Okay, I'm sorry. In the words of Michael and Janet Jackson's performance of "Scream"...I just can't take this.
Michael Jackson was tragic. Whatever his personal demons, they were, by his own admission, a part of his stolen childhood. The pint-sized performer and his brothers (and, eventually, his sister) were pushed to become superstars by their father, Joe. Michael said in later years that his father beat him. And now Joe Jackson is being held up as the broken-hearted, bereaved father with no mention of how his behavior contributed to his son's travesty of a life.
Joe Jackson is not the model of black fatherhood. He is not a fine human being who held his family together. This is one father whose absence might well have been the best thing that could have happened to his children.
I've shaken my head, I've wanted to yell back at the TV. And this morning I saw that Michael Jackson's three children are currently in the care of his mother. And his father?
Maybe the Jacksons have split. If so, I have nothing more to say. Kathleen Jackson seems to have done the best she could for her kids short of taking their father out of the picture. I know that is a difficult choice for a mother and I make no judgements.
Joe Jackson is another story. Another stage father pushing his children to achieve what he didn't. Another drill sergeant turning children into performing robots, driven by his own desire for success and fortune. He was, by all accounts, a philandering, abusive father. He shouldn't be within fifty miles of his son's children.
This isn't about Michael Jackson. This isn't about Joe Jackson. This about three children who have undoubtedly had a pretty weird childhood and will have a struggle to achieve any sense of normalcy.
I don't know if there's someone in that family who can step up and try to offer those kids a stable environment. I hope there is. But I'm certain it's not Joe Jackson and I hope he's nowhere near them because I don't believe he deserves to be in their lives.
Second thoughts: I am absolutely horrified to see that I am in complete agreement with cable scream queen Nancy Grace on this. It makes me wonder if perhaps I'm totally wrong.
4 comments:
LOL Susan you are totally right and I agree with both you AND Nancy Grace( It's a bitter pill for me to swallow too, I must say) but there you have it. Michael Jackson was a great talent, but he gave me the creeps-- really. He was a sad, broken little man. He really was.
I am TOTALLY with you on this! I have been asking myself the same questions! Is Katherine and Joe split? If so, then maybe it makes sense to leave the children under her care...but didn't she condon Joe's behavior all those years? Although he probably beat her too! Because Michael didn't specifically indicate both "Katherine and Joe", I have to assume he's not in the picture...one could only hope! It's disqusting and dispicable what that man did to his children and to Michael. But not one word has been said about it. Does this horrid man have something over his family? Is he really that threatening? No doubt when he is gone, there will be a tell all book, and the truth will really be known.
Did you happen to see CNN reporter Don Lemon interviewing Joe Jackson. Joe answered questions about Michael, and then had his buddy talk about a music project they were starting. Did he really think people could give a damn about his business venture when his son just died? Perhaps he can replace Michael to form a new Jackson 5.
I didn't see the interview but I'm sure not surprised, dad.
What's heartening is that JoeJ is so clueless that it's becoming hard to ignore his blatant greed.
He just keeps putting it out there.
I find myself wishing the Jackson family would gather together, open the door and kick him out of it. Preferably after beating the hell out of him. That's an image that pleases me.
I guess I'm angry, huh?
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