<p>Michael Jackson has issues:
<a href=“Latest Celebrity News, Gossip & Photos | TV & Showbiz | Daily Mail Online”>Latest Celebrity News, Gossip & Photos | TV & Showbiz | Daily Mail Online;
<p>DRJ, I must say the subject heading intrigued me enough to open the thread…something everyone in the cafe can AGREE on??? What a concept!! I had to see what THAT was! :D</p>
<p>Well, interesting article…I especially liked his youngest child’s nickname “Blanket”…yah.</p>
<p>DRJ4~</p>
<p>Don’t know about EVERYONE…in fact, I’m just SURE there’s some oppositional sort out there who will disagree for the sheer thrill of it, but count me in the agreein’ with YOU group! 
~berurah</p>
<p>SoozieVT and Berurah,</p>
<p>Surely it’s not you and me against the world? You know, some people think Michael is Bad but I think it’s easy as A,B,C to understand him. He’s a real Thriller. When he looks at the Man in the Mirror, he probably thinks “Why won’t everyone just Leave Me Alone?”</p>
<p>Living in SF, ain’t suprised by nuttin’</p>
<p>DRJ…lol, clever. Maybe you can write lyrics too. </p>
<p>Michael is an extremely weird person and an analyst would have a field day. </p>
<p>In any case, his talent in the field of pop music is undeniable. </p>
<p>I can’t tell if that get up was all meant to be a disguise (and it must be hard to go out in public) or really his “style”…probably a bit of both.</p>
<p>IMO issues is putting it mildly. But I’ll go along with the basic premise here!</p>
<p>Yup, “issues” (to put it VERY mildly) and talent, talent, talent…</p>
<p>He’s got to be one of the most bizarre celebrities, that’s for sure. As a psychologist, I agree with Susan that studying him would be a ‘field day’! What’s even more crazy, in my opinion, is the huge fanbase he has who find nothing wrong with his bizarre behavior. I remember when he was acquitted and the throngs of screaming fans outside the courthouse. Several were interviewed and their comments were as bizarre as Michael is. I can understand loving his music but supporting his behavior over the years is something which defies logic.</p>
<p>I see it as a lifestyle choice.</p>
<p>Alwaysamom, I agree that it is astounding that some fans of Jackson see nothing wrong with his “behavior”. What I think happens with a huge star like him, is that some fans idolize and have “hero worship” and their “hero” can’t do no wrong. For folks like us who look at him more rationally or logically, as you say, can recognize his highly significant musical talent, entertainer talent, and pop genius, but separate it out from other things about him which are surely bizarre and not behaviors we’d laud whatsoever.</p>
<p>PS, this isn’t realy relevant but the whole time I have read this thread, I have had what teens seem to call a “brain fart”. I call it “my memory is slipping.” But my younger D all through HS was in this select jazz repertory dance troupe that performed around the region. The director, many years ago, choreographed a piece for this group to a long Michael Jackson song with fabulous choreography that really involved acting a story as well. This piece went into their repertoire every other year. It often ended the performance. My D couldn’t wait to get to ever perform it and finally her last year of HS, it was in their repertoire and she was rehearsing it. That was the year of her car crash and severe injuries which took her out of everything for the remainder of the school year and she never got to perform it. Anyway, my “brain fart” which I couldn’t admit to her (!) is that I couldn’t think of the name of the song all this time I have read this thread. I feel pretty dumb, so I finally looked up the songs he has written, lol. It was Smooth Criminal.</p>
<p>SoozieVT,</p>
<p>It is interesting how Freudian many of his song titles are.</p>
<p>EDIT: Alwaysamom - Is Freudian the right term? Whatever you call it, his song titles are revealing.</p>
<p>DRJ4…LOL! That’s pretty funny. I had not even put that together about “Smooth Criminal”!</p>
<p>How about these song titles:</p>
<p>Bad
Another Part of Me
Behind the Mask
Black or White
Can You Feel Me
Can You Feel It
Childhood
Creep In
Dangerous
Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough
Give In To Me
Hurt
I Can’t Help It
In the Closet
Is It Scary
Just Good Friends
Night Time Lover
Privacy
Someone Put Your Hand Out
State of Shock
Style of Life
Threatened
Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’
The Way You Make Me Feel
Work That Body
You Are Not Alone
Working Day AND Night
You Were There</p>
<p>I know…I’m Baaaaaaad!</p>
<p>PS…somehow “ABC” doesn’t seem to fit here…</p>
<p>Michael Jackson has a very good job nowadays. Pays pretty well, too. Sometimes it can be fun. And he’s his own boss.
What’s the job? Being Michael Jackson. Almost impossible to not succeed.</p>
<p>SoozieVT, that list of song titles is fascinating. It’s easy to read something into almost all of them.</p>
<p>One bad apple…</p>
<p>drj, sorry, I just saw your question to me now! I think that, yes, there is something Freudian about Michael’s choice of song titles but not in the way that most people would think. I’m not thinking of the association with Freud and the nature of the Oedipus complex but rather with Freud’s work on the nature of one’s unconscious, and the dubious nature of the reality of free will and how it affects behavior. I don’t think you’d find many who would disagree that there is probably much in Michael’s life that he has repressed.</p>
<p>Alwaysamom,</p>
<p>Thanks. It’s nice of you to respond. I think I understand most of what you said but I’m not sure I understand “the dubious nature of the reality of free will and how it affects behavior.” However, I certainly don’t intend for you to psychoanalyze MJ so I’ll guess. I think your point is that when bad things happen to us in childhood, they can have a profound effect on how we act as adults - even if it’s not the way we want to act. Is that close?</p>
<p>Yes, that’s close. Basically, and simply, it’s the premise that what happens to an individual through their childhood and youth, will affect what type of adult they are. The effects will influence someone’s unconscious to the extent that their actions, e.g., choosing song titles, may reflect more than they realize, i.e., their own free will. This is all supposition, of course, in Michael’s case because we don’t really know whether or not all those song titles were his choice or someone else’s, but it’s interesting to look at that list, isn’t it!</p>