Off Topic · OT: Michael Jackson dead at the age of 50 (page 4)

MUSIC LOST IT'S SOUL 6/25/09. His music made the world that much greater.

Rest In Peace Michael Jackson "The King of Pop"...GOAT

The greatest entertainer the world has ever seen and one of my personal heroes...despite his many, well documented faults.

Posted by sebstar:

As far as the cats in here that are insistent on attacking Mike..

Its easier to believe that opportunistic parents viewed Michael's suspended adolescence and oddball behavior as a golden ticket to be exploited, then it is for me to believe that Michael Jackson raped and molested them. Michael was a gentle soul that was trying to recreate a magical childhood that he felt was snatched from him by his abusive daddy. He went about that in inappropriate ways that went to the left of what is acceptable in this culture. He is guilty of that, but raping children?

So help me out here. If you're a parent you are going to take a quick cash settlement and dip rather than seeing a dangerous pedophile, who viciously violated your child, prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and, consequentially, taken off the streets?

I dont know for sure what happened...I wasnt in the room and I cant say for sure. But neither were any of you, so fall back with all the disrespectful talk about Micheal. I loved him and his music and I, as well as others are taking his death very hard. MJ is the Greatest!

Not one of us know what MJ was like with these kids. That's why I tend to sway away from calling him a molestor and all that (Besides a couple jokes I cracked now and then, which I'll stop) and just view him as a hell of a musician/entertainer.

I don't think there's any doubt that he had a couple (Or many) of loose screws though. I think most of the artists I love are like that though.

look first i would like to praise micheal jackson as a revolutionist who revolutionized the video, pop , r&b, and dancing genre. it is almost mind boggling what he has done and i was listening to his tribute channel and forgot some classic gems. he is definately the king of pop because of what he has done with pop music that flows to the genre today. with that said, as someone said, his personal life should be called to question because of his alleged charges. he was never charged but he did put himself in predicaments that he shouldnt be in. look, i like kids and i am an elementary school teacher. but there are certain boudaries that you can not cross. it is not normal to show an excessive amount of affection to other kids, like having sleepovers and things like that. as an adult, he should know better but in his interviews we knew that mentally he doesnt think in the same plane as everyone else. so for that much, you could blame him. however, musically, there is no denying that he is up there with the beatles and elvis in cultural impact.

Don't let this thread die. MJ is the man.



Old school.

My favorite:

I want to take the time out and apologize. I judged Michael Jackson based on allegations in the media. I did not study the man like I should have. After seeing the 1993 interview with Oprah, I was very moved and truly felt sorry for him. His childhood was terrible.

Joe Jackson is the biggest pile of dung to ever live. He may have made Michael the musician but he destroyed Michael the man. I made jokes about Michael and thought he was a freak. I was wrong and I feel very bad about that. After seeing his interviews, he is the nicest man. He is the softest man. He would never hurt or sexually assault anyone. He went through enough pain. I know he didn't want to cause that to others. It just wasn't in his nature. And I know when those allegations came out that it truly broke him as a human being. The latest ones really destroyed any feelings he had anymore and caused him to leave the entire country. He spent years trying to live a childhood he never had. He was very misunderstood and a very complex individual. It's a shame that the career of such a nice man and immensely talented man ended like this. He ended up sad, lonely and probably miserable.

The media is at fault too. The same guys mourning Michael were making up false claims about his desires to be white (hence the skin change) and about how he slept in hyperbaric chambers in order to stay young. Leeches? The media defined that. They knew they'd sell a story when they'd put arguable the most famous musician of our generation (after Elvis) on the front page with some crazy accusations. What the media didn't know was that Mike was basically a child in a man's body and took a lot of things to heart. A lot of the stuff the tabloids printed about him really hurt him and I truly feel sorry for him.

I'm not saying he didn't have weird tendencies. But most of them were caused by his emotional abuse as a child. He was obsessed his perfection, hence the fact he kept having plastic surgery for no apparent reason. He never thought he was perfect. That was something his dad instilled in him. But the people coming in here saying he deserved to die and to rot in hell don't know shit about Michael Jackson the person. You pretend to know by reading a newspaper article or watching the news about his trial? You don't know shit. Read about him. Study his life. Maybe you will feel the same sense of pity I do for this man at the end.

[Edited by - gkfv2 on 06-30-2009 05:37 AM]

Insomnia led to MJ's death?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090630/ap_e...

