Pajamas Media

43 Comments

1. David Thomson:

“But at the time I couldn’t help but wonder how all those hired hands could have ignored what must have been obvious to them”

Excuse me, but it’s time for a reality check. Employees can be fired! There is little doubt in my mind that both Michael Jackson and this unnamed celebrity would have immediately pink slipped any employee who dared criticize their drug abuse. One had better keep their mouth shut if they wish to continue collecting a paycheck. On a gut level, Jackson made sure nothing interfered with his self-destructive behavior. His world, for all practical purposes, did revolve around him. Only enablers, employees and non-employees, were allowed to remain within his personal orbit.

Jul 1, 2009 - 9:00 am 2. Delia:

“NO” people get fired.

Elvis surrounded himself with ‘YES’ people.

Do you honestly think that anyone who would have the brass balls to say ‘NO’ to a rich and uber famous celeb would keep their job?

People who want to be addicts will be no matter how destructive it is to their lives and the lives of those who love and care for them. This just happens to be a rich and famous addict.

Jul 1, 2009 - 9:01 am 3. davidt:

Does Obama have any “NO” people?

Jul 1, 2009 - 9:14 am 4. drjohn:

This has long been my assertion as well. The failure to stand up to Jackson and Elvis and Smith is what led to their deaths. No one cared enough to say no. No one even tried.

So you’ll forgive me when I wretch after watching Al Sharpton and company dancing away in frivolity at the passing of Michael Jackson. They’re miserable hypocrites. They’re full of it when they say how they cared for Jackson. Jackson was clearly mentally ill and anyone who really cared for him would have moved mountains to try to help him.

Those who knew Jackson and now claim to be saddened by Jackson’s passing now are execrable cretins.

Jul 1, 2009 - 9:27 am 5. Delia:

4. drjohn,

You can’t ‘fire’ blood [family]. When the ‘family’ benefits financially from someone who is obviously a full-on drug addicted nut case pedo and THEY won’t even say ‘NO’…it ain’t good.

If family members don’t have enough ‘horse sense’ to stop someone from destroying their life [and the lives of OTHERS], well, good luck finding someone for ‘hire’ who is going to say ‘no’.

Jul 1, 2009 - 9:51 am 6. A.W.:

well, it is not only inhumane to watch a man slowly kill himself, but if you are an employee, also against your enlightened self interest. After all, how many of those hangers-on have jobs today?

of course i would out myself as an intellectual to point out that it is a mostly classic prisoner’s dilemma, where all of them would benefit from a certain course of action, but there are incentives holding back each individual. At the very least one of them should have gone into michael’s rolodex and found janet jackson’s number and said, “sweetie, your brother is killing himself. can you find the people who made you normal and have them pay him a visit?”

Okay maybe that’s not the most tactful way to put it, but you get the idea.

Ultimately those who never heard someone say no, do so because they are immature. i am a lawyer. i have to tell my clients what they don’t want to hear all the time. and the mature ones appreciate that, indeed seek it out.

Jul 1, 2009 - 10:01 am 7. David Thomson:

It is better to be comfortably wealthy than being poor. God help you, though, if you are extremely wealthy. Such a person can arrange their world where nobody dares to hinder their self-destructive impulses. Elvis Presley was reportedly paying his “buddies” around $80,000 annually—which translates to roughly $200,000 in today’s money. These fellows also enjoyed free housing, booze, and almost daily wild parties. To be blunt, they were paid to be enablers. We can probably take for granted that Michael Jackson also paid those employees close to him salaries far above the norm. The number one job requirement: mind your own business about their drug abuse.

Jul 1, 2009 - 10:02 am 8. "progressive"watch:

With Jackson’s kind of celebrity,he had to be the one who said no. Michael Jackson’s death wasn’t tragic. His life was the tragedy.

No,davidt [3],Obama has no one saying no. They are all of the same destructive mind-set,all in an attack mode. Others have to say no to them. We,all of us,have to say no,NO,and DAMN YOU,NO!!!!!!!!!!

Jul 1, 2009 - 10:43 am 9. Meryl:

Please. Must we now go through public and cultural self-examination to “spread the responsibility” around for the garbage these people do–implying that we share responsibility?

The single best piece of counsel I received 25 years ago during an 18 month period of suicidal impulses was this, “You need to understand something: if you really want to kill yourself, no one will be able to stop you.”

At the risk of being flamed, I will nevertheless hereby assert that I bear no responsibility for Jackson’s trashed life or (probably unnecessary) death.

Multi-cultural entanglements don’t just have to do with nationalities. They’re also a factor in this kind of conversation, and I think it’s about time we redraw some boundaries.

Of course, as soon as I assert that, I suppose those who are always screaming about Christians wanting to control everybody else’s behaviors will then accuse me of not being willing to be involved.

Jul 1, 2009 - 11:00 am 10. abi:

The “PRESS”…could use a “NO MORE” man….

