540 I Was Wrong About Michael Jackson
I was wrong about Michael Jackson.
Jackson was born less than a year after me so we grew up together, separately. I really liked what little Jackson 5 music I could pick up from the weak radio and fuzzy TV signals we received in our isolated, third world village on the Canadian border in Idaho. I graduated high school in 1975 as the Jackson 5 were beginning to fade some from the music scene.
By the time Jackson released his gigantically successful solo album “Thriller” in 1982 I had already converted to what I only realized later was conservative/fundamentalist Christianity. This flavor of Christianity expected me to approach “secular society” the same way I did skunks in Idaho – the second something smells funny, run.
To keep God from getting mad and possibly wiping me out with the rest of the wicked sinners around me, I had to protect myself from evil. That meant doing things for my demanding God, like attending church as often as possible, only listening to Christian music and reading Christian books and steering clear of the devil’s tools such as tobacco, alcohol, cussing and cable TV. Needless to say, I never got within a hymnal’s throw of pop culture; especially the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.
Because I never listened to Jackson’s music or watched his videos all I knew about him were factoids delivered to me by legalistic religious pundits who miraculously were able to study Jackson without having their lives destroyed. The pictures and video clips they showed of Michael grabbing his crotch and dressing up like a demon zombie confirmed that he was running with the Devil.
For nearly a decade I carried an inner disgust for Jackson and used him as Exhibit A for all that is wrong with society and why God’s judgment is coming to earth. Yet, while conservative pastors like me were telling folks to reject him, Jackson was selling an astonishing 750 million records.
I’ve long since discovered that I can listen to any music and not become demon possessed. Still, by the time I started expanding my listening horizon Jackson’s star was once again fading and he was turning into a magnet for the absurd. Thus, I missed Michael Jackson’s entire solo career and had little comprehension of his worldwide influence.
Imagine my shock at the massive global outpouring of love upon his death. Initially, I assumed these were all mindless, shallow fans; however, the more I studied this phenomenon the more I realized I had been the mindless, shallow one. For example, while we conservatives railed against him, Jackson singlehandedly donated more money to the poor and needy than perhaps all of the conservative Christian churches combined. Furthermore, Jackson paved the way for contemporary stars, such as U2’s Bono, to be a powerful voice for global peace and bold humanitarianism.
I watched Jackson’s memorial this week in humble silence. I literally broke into teas when it ended with his 11 year old daughter Paris’ unscripted, heart wrenching words, “Ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. I just want to say I love him so much.”
Yes, Jackson had freakish quirks and glaring shortcomings but he certainly wasn’t the devil. In fact, as I have been catching up on his amazing life I’ve found myself wondered if some of his later weirdness wasn’t directly linked to his own legalistic religious upbringing and his having to bear the continual weight of judgment from countless mean-spirited religious devotees such as myself.
The bottom line is this, I was wrong about Michael Jackson. Or as his famous song says, “I’m bad.”
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