As members of the MJ community we know it is not always that easy to be a Michael Jackson fan. For many of the older members it is much easier, and we have grown indifferent to the pathetic social stigma; but I read many stories about younger fans being ridiculed at school, not only by other kids but by their teachers and even in some unfortunate cases their parents too. This angers me no end and I believe that the perceived acceptance to ridicule and bully fans, as well as to constantly tear-down and spitefully attack Michael Jackson as if it is their God-given right to preside over him as judges is a clear construct of the media's control on society.
It is perhaps one of the most obvious examples of classic groupthink on a quantative sociometric scale.
As everyone knows, the media is relentless in it's constant attacks of Michael and has been doing so for decades. They have attacked his appearance, eccentricity, lifestyle and everything in between. They have constructed lies and invaded his privacy at every turn and all the while telling the public how to think and how to perceive. The media is Big Brother in the respect of telling us what is "normal" and how we should all act and what our social ideology should be. This clearly goes way past the present topic but this is a specific indication of the effect it can have.
The media has made everyone a Michael Jackson expert in their own minds. You would be extremely hard pressed to find someone on the street who had no opinion of Michael Jackson whatsoever. Everyone thinks they know who he is and they think they have the right to judge him. But they don't know anything beyond the circus of sensationalism that the media thrives off.
They just think they do.
If you have not done your research you are not qualified to have an opinion. This is the same as any other topic of discussion.
Their knowledge is accumulated from the press. The same press that has been attacking every aspect of his life since his meteoric rise to super stardom. Even from the most caring and easy-going people who would never dream of saying a bad word about anyone you will hear vile and hateful judgments on his appearance and his life as if when it comes to Michael it's now fair game and somehow expected. Society thinks they own him just on the back of constant and unwanted media exposure. They are wrong again.
Now, that is one aspect of it. It would be hard to continue without specifically mentioning the accusations of child molestation and his changing appearance and of a lifestyle that does not conform to what's dictated as "normal" by the media.
For those of us in the fan community we are fully aware of the blatant discrepancies in the '93 accusation and '03 case, and have a shrewd and deep knowledge of every aspect of it, and have as a result of that logically come to the now obvious conclusion that he is totally innocent. It only takes a decent look at the facts to see why he is innocent and what they tried to pull off, and he was rightfully acquitted due to the laughable prosecutions case that could not support their claims because they were, in fact, patently false.
As for his appearance and his oft' purported use of plastic surgery and the like; beyond the obvious that he can do whatever he wants to do and that nobody has any right to judge someone else for their choices, his now clearly white skin is a good example of the ignorance in society. He has vitiligo and discoid lupus, these are well known facts. Complete non-news to everyone here of course but people still to this day think he bleached his skin. It just goes to show you how foolish and blind people are and how they are prone to the arrogant belief that they know everything when they clearly know nothing.
But this is beside the point I'm trying to make.
The stigma of something like child molestation can never be taken away. Once you're accused that's it really; such claims never fully wash off no matter the actual truth of the matter.
The media obviously had a field day. They'd been attacking him for years before and now they got to really destroy him. The public kept buying the tabloids; lapping up the sensationalist tripe they produced and with every headline thought themselves even more of an expert on MJ than the day before. They demonized and twisted everying about him into a negative and tore him down viciously.
Michael was reduced to water-cooler gossip around the world. And by the sheer lack of respect and willful and hateful bullying of the tabloids groupthink was at an all time high. The public had been conditioned to treat him the same and see it as a perfectly normal part of the "normal" society rules the media dictates to everyone. It's OK to be as cruel and as nasty as you like to people who are different.
It's the mean and spiteful hatred that is so prevalent that denotes the brainwashing of the media on the public. They don't even know why they hate him. Because he looks different, because he acts different? --These are not good enough reasons. Michael has made his share of mistakes in his life; he is human after all. Sometimes as a fan it is disappointing when he shoots himself in the foot but he is fallible just like the rest of us. It certainly doesn't warrant attacking him for no reason.
If you take away the accusations that he faced you are left with a saint. He has given in the realm of $1 billion to charity. A true philanthropist and humanitarian. Someone who has dedicated his life to the entertainment of the world and to having a positive impact on peoples lives. When I hear of fans being treated badly and especially the younger fans getting bullied and of the "normal" folk jeering and laughing at MJ fans and labeling them as "crazy" and "delusional" it is nothing but pure irony in effect. They are sheep, they are brainwashed, they have been led by the hand and told how to think. They have been dictated how to behave. When you hear the mean-spirited jokes about his nose and face and the jeering claims of "freak" this is groupthink in effect. It's the controlled society of George Orwells 1984. This type of behaviour is indicative of social control on a much larger scale than this one topic.
It permeates everything. As noted before, even parents and teachers think that this is acceptable as if because everyone else, no matter the social class, is doing it it must have been waived as socially safe to mock and bully those who would like such a "freak." They must be "weird," they are the "abnormal" ones. It is safe to attack when you have an army of acceptance backing you up.
When you see people like this it's important to realise how weak minded they are.
