"All of us are products of our childhood..."

When I started this blog; I made it my oath that I would never shy away from the grittier headlines about Michael Jackson, in order to demonstrate the truth. And in today's entry, I'm going to do just that. I feel it is important for people to understand how completely misunderstood Michael Jackson was and why that lack of understanding has led to many slanderous and downright ignorant articles about him. 

Three months after Michael's untimely death in 2009; various tabloid articles screamed headlines of "Michael Jackson wanted to meet James Bulgers' killers," as if to paint Michael as a "criminal" who had "sympathy" for child murderers. Said articles talked about what Michael had said in an surreptitiously taped private interview; Michael had expressed an interest in meeting with Robert Thompson & Jon Venables in order to heal them of the neglect they had received during their childhoods. At the time of this interview; both Thompson and Venables were serving a custodial sentence until they reached 18; when they were released in 2001 with new identities and on life-long license.

At no point did he condone the killing of James Bulger. In fact; it was he who sent a huge bouquet of flowers to the family of the toddler; and also donated a portion of the proceeds of his "Heal The World" single to the James Bulger Memorial Fund. 

In stark contrast to what the media reported; Michael would see what the world couldn't or indeed did not want to see - that no child is born evil. He wanted to get the point across that while both Thompson & Venables were absolutely responsible for their crime; there are always reasons behind it - and those reasons stemmed back from their childhoods. The world saw the children as "evil personified" yet few dare speak of the childhoods the boys had endured when they were growing up.

Robert Thomson

Robert Thompson was one of 7 children. He came from a broken home after his father left when he was just 5 years old. The departure of his father exacerbated the issues of his already alcoholic mother and at one point, she had even attempted to commit suicide.

Robert's father was violent, frequently behaving in a threatening and intimidating manner towards Robert, and on occasions was actually violent towards the child. Robert's family life was so dysfunctional and chaotic that one child eventually had to be taken into care. When he was eventually returned back to the home; the emotional distress for the child was so great, he attempted suicide.

Jon Venables.

Jon's family life and childhood was also just as dysfunctional and chaotic. His mother, a narcissist, cared more about her love life than she did about raising her children. She too was violent, intimidating and threatening towards Jon. She had suffered various mental health problems and like Robert's mother; had also attempted to commit suicide.

Faced with his mother's threatening and menacing behaviour, Jon would regularly hide under chairs in an attempt to get away from her. The trauma of his family life became so great that he began to self-harm; cutting himself with knives

As Venables and Thompson grew up; they would often skip school, preferring to go shop-lifting. There were acts of cruelty to animals including shooting pigeons with air rifles and tying rabbits to train lines to watch them be run over - a premonition as to what would happen to their eventual human victim.

These violent tendencies are often associated with the effects of trauma, especially in the case of trauma in children. Children who have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after being exposed to long-term, physical, emotional and sexual abuse, often develop complex symptoms such as acting out in a violent manner, poor performance at school, avoidance, violent tendencies or aggression, sexually inappropriate behaviour and self-destructive behaviour. This in turn can lead to various other psychological disorders including anti-social personality disorder (psychopathy).

http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treatment/children/ptsd_in_children_and_adolescents_overview_for_professionals.asp


I want to make it clear that I am by no means condoning what Venables and Thompson did. Murder is murder - no matter what age the killers. But like Michael did; I am demonstrating that not everything is black and white. No child suddenly wakes up in a morning and decides "right; today I'm going to kidnap a toddler, take him to a secluded spot, beat him, sexually assault him and then finally kill him."

Michael saw the bigger picture. He saw that these children have also suffered. He saw two children who had suffered terrible lives and were now victims of their own traumatic childhoods. These two children had become highly disturbed individuals as a result of what they had been exposed to when they were growing up. Having suffered in his own childhood; granted not to the extent Venables and Thompson had suffered; Michael empathised with them,

The media reported that Michael was being sympathetic with two child-killers; who were just children themselves. In actual fact; what Michael saw were two children who were psychologically damaged by what had happened to them when they were growing up. He wanted to give them what nobody had ever given them before - love.

This is a demonstration of a man who refused to see the bad in anybody. Call it naivety if you will, and yes it would be fair to argue that Michael was perhaps too trusting. We have all seen how his trust has been abused over and over again in his life.

Yes, Michael saying he wanted to meet Thompson and Venables was a very bold move. And at first glance; many would accuse him of being "crazy." But when you look at the full facts; is it really that crazy? Or is it somebody attempting to reach out to two tortured children to see beyond the global outrage and look at the two victims hidden behind a wall of trauma?