They have made Jackson more inportant than the “cap and trade” that we got screwed on…more important than the N. Korea business, China fussing about the dropping dollar, etc…..

Then they humiliate the children with all the disgustng coverage over “who is really their bio dad, mom”>,,, who in hootyville cares???? disgusting

Jul 1, 2009 - 11:02 am 11. 11B40:

Greetings:

I agree with your point. My father was fond of telling me to, “Practice patience and enjoy deprivation.” It was good advice, even though its acceptance took me some time.

But, as much as there seems to be acceptance of the malfeasance or nonfeasance of Mr. Jackson’s later day associates, I still have a bit of difficulty with the assertion. Mr. Jackson was a man of some “artistic” ability and business acumen. I can’t yet accept that what was going on around him was without his assent on some level. He may have been acting in a passive-aggressive mode, but I don’t think he ever forgot the unGolden Rule: He who has the gold, makes the rules.

I think it more likely that Mr. Jackson just never found his peace in this world. I have long thought that abuse of opiates is a sign that one wants to withdraw from the world, with death being the ultimate withdrawal. This may have been a subconscious desire on Mr. Jackson’s part but I think that things were closing in on him and that there was no relief in sight. I think Dr. Freud referred to it as Thantos, or the deathwish.

P.S. Obviously, I am no psychologist.

Jul 1, 2009 - 11:32 am 12. Sebastian Shaw:

People of great wealth often surround themselves with yes people for the sole reason to be in complete control of their little bubble world; in other words, they employ people to enable their destructive desires. The greater the wealth, the more one is able to indulge in his own vices. Wealth can be as much a a cage as poverty in this sense. Michael Jackson’s celebrity made him retreat further into his own distorted, demented world. Why did no one say anything? Michael Jackson paid them to be quiet.

Jul 1, 2009 - 12:38 pm 13. RJ:

Hey, get me some Windex and a cloth. Now, bring that big mirror closer so I can have it cleaned.

Ok, you folks take a deep and long look into this mirror. It is a mirror we call “popular culture” for it has magical properties.

What do you people see?

That’s just what I thought you all would see…

Jul 1, 2009 - 12:45 pm 14. LeighB:

It is a rare person who wants people around them to say ‘no’. With respect to Obama, we can’t even get the press to ask a tough question now and again, so afraid are they of being exciled. And they don’t work for him…oh,wait. They think they do.

Regarding Michael Jackson, his father killed his spirit years ago, it just took longer for him to finish the job. I never thought his life was going to turn out any other way.

Jul 1, 2009 - 1:20 pm 15. LeighB:

edit: exciled should be exiled

Jul 1, 2009 - 1:22 pm 16. Boca Condo King:

A great example occured about ten years ago when a young pretty singer named (I think) Alyia was killed in a plane crash.

Flying back from the islands, her staff overloaded the chartered plane with big people and heavy recording gear.

The pilot was to weak willed to protest and her yes men made sure the pilot simply agreed to thier demands and fly the plane.

Gravity was unable to be bullied and so they all died.

Some things cannot be wished or ordered away.

Jul 1, 2009 - 1:37 pm 17. Blarty Blarckleblart:

Why are we dancing around the obvious? We all know why Michael Jackson is dead: CLINTON OBAMA DEATH LIST

Jul 1, 2009 - 2:01 pm 18. Sebastian Shaw:

BB (#17), you’re not making any sense. Are you drinking some of Michael’s Jesus Juice?

Jul 1, 2009 - 2:32 pm 19. Blarty Blarckleblart:

18 Sebastian

Strikeout fail on my part. Let me try again: CLINTON OBAMA DEATH LIST

If that fails too, I am going with CLINTON-OBAMA DEATH LIST

Jul 1, 2009 - 2:44 pm 20. Delia:

19. Blarty Blarckleblart,

You have me totally confused. Sorry.

Jul 1, 2009 - 3:29 pm 21. Sebastian Shaw:

BB, you must be drinking Michael’s Jesus Juice….

Jul 1, 2009 - 3:47 pm 22. I.M. Copper:

As a Fox pundit reports, “Michael Jackson… is still dead!”

Elvis, Nicole-Smith, Heath Ledger, and now Jackson lived too short a life due to their addictions. They took illegal drugs or lethal combinations of prescribed medications they should have known would harm or kill them-just like dozens of junkies every day. A junky is a junky! It is truly sad and the ultimate waste of life but their choices and their repeated attempts to destroy themselves eventually prove successful, even for the King of Pop.

Now, we too must stave off the lure of addiction and certain death as we are forced to watch the mutual attempts at aggrandizing by the “Reverends” Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as the latest Hollywood character is buried. No matter what happens one thing is certain….Jackson is still dead.

