My answer to that question has always been YES.
I do NOT think he ever, ever had sexual contact with children. I do think that letting little boys sleep in the same room with him overnight was inappropriate in our society and, to be totally honest, if it were anyone else... I would most likely not feel the same.
But it was not someone else. It was Michael Jackson. The little boy who was beaten and used as a meal ticket by an abusive father and passive mother. A little boy who never had a childhood, was never led to believe he was loved like ALL children should have been. I think his idea of loving children was a whole lot different that most ppl have.
And I think it is weird that many Conservatives will always say that someone was totally acquitted when it is our side, but still keep a black clouds for others.
And finally, I would like to ask...
Out of the thousands of children who visited Neverland and the hundreds of kids who slept there, there were only two formal accusations made and charges filed. Why is it so easy to find him guilty rather than seeing these parents as opportunists?
And why is it that we hear of his bedroom and supposed ‘jesus juice’ but never talk about the rooms full of IV set ups and medical monitors for the sick children who went there? Or the trained medical staff? Or the tutors who were on staff for the sick kids who visited that were too sick to go to school? Or the full time trained kitchen staff to ensure that every kid, sick or not, got the proper diet? Or the specialist who were on staff to care for the animals in his zoo? Or the rooms and rooms of toys and games and the full size movie theater building so that every kid could play and have fun the way all kids should? Why do his detractors totally ignore all of his humanitarian work and focus on his plastic surgery work?
The guy was weird by ‘normal’ standards, no doubt. But I do not believe he was malicious or hurtful to children at all. I grew being a fan of MJ and was a fan until the day he died.
Sorry to ramble, but I kinda feel ... well, I think he would never ever ever never hurt a child. I think that his level of love and cherishing and affection to a child was pure and innocent of all sexual aspects.
Peace :)
And by what standards, other than "normal" are we to measure?
The guy was a creep and a freak.
He was roughly the same age as me. Since he was a "celebrity" from a young age I got to watch him grow up ... sort of. The progression from a seemingly normal black kid, like dozens that I went to school with, to the lunatic that many of us knew and loathed was slow and gradual, but inexorable.
I think those folks who did let their kids stay overnight with him exercised spectacularly poor judgment. No way in hell I would have let my kid within 50 miles of the place.
And now, I've wasted far too much of my life on Wacko Jacko.
“My answer to that question has always been YES.”
You are either really sweet, innocent, naive and trusting or you have a screw loose. All I can say is I’m glad I’m not your 6 year old. Admiring Jackson’s talent and feeling some sympathy for a tortured soul that never grew up does not mean that you should turn a blind eye to the danger signals he was clearly sending regarding his affection for children.
Isn't it possible that the mothers who let their kids sleep in his bed were just as star-struck in their view, and let their children pay a huge price? Would you let your child sleep with an unrelated adult male under any circumstances? Wealth and generosity do not rule out a person's bad behavior. In fact, they enable it.
Ahem! There were other lawsuits were he paid them off.
In the situations you speak of, it was clear that liquor and pornography and little kids sleeping in the bed of a forty some year old man - are SURE SIGNS OF PEDOPHILA. Even LIBERAL Nancy Grace, qualifies her concern about him with her following his trial, as a lawyer and coming to the RATIONAL conclusion that he was a pedophile. She is a FLAMING LIBERAL for crying out loud and a lawyer to boot.
It's not about FEELING. It's about the evidence. The evidence is what makes him guilty - not feelings. His upbringing and money should not excuse him for being what he was - a wealthy child molester. His disregard for laws and decency lead to his demise - illegal drugs to keep himself going. What is sad is those CLOSE to him, enabled him. Birds of a feather flock together. His flock helped him along and sucked him dry.