Explaining Away His Pain
Michael Jackson is always caught by surprise whenever something terrible occurs in his life. He never seems able to connect the dots of unfolding misery back to his own impulsive actions and questionable judgement.
For instance, he had never recognized that for every disadvantaged youngster who visited Neverland Ranch, there would always be a set of parents in the background. Some, such as those of his present accuser (and those of Jordie Chandler’s), might be at war with each other in a battle that could involve child custody (as it has in both cases). Also, each child and each parent was likely to have his and her own dysfunctional history, as well as aggressive attorneys. Since there was no way to check the backgrounds of every child and every parent who entered his private domain, would it not have made more sense to keep strangers out of Neverland? If he was so determined to host an amusement park for kiddies, could he not have maintained Neverland for that purpose, but chosen to live elsewhere? The simple answer for Michael is: no. He must be around children. He must have them in his midst. Neverland is a shrine to adolescence. There are statues of youngsters and photographs of boys and girls all over the place. He’s obsessed with kids.
How long, one wonders, can Michael and his enablers continue to explain his strange behaviour by saying that he is compensating for a childhood ripped from him by his career, his fame, his fans?
The duration of a person’s conscious childhood probably spans the years between five and eighteen. Michael became famous at the age of ten. Not to be reductive of a person’s dysfunction in such a complex world, but if one insists upon harping on the notion of a lost childhood, then it would seem that Michael ‘lost’ eight years. Michael bought Neverland in 1988. He has lived there, surrounded by a dreamy and fake adolescence, for roughly sixteen years. Therefore, it would seem that he has compensated for his ‘lost childhood’ two times over.
In truth, Neverland remains a monument to Michael’s confusion and conflict about childhood, and not how much he missed out on it but, rather, how much he
misses
it. He clings to every vestige of youth with almost manic desperation, as if growing up would be the worst thing that could happen to him.
The ride on the private jet, a Gulf Stream G-4, from Las Vegas to Santa Barbara on 20 November 2003, the day Michael was arrested, was, of course, a difficult one. He was frightened and pessimistic about the future. ‘Why does everyone else get to be happy, and I’m always thrashing through the mud?’ he asked.
Michael arrived at the jail wearing a black suit with his hands cuffed behind his back. He was photographed and fingerprinted and handed over his passport; it took about a half-hour. He was charged with ten counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under age fourteen, each count punishable by three to eight years in prison. Michael was freed on $3 million bail, which means he had to come up with $300,000 – not a difficult thing for him to do.
Later, Michael would claim that he had been abused by police officers while at the station; they had even dislocated his shoulder! It was unlikely that Jackson suffered at the hands of law enforcement; there were video cameras everywhere. When did the abuse happen? He seemed fine when he arrived at the station, and was waving to people and flashing the victory sign when he left. The bruise Michael displayed to
60 Minutes
correspondent Ed Bradley (on 29 December 2003) as evidence of handcuffs that had been too tight was so high on his arm it had to be the result of some other occurrence. Some speculated that he had actually hurt himself during the caravan ride from Santa Barbara to Las Vegas, while shaking hands with fans out of the half-opened window of his automobile.
There was something about Michael’s detailing of police abuse that felt impulsive in delivery, as if he hadn’t thought about it in advance but, rather, made a snap decision in a desperate, anxious moment. It’s doubtful that he discussed it with his attorneys in advance. Coming directly from Michael, the accusation of abuse truly was disconcerting. Everything Michael says these days has to hold up under scrutiny; his credibility is on the line now, more than ever. It’s also doubtful that anyone in his camp would dare take him to task for such impulsive behaviour, though. It is more likely that, after they were caught by surprise, they scrambled to figure out how to handle it.
After the accusation of abuse made headlines, the police department retaliated by releasing a video in which it seemed Michael wasn’t abused at all but, rather, actually treated well by the authorities. The suspicious allegation against the police made things worse for Michael; it looked like a diversionary tactic and caused some of his critics to speculate as to why he would need one.