Dont It Make You Wanna Scream

How shall I start this? There is so much I wanna say, so much I wanna scream about. I hope I can reach some, especially those who don't know.

Michael Jackson; the man, the artist; the singer, the dancer; the human being.
So much has been said about him. Most of it is garbage, rubbish. Unfortunately, many people have believed the junk. And still do. I'd like to throw an open question: Why is it that people find it easier to believe the unbelievable than the plain truth?

Eighteen days ago Michael was here to defend himself; he did do it, although he was known to be quite elusive, not feeling the need to come out to refute every new bit of false information that was, yet again, being said about him. This is is so understandable; all throughout his career he had heard it all, seen it all. What would be the point in refuting every little stupidity that some low life was trying the world to believe about him? He knew it would continue, I'm sure he knew it would continue even after his death.

But at one point, however, these stupidities ceased to be small. They aimed hard at him, really hard; the claims went out of all proportion. They wanted him finished.

They did it for the money.

But he was strong, oh yeah, he was, much stronger than many believed. And he knew he had the unconditional support of his fans, millions of them, who were and will ever be so loyal.
And how could they not be? The man was so painfully loyal to his supporters himself.

Of all that has been said about Michael Jackson, of all that has cruelly, despicably been done to him, what I consider to be one of the most, or rather, the most, vile, wretched, gruesome piece of garbage, was the inaccurately called documentary by the shame to all journalists Martin Bashir.
(An Englishman, you know; that hurts double, and I will explain the reasons later on)

I believe that Michael was beyond caring about the spreading of those horrible lies. Just try to imagine yourself being in his shoes: anyone would go mad if they tried to control the whole circus. He spoke about it and about himself, not much, but he did; and when he did, he was all candor, extreme painful honesty. More importantly, he spoke about him through his music. But yet again, they played deaf or went on twisting it all around in an attempt to make him look weird.

I want to speak about Michael Jackson, the person, and the artist -which to me, are the same.

Lots have been said about Michael having two personalities: the one on stage, big, huge, awesome, fascinating; and the other Michael: shy, childlike, caring.

I think that by asserting this duality, more harm than good has been than to Michael. It has been said by people who cared about him, who have loved him, and with the best of intentions. Sure, it's a wonderful thing to say (seemingly). It's been said by his fans, even Berry Gordy referred to it at his memorial on July 7th. I used to believe so myself, but I think slightly different now. It's a matter of perspective, of subtleties.

Why I believe that portraying MJ in this way has, ultimately, been detrimental, I intend to explain and reflect upon.

All the nonsense that has been said about Michael (from his attempt to buy the remains of the elephant man to the horrible claims that he was a child molester) have had a very important part in creating a fake Michael Jackson, some nonexistent persona which part of the public ultimately believed existed. He didn't buy the bones of the elephant man; he didn't sleep in a hyperbaric chamber; he didn't bleach his skin; he DID NOT abuse children.

Now, look into Michael Jackson's eyes. Watch him speaking to his fans in his concerts; watch him in those videos when he was but just being himself. Those eyes are so honest it hurts to watch. Now link all those stupid non factual allegations to those eyes. Try to merge the two into the same person. What do you see? It doesn't make sense, does it? And it is when it doesn't make sense that there is room in people's heads to conclude that he is weird. 'Those eyes don't look right'; well, sure, you've attached the wrong soul to them. Those eyes don't belong to a pedophile, to some sort of nutter who collects bones. They belong to someone who was just too honest, too damn unbelievably honest.

In part 6 of Michael Jackson's The footage you were never meant to see, Martin Bashir talks with the singer about his two sides. At one point, Michael seems to find no words to explain his non performing persona. They are the same, it couldn't be otherwise.

What is an artist? That is something I've largely reflected upon, not in connection with Michael Jackson necessarily, as I am a musician myself, and I've been and am in contact with a vast number of people in the arts.

There are countless people around the world who can sing, who can dance, paint, act, write...Some are better than others. We can be amazed at someone's powerful voice, incredible dance moves...you name it. But most of them are missing something. A wise man said once that 'it takes an artist to recognize an artist'. Just when you think you've seen it all, you happen to go to a concert, or a show, and what you see makes you stand up in awe without having thought about doing so. The energy just originated from somewhere and you just find yourself totally enthralled. It is at that moment when you think that all your previous standing ovations were perhaps not fully justified. You had seen great performers; it's when you see the greatest, that you know what real art is about. And it's really very simple, plain simple. A real artist is honest; to himself, and primarily to his art. There's no artificiality, no need to impress, no calculated attempt to reach high notes or do an amazing dance spin. It just happens; it's a natural consequence of a desire to express. When an artist, when a real artist does that, he is exposing his true self, his true persona. There are no hidden agendas. The artist nurtures the person, the person models the artist. They are inclusive. When this is otherwise, you can admire the performer, but you know it is not the real thing.

This is what Michael Jackson is about. This is the way Michael Jackson has become the phenomenon he is. That is why his fans are the most loyal ever to be known to any artist. Because there's an honesty to Michael's artistry that no other popular musician has ever shown. Plain and simple. There's no other secret. Watch Michael's choreographies, and glance at his dancers; yeah, they now the routine, but there is something missing which you cannot really explain.