AP Exclusive: Insomniac Jackson begged for drug

By LYNN ELBER, Associated Press Writer Lynn Elber, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 36 mins ago

LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson was so distraught over persistent insomnia in recent months that he pleaded for a powerful sedative despite warnings it could be harmful, says a nutritionist who was working with the singer as he prepared his comeback bid.

Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse whose specialty includes nutritional counseling, said Tuesday that she repeatedly rejected his demands for the drug, Diprivan, which is given intravenously.

But a frantic phone call she received from Jackson four days before his death made her fear that he somehow obtained Diprivan or another drug to induce sleep, Lee said.

While in Florida on June 21, Lee was contacted by a member of Jackson's staff.

"He called and was very frantic and said, `Michael needs to see you right away.' I said, 'What's wrong?' And I could hear Michael in the background ..., 'One side of my body is hot, it's hot, and one side of my body is cold. It's very cold,'" Lee said.

"I said, `Tell him he needs to go the hospital. I don't know what's going on, but he needs to go to the hospital ... right away."

"At that point, I knew that somebody had given him something that hit the central nervous system," she said, adding, "He was in trouble Sunday and he was crying out."

Jackson did not go to the hospital. He died June 25 after suffering cardiac arrest, his family said. Autopsies have been conducted, but an official cause of death is not expected for several weeks.

"I don't know what happened there. The only thing I can say is he was adamant about this drug," Lee said.

Following Jackson's death, allegations emerged that the 50-year-old King of Pop had been consuming painkillers, sedatives and antidepressants. But Lee said she encountered a man tortured by sleep deprivation and one who expressed opposition to recreational drug use.

"He wasn't looking to get high or feel good and sedated from drugs," she said. "This was a person who was not on drugs. This was a person who was seeking help, desperately, to get some sleep, to get some rest."

Jackson was rehearsing hard for what would have been his big comeback — his "This Is It" tour, a series of performances that would have strained his aging dancer's body. Also, pain had been a part of his life since 1984, when his scalp was severely burned during a Pepsi commercial shoot.

Several months ago, Jackson had begun badgering Lee about Diprivan, also known as Propofol, Lee said. It is an intravenous anesthetic drug widely used in operating rooms to induce unconsciousness. It is generally given through an IV needle in the hand.

Patients given Propofol take less time to regain consciousness than those administered certain other drugs, and they report waking up more clear-headed and refreshed, said University of Chicago psychopharmacologist James Zacny.

It has also been implicated in drug abuse, with people using it to "chill out" or to commit suicide, Zacny said. Accidental deaths linked to abuse have been reported. The powerful drug has a very narrow therapeutic window, meaning it doesn't take doses much larger than the medically recommended amount to stop a person's breathing.

An overdose that stops breathing can result in a buildup of carbon dioxide, causing the heart to beat erratically and leading to cardiac arrest, said Dr. John Dombrowski, a member of the board of directors of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

Because it is given intravenously and is not the kind of prescription drug typically available from pharmacists, abuse cases have involved anesthesiologists, nurses and other hospital staffers with easy access to the drug, Zacny said.

In recent months, Lee said, Jackson waved away her warnings about it.

"I had an IV and when it hit my vein, I was sleeping. That's what I want," Lee said Jackson told her.

"I said, 'Michael, the only problem with you taking this medication' — and I had a chill in my body and tears in my eyes three months ago — 'the only problem is you're going to take it and you're not going to wake up," she recalled.

According to Lee, Jackson said it had been given to him before but he didn't want to discuss the circumstances or identify the doctor involved.

The singer also drew his own distinctions when it came to drugs versus prescription medicine.

"He said, `I don't like drugs. I don't want any drugs. My doctor told me this is a safe medicine,'" Lee said. The next day, she said she brought a copy of the Physician's Desk Reference to show him the section on Diprivan.

"He said, 'No, my doctor said it's safe. It works quick and it's safe as long as somebody's here to monitor me and wake me up. It's going be OK,'" Lee said. She said he did not give the doctor's name.

Lee said at one point, she spent the night with Jackson to monitor him while he slept. She said she gave him herbal remedies and stayed in a corner chair in his vast bedroom.

After he settled in bed, Lee told Jackson to turn down the lights and music — he had classical music playing in the house. "He also had a computer on the bed because he loved Walt Disney," she said. "He was watching Donald Duck and it was ongoing. I said, `Maybe if we put on softer music,' and he said, `No, this is how I go to sleep.'"