Jul 1, 2009 - 3:59 pm 23. NahnCee:

I simply cannot imagine the power that belonged to Jackson. Anyone who can birth three children with no scientifically-named mother or father has the system so bought and paid-for that a mere chauffeur, housekeeper, lawyer or nanny must cower, tug their forelock and only say “yes” in his presence. Headlines are reading that the Jackson family will not be allowed to turn Neverland into his mausoleum. Too bad he’s not still alive so he (or his enablers) could convince the system to rescind that decision and give him what he would have wanted.

Jul 1, 2009 - 5:22 pm 24. Blarty Blarckleblart:

19. Blarty Blarckleblart,

You have me totally confused. Sorry.

C’mon, guys – this is a wingnut site. Surely you’re all familiar with the Clinton and Obama Death Lists?

http://www.snopes.com/politics/clintons/bodycount.asp

There’s one for Obama too.

Jul 1, 2009 - 5:37 pm 25. Delia:

23. NahnCee,

I know. It’s absolutely dispicable that this ‘man’ was able to ‘buy’ children for GOD ONLY KNOWS WHAT.

Jul 1, 2009 - 6:09 pm 26. Insufficiently Sensitive:

Does Obama have any “NO” people?

Actually, he does, at least two: David Axelrod, and Rahm Emanuel. Both are keen Chicago machine politicians, and are skilled in identifying and enlisting voting blocks, frequently through various disguised – or blatant – payoffs.

And either one could credibly say no to Obama, who’s a Chicago machine politician himself. He would rely on their political senses to back up that ‘no’, if they warned that by failing to heed it he’d not be re-elected.

Jul 1, 2009 - 6:22 pm 27. Anon323:

I once worked on Mr. Jackson’s legal team of criminal defense attorneys and support personnel. Through the prosecution’s discovery and various witness interviews, I came to what I think was an accurate understanding of his behavior. Yes, I was appalled by the excess and the terrible decisions he made and continued to make. But it occurred to me at the time that his problem was that he was never told “no” except by one person, his father. The problem is, how can you take daddy seriously as an authority figure when you are supporting daddy and his abuse from the age of seven? When you hold thousands of people in the palm of your hands daily and they are cheering for you, not for Daddy? When it is you who is stocking the bank account with millions of greenbacks? When Daddy is nothing but an abusive, authoritarian parasite? Why would a person in this position ever take anyone seriously who said, “I care about you,” let alone “No”?
The author is right.

Jul 1, 2009 - 7:03 pm 28. Anon323:

And by the way, plenty of people DID tell him no. And they were fired instantly and replaced by people who were more with the program.

Jul 1, 2009 - 7:04 pm 29. Donna V.:

This is such a wingnut site that a moonbat has to be the one to provide us with links to conspiracy theories. Sorry, BB, never heard of those sites. Glad you’re keeping up on them. I can see you have a life.

I don’t think it’s just extreme wealth – it’s extreme wealth plus celebrity that seems to really twist people’s heads. (We have no idea what percentage of very rich people who are private/secretive about their wealth are really screwed up precisely because they’re not the ones who end up in “People” magazine.)

That’s why so many celebs seem to think everyone on the planet is fascinated by their inane opinions on politics, global warming, the meaning of life, etc…because everyone they know treats their every utterance like the Word of God. Jackson was celebrity weirdness taken to the nth degree, but then he got famous earlier than most. Of course, Shirley Temple was a child star too, and grew up to be a useful and relatively normal human being, but her movie career ended and she lived out of the spotlight for many years before becoming an ambassdor. Jackson never had a breather.

It’s funny – the evidence has long been in that wealthy celebs frequently lead miserable lives and yet millions would be willing to cut off their left arms with a hacksaw if they could become rich and famous by doing so. I think people secretly think that they themselves would do it right – they would know how to be a sane and happy celeb. In reality, none of us really have an idea of what it would be like to have to have the ability to buy anything we wanted, coupled with adoring fans and a need for bodyguards and press agents. (And also the intense fear they must have of losing it all, of becoming has-beens.) We imagine we’d be the same people we are now, only with bigger bank accounts. No, we’d be different. I think of some of the teen boys I know – give them a couple of million and access to all the drugs and groupies they wanted, and they’d end up like Jim Morrison or Brian Jones.

Jul 1, 2009 - 7:09 pm 30. AThinkingPerson:

Funny how a poster like Blarty Blarckleblart has to tell us “winguts” about right wing conspiracy theories (Re #24). Hilarious! Is this person for real or a left wing troll who forgot his talking points?

Gee Blarty, what other shocking theories do we believe that we haven’t ever heard of?

Jul 1, 2009 - 7:28 pm 31. Donna V.:

AThinkingPerson: yeah, BB is pretty funny. He comes here with what he imagines is a devastatingly snarky comments, and nobody knows what the hell he’s talking about and thinks he must be drunk. So then he has to explain his own punchline, like a doofus telling a bad joke at a party. “C’mon, you wingnