Rewriting Jackson History

The following is the view of Mike Watts and Mike Watts only. Well probably some other people in this world too. But its my handiwork.


OK, quick rant this time. And I need to preface this with the fact that while I'm annoyed that Michael Jackson's death has led to my wife being gone for a total of 7 days, with 5 more on the horizon, THAT isn't the reason for this rant.

Look, I enjoyed Michael Jackson's music growing up. I remember when Thriller came out. I was 7 years old living in Florida at the time. I remember seeing the video for Thriller, and having it scare the bejesus out of me. I enjoyed Billie Jean, Beat It, The Way You Make Me Feel, and a few others.

And then Michael Jackson went crazy right around 1990, and that was it...I listened to songs like Black or White, Remember the Time and such, but certainly didn't think they were anything great.

And that was that...I didn't think anything extra about Michael Jackson again...he was just some weird guy who showed up in the tabloids every now and then, who molested some kids, and stayed in seclusion.

Frankly, I think most of the world felt the same way I did...we stopped paying attention, and everyone was ok with that....and that includes everyone..white people...black people...all people. He was a joke in the black community. Black people were ashamed of him. They wanted to disassociate themselves from him, and frankly, Michael did everything he could to push away from the African-American community as well. Problem was, us white people didn't want him either at that time. By that point, he was a freak show, and we have plenty of those already, thanks.

My point is, ever since Jackson died, I've watched people of all colors basically give themselves false narratives for their relationship with him. People on camera saying things like "Thriller was the soundtrack of my life" and "I listened to his music all the time." People running down the Apollo Theater to dance around pictures of Michael and celebrate his life. Seriously. SERIOUSLY!

Bullshit. Its all bullshit. Talk about revisionist history. No one in the WORLD cared about Michael Jackson for the last 15 years...possibly more. In fact, we were turned off by him. And why wouldn't we be. The guy molested children. HE MOLESTED CHILDREN. And I know he wasn't found guilty, but when you give the families of the kids millions of dollars as a payout...well, we can all draw our own conclusions. And since he's dead and there's no threat of a libel lawsuit, I'll continue to say it. HE MOLESTED CHILDREN. Go read the Vanity Fair articles from back in 2003-04. Its all there. You can't see all that information and not think it. Remember, OJ wasn't found guilty either.

And what's funny is, everyone in the world seems to have given him a mulligan on the last 15 years. Unbelievable. Of course, ask these same people if they would have allowed their child to go to the Neverland Ranch and you get the ol' "of course not! I'm just saying..." No, what you're saying is you were as turned off by Jacko as the rest of us, but now you think you HAVE to show some sort of pining feeling for the man. Ridiculous.


Watching these people all head to the Apollo the other morning, I couldn't help but shake my head. Especially even more when I found out my friend Andy was one of these people. His actual answer when I asked him what the heck he was doing down there was, "well, I saw it on TV and it looked like everyone was having fun." I remain flabbergasted that there are so many people who are so mentally incompetent, they see something like this on TV, and think, "well, this is a major moment...and I need to be a part of it."


Look, everyone needs to stop with the revisionist history when it comes to Michael Jackson and remember him for what he was...a really good musician...a monumental pop star for his time, and then a sleazy joke for the last 15 years. Period. The faster they get this nut job in the ground, the better.


And take LaToya with him....


Mike Watts