not. He certainly didn't do himself any favours with the plastic surgery denials, and there's no question he's not exactly Mr Healthy, but a couple of hours of documentary don't really equip us to make such vehement judgements.
Also regarding a comment someone made about Michael's brothers not having the same problems Michael does, when they were exposed to the same upbringing, so it's not a good excuse - you can't draw such a conclusion from that. All we can say is that his brothers had different (better) coping strategies, maybe had better support than he did. They also didn't have the same pressures Michael did; he was the star, he was the one who went on to huge stardom, they did not. It's also unclear whether they suffered the same emotional abuse that Michael did, regarding his appearance. Just as if you have two people who were raped say, and one managed to put it behind them and used it to become stronger, and the other became depressed, you can't say, well the person B *should* have got over it, person A did, or that person B's depression can't be caused by the rape since person A isn't depressed, Michael's background of abuse can't be diminished as a major factor for his present condition just because others subjected to similiar abuse aren't exactly the same.