Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people I know seem utterly convinced of his guilt but I have to say I’m persuaded otherwise by Macauley Culkin’s defense of him. Macauley DGAF and would have no reason to lie.

All that says is that he didn't abuse Macauley. Doesn't mean it didn't happen to someone else. He can only speak to his experience. I found the accusers believable.

He also had a very close friendship w/eightie’s icon Corey Feldman who also says Michael never abused him.

Perhaps Michael only abused boys that were not so famous……?

The current men that are trying to sue Michael’s estate come off to me as money-hungry snakes.

Just a weird vibe I get…….

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gen-Xer here. I'm always fascinated at how younger generations examine this question and come away with idk...maybe he's innocent...

The man is guilty as hell. There are stories upon accounts upon cases corroborating the allegations. But MJ was a God in the 80's, this was decades before me too, and many families were complicit in allowing access to their children in exchange for money/perks. There may also have been episodes that were shake-downs for $$ from his estate, but many things can and usually are true at the same time.

Because he was a soft-spoken, gentle-voiced, undoubtedly talented performer, he doesn't fit the profile of what most of us think of as a predator. But there was way too much smoke on this situation for it to be anything other than an inferno.

This.

I also think it's hard for people to wrap their heads around MJ being both an empathetic victim of abuse AND a perpetrator of abuse. Yet that's the part of his story that explains what happened.

Michael and his siblings were abused their entire childhood. That, plus intense game and huge financial success, messed him up. It's never been totally clear to me if Michael understood himself to be a predator at any point -- I think there's a high likelihood that he was a vulnerable narcissist who was unable to see beyond his own need for a specific kind of physical affection or recognize the ways in which he leveraged his money and game to get it from children who could not consent to what was happening. He could maintain his innocence because he believed it, and he believed it because that's exactly how mentally ill he was, which is to say -- very.

But there's never been a question to me whether those kids were abused. Yes, often by their families too. That's sadly not uncommon in situations like this -- think of the family that turns a blind eye to a grandparent or parent abusing children because that person is a position of power over them. It's very sad.

It often seems people learn all the wrong lessons from his story.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My question is what parent would let their kid sleep in the same bed as a grown man? They should be in jail for that

Nice deflection.

How is that a deflection? What parent allows for that nonsense. Whether he did it or not (I think he did) the parents bear equal responsibility. It’s like throwing your kid in front of a bus and blaming just the driver for hitting your kid.

You need to read up on how abusers select and groom families. Pedophiles often are very careful about who they pick and often go after kids who have difficult hime situations because people aren't fully looking after them.

This. Wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that many if the parents who took their kids to Neverland and allowed Michael to groom/abuse them were, themselves, victims of abuse.

None of this excuses what happened. Michael and the families who allowed Michael to abuse their kids are all accountable to the kids who were abused.

I think the Gen Xer above also raised a good point about Jackson's godlike status in the 80s. He really sold the "I'm just a kid myself" narrative and all the fame and such and you still see people today parroting those points, even if it's patently ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My question is what parent would let their kid sleep in the same bed as a grown man? They should be in jail for that

Nice deflection.

How is that a deflection? What parent allows for that nonsense. Whether he did it or not (I think he did) the parents bear equal responsibility. It’s like throwing your kid in front of a bus and blaming just the driver for hitting your kid.

You need to read up on how abusers select and groom families. Pedophiles often are very careful about who they pick and often go after kids who have difficult hime situations because people aren't fully looking after them.

This. Wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that many if the parents who took their kids to Neverland and allowed Michael to groom/abuse them were, themselves, victims of abuse.

None of this excuses what happened. Michael and the families who allowed Michael to abuse their kids are all accountable to the kids who were abused.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My question is what parent would let their kid sleep in the same bed as a grown man? They should be in jail for that

Nice deflection.

How is that a deflection? What parent allows for that nonsense. Whether he did it or not (I think he did) the parents bear equal responsibility. It’s like throwing your kid in front of a bus and blaming just the driver for hitting your kid.

You need to read up on how abusers select and groom families. Pedophiles often are very careful about who they pick and often go after kids who have difficult hime situations because people aren't fully looking after them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My question is what parent would let their kid sleep in the same bed as a grown man? They should be in jail for that

Nice deflection.

How is that a deflection? What parent allows for that nonsense. Whether he did it or not (I think he did) the parents bear equal responsibility. It’s like throwing your kid in front of a bus and blaming just the driver for hitting your kid.

Anonymous wrote:Gen-Xer here. I'm always fascinated at how younger generations examine this question and come away with idk...maybe he's innocent...

The man is guilty as hell. There are stories upon accounts upon cases corroborating the allegations. But MJ was a God in the 80's, this was decades before me too, and many families were complicit in allowing access to their children in exchange for money/perks. There may also have been episodes that were shake-downs for $$ from his estate, but many things can and usually are true at the same time.

Because he was a soft-spoken, gentle-voiced, undoubtedly talented performer, he doesn't fit the profile of what most of us think of as a predator. But there was way too much smoke on this situation for it to be anything other than an inferno.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My question is what parent would let their kid sleep in the same bed as a grown man? They should be in jail for that

Nice deflection.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think he was innocent of any sexual abuse or harm. Was he weird with kids and did he have an inappropriate obsession with being around them? Yes. I don’t think he would ever harm a child. I just think he never had a childhood himself and viewed himself almost childlike and therefore wanted to be around children so that he could experience childhood through them. I even think toward the end of his life he was morphing himself into being Mickey Mouse. He looks oddly like MM in his later years with the rosy cheeks, pointed chin and eyeliner. He wanted to be a real life MM to kids and didn’t see anything wrong with it.

You're giving him way too much credit with the looking like Mickey Mouse. He looked like that bc vitiligo required him to add in contouring/blush/eyeliner like an old white woman and he went way too heavy handed half the time. Also he was addicted to plastic surgery, hence the little snub nose and pointy chin.

Anonymous wrote:My question is what parent would let their kid sleep in the same bed as a grown man? They should be in jail for that