Three and a half hours later, Jackson jumped up and looked at Lee, eyes wide open, according to Lee. "This is what happens to me," she quoted him as saying. "All I want is to be able to sleep. I want to be able to sleep eight hours. I know I'll feel better the next day."

Lee, 56, is licensed as a registered nurse and nurse practitioner in California, according to the state Board of Registered Nursing's Web site. She attended Los Angeles Southwest College and the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Sciences in Los Angeles.

Comedian Dick Gregory, who knows Lee and her work, said he believes Jackson's insomnia had its roots in the pop star's 2005 trial on child molestation charges. Jackson's health had deteriorated so much that his parents called Gregory, a natural foods proponent, for help.

Gregory said Jackson wasn't eating or drinking at the time and, after he was persuaded by Gregory to undergo testing, ended up hospitalized for severe dehydration.

But Jackson obviously was healthy enough to withstand the level of medical scrutiny needed to insure him for the upcoming high-stakes London concerts, Gregory said. "That you don't trick," he said of the exams.

Lee, who has also worked with Stevie Wonder, Marla Gibbs, Reynaldo Rey and other celebrities, said she was introduced to Jackson by the mother of one of his staff members. Jackson's three children had minor cold symptoms and their pediatrician was out of town.

Lee said she went to the house in January, the first of about 10 visits there through April, and treated the children with vitamins. Michael, intrigued, asked what else she did and took her up on her claim she could boost his energy.

After running blood tests, she devised protein shakes for him and gave him an intravenous vitamin and mineral mixture — known as a "Myers cocktail," after Dr. John Myers — which Lee said she uses routinely in her practice.

"It wasn't that he felt sick," she said. "He just wanted more energy."

Lee said she decided to speak out to protect Jackson's reputation from what she considers unfounded allegations of drug abuse or shortcomings as a parent.

"I think it's so wrong for people to say these things about him," she said. "He was a wonderful, loving father who wanted the best for his children."

Sounds like he was cheating and flirting with death for years with his use of drugs. There should be some culpability here among doctors who took care of him. If you need a doctor there to make sure to bring you back--something is dam wrong. Most people have insomnia at some point--the doctors here like a problem that couldve been solved get way out of control to the point of death--they have huge responsibility here.

In terms of whether or not he was a good guy--abuser etc.. I think they guy lived in an absolute fairy tale world that most regular people could not comprehend. It seems as if he lived as a kid--I don't think he had the understanding of what he may or MAY not have done was right or wrong. That doesnt excuse behavior like that[and we can assume something was darn wrong because you dont fork over 20mm if you did nothing wrong] and I think he is a person who may have needed extreme psychological counseling PRIOR to any problems occurring. I think there was cause effect from his own father's actions that caused irreparable damage. If there was a true scumbag--it was his dad and over the last few days he certainly has proved what he is--a POS.

I think it was time for him to rest in peace--he was a shattered broken down person who agonized into death.

Posted by Paladin55:

Posted by Cosmic:

Great musician. Disgusting pedophile. In the latter...good riddance. You could tell but 5 years ago he was clearly on his way out.

He shouldn't get a second of air time over Farrah but he will.

His life was in some ways a tragedy of classical proportion in terms of his rise and fall, and also tells you what fame, money, power, and sycophants can do to a person's development. Farah Faucett was built on hype, fleeting beauty, a cult TV show, some TV movies, and posters. Jackson was a significant figure in the music and entertainment world for most of his life and had genuine talent and brilliance, despite his tragic flaws as a person.

Both were cultural icons, but their was a large gap in their talent and what they brought to the table.


[Edited by - Paladin55 on 06-25-2009 6:37 PM]

I think that you sell Farrah short. Take a hard look at Wikipedia at her biography and you can get a gist of how supremely talented she really was. She was THE person who sold off an iconic show that has lasted 35 years with her beauty--yet was also a star on Broadway and in many under-rated made for TV movies via her acting skills. She could do a Cannonball Run and then a Burning Bed-- How many sex-goddess like her put out performances like that? None--and her beauty was a talent by itself--how many Farrah's are there really? She was a perfect physical specimen who started a craze that spanned 20 years--sexiest voice I have ever heard.

Posted by BRIGGS:

I think it was time for him to rest in peace--he was a shattered broken down person who agonized into death.

i think he's accomplished more & brought more positive things to this world than you, me & everyone else on this forum have ever or will ever do in our lifetimes combined.

My MJ tribute.

A song by Akon featuring Michael Jackson. Never heard it 'till now. Sounds pretty good.