His craftsmanship modeled the person, and vice versa; It's thanks to his wonderful personality that he was such an artist.

Michael himself explains it much better than I could ever attempt to do, in part 6 of the non manipulated footage from Living with Michael Jackson:

That's what I like...I like going inside [...] You can tell, right away, when an artist...'cos you can read it in her face when she's dancing, she's counting, one and two and three and four and five and six and...You can see it, but when you...that's the wrong concept to dance. Dance it's about feeling, not about thinking, so when they count they're thinking. You can feel...become the bass, become the drums, become the guitar, the strings. You just become an oneness, you know. That's very important, that's real (MJ)

Annoying remarks by Martin Bashir follow, to which Michael finally responds with an eloquent silence. It is obvious that a person the stature of Bashir could never understand what art is and what art really means.

MB: But that's Michael Jackson talking as a performer

MJ: I love performing

MB: But that's not...

MJ: I wish I could sleep on stage

MB: But that's not Michael Jackson the person.

Michael then fixates his glance on MB; to me it's very clear what his eyes are saying -you check it out.

It seems to me that Michael's most remarkable gift turned into a weapon that was, sadly, utilized by many against him. The man was pure honesty. He opened his soul to us with every performance; but he also did so as a person. And then it all began; they started twisting the facts, and they created someone who had never existed, who was NOT Michael Jackson.

When talking about honesty, I'm also talking about humility. Michael Jackson's achievements have not been matched; yet he remained humble, he never ever acted arrogantly. That deserves a big 'wow'. That, incidentally, also goes hand in hand with artistry. To the true artist, his craft comes naturally, almost effortlessly. Sure, he worked hard at it. But that special something that made him what he became, that was there right from the start. I've seen it you know; self-confidence and arrogance is not the same thing. The one who thinks too much of himself is nothing but mediocre. Period.

And so I've come to conclude that it was Michael's talent that turned many against him: he appeared vulnerable. Because he didn't try to hide anything, he didn't try to prove anything. And he didn't torture himself about having to refute everything that was being falsely claimed about him: he knew it would never end. But some despicable people found there the perfect weapon to use in order to destroy him, right there, laid at their feet .Why? They do it for the money. Greed, like so many times in HIStory.

But hey, they didn't, they didn't destroy him. The very fact that so many felt such a need to attack him speaks volumes about the interest he caused in everyone. No one was indifferent to him. Some people enjoyed what he had to offer, some people tried to make a profit out of it. And are disgustingly trying to do so even today.

But it seems the story had to happen that way. I've never thought about it this fashion before, but it makes me feel better about the fact that he is no longer. All along since I heard the news of his death, I was most distressed by the thought that perhaps he wasn't done when he left. Well, now I understand that his great talent was both his weapon and their weapon. Hell, yeah, they mortified him; but they wouldn't have bothered had he not been the amazing artist that he was. So it was bound to happen. The problem was never Michael Jackson; it was the sick nature of human nature at its lowest.

He was vulnerable. But he was strong. Some would say that this is a contradiction; it's not. He was vulnerable because he was in a position where it was so easy to receive the blows. But it's a different thing to say that the blows knocked him down. They didn't. He knew the darker side to human nature better than those people who carried that darker side within them. I think that he had resigned himself to the fact that that couldn't be changed; he didn't care, he was way beyond that. And he had his children, and his family and friends. And that amazingly special bond with his fans.

I once heard someone on the radio talking about the magnitude of the Michael Jackson fan phenomenon. 'Why are MJ's fans so loyal, so devoted?', he asked. Well, I guess that either you become one or you will never understand it. I'd say, thoguh, using the words that Michael employed to answer an altogether different question from MB: because you haven't been there, mentally. Yet I hope reading this can throw some light into it for those who wonder. In my case, it's plain simple. He was an amazing artist with an open soul; souls alike just connect. And as for the reasons to my writing this, among other factors, one stands out: injustice makes my blood boil. Those who are thinking of me as some obsessed crazy fan are pretty far from the truth. Yeah, I'm a fan; a little obsessed?...Well, bear in mind that he has just passed...and he was my teenage. But I cannot, in general, bear injustice. All injustice, especially the passivity of many towards injustice just makes me go mad.

Tired of Injustice

Tired of the schemes

Kinda disgusting

So what does it mean

Kicking me down

I got to get up

As jacked as it sounds

The whole system sucks

(Scream, from HISTORY album)

Just one more thing. Take a few minutes to watch the video below. I just love it, it's one of my favourites. Why? Well, this happened in 2006 (Guess I don't need to remind anyone what happened between 2003/2005?) This was such a statement. The fans going crazy about Michael being there, being back (The King is back, many wrote on their banners), and being well. He looked well, he looked happy, and he looked confident. See what I mean? This was 2006. Watching this makes me feel so much better. Incidentally, the press said he was booed on stage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_nV1BwcjH8

Just S ... dontmakeitfactual.blogspot.com

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