Was Michael wrong for wanting to reach out to these boys to heal their deep psychological wounds? I don't think so. I'd go so far as to say it was very brave and perhaps not as naive as first thought. The naivety is when people take things at face value without looking at the bigger picture. The fact that Michael was able to see beyond the information we were drip fed and see the "person" behind the killers; in my view, makes him indeed very, very unique. And it is only when you understand this side of Michael, can you start to understand Michael as a person.

The real Michael Jackson the media don't want you to see.

In their hunt for salacious stories about Michael Jackson; the media seldom report the facts about who Michael REALLY was. Preferring to call him a "monster" who "preyed on children"; they rarely talk about the wonderful things Michael did throughout his life, to help children. 

Well here's but a small snap shot of what Michael did to change lives. Do these selfless acts sound like the actions of a "monster" to you?

Bela Farkas; the little boy whom Michael met during a visit to the Bethesda Hospital in Budapest. Bela would have died had Michael not paid for a liver transplant for the youngster.

Years later; Bela is now a healthy young man; having become a father to a daughter, several years ago. 

Michael visits an orphanage in Russia and is appalled by the conditions there. He refuses to put on an upcoming  concert in Russia, unless conditions are immediately improved. He stays there to ensure each and every child at that orphanage is bathed and given new mattresses, clean sheets and toys - which he personally pays for.

Michael launches the Heal The World Foundation to help children and people suffering, around the world. He injects millions of dollars of his own cash into the project. Proceeds from his single "Heal The World" are donated to the foundation. The foundation goes on to finance various projects including scholarships for underprivileged children and even vaccination programs in the poorest countries. 

At a very young age; Michael is moved at the plight of starving and underprivileged children. As a little boy; he gave away candy to the poor children of Gary. Before the single "We Are The World", he saw footage of starving children in Africa, and sobbed as his heart broke at the images of children so weak from hunger; they couldn't even lift their heads. 

Michael risks his own life to save the life of a baby girl. He was absolutely ready to die so that the little girl could live.

Michael sends a huge bouquet of flowers to the family of murdered toddler James Bulger. He donates a portion of the proceeds from his single "Heal The World" to the James Bulger Memorial Trust, to help young people disadvantage as a result of being victims of crime, hatred and bullying.

Michael would regularly go out in disguise to deliver sandwiches and aid to homeless people. Whilst in Las Vegas; he gave out money to the homeless living in the poorest parts of the city.

A fan threatens to throw himself off a building unless he speaks to Michael Jackson. Michael speaks to the fan and coaxes him to come down to safety.

It is a great injustice that these stories are so difficult to find. It is so very easy to find stories of scandals about Michael Jackson; but the stories about real Michael are deeply buried beneath those scandals. This is the Michael the media don't want you to know about. But this is the Michael I will take great pleasure in telling you about - because these are facts. It is also fact that Michael broke records in his humanitarian efforts; donating more than $300 million to charity in his lifetime. And yet Michael is still treated like a criminal. Indeed; the only crime is the fact that Michael's legacy isn't talked about more often.

Digital Music News & Their Slander of Michael Jackson.

On 9 September 2016; Digital Music News published an article in which it claims a "child pornography book owned by Michael Jackson" is being sold on Amazon. The article also suggested Michael used the book in order to "sexually excite young boys" staying at Neverland.

The article is very much a throw back to the earlier article by Radar Online; which suggested "new evidence" had been released pertaining to Michael's guilt. We have since proven this NOT to be the case; after obtaining a statement from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's office:

Now here's the truth about the article from Digital Music News.

It is a fact that this book was actually dismissed as "evidence" in the trial against Michael Jackson; because the court was satisfied it was indeed not child porn. In fact; there has been NO CHILD PORN found in Michael's possession found in 1993 or 2003. As you can see from the screenshot below; the FBI files released in 2009; demonstrate that there was NO REFERENCES relating to the investigation:

In addition; and also clearly taken from the article Radar Online published; DMN state the book contained "nude images" of young boys. These "nude images" where in fact proven to be complete fakes - inserted by Radar Online themselves. The photos printed by Radar Online portrayed boys with their genitals blocked out. In actual fact' the image in the book shows the boys clearly wearing shorts.

Yet another trashy news agency attempted to smear Michael with copycat lies. No research has been done before the publication of said article. It is clear to me that they have simply read Radar Online's original article, added their own take on it and gone with it. Had they have done their research; they would have seen that these claims have long since been debunked. In short; DMN have lowered themselves into "click-bait" territory; by regurgitating old lies in order to gain readers. Shame on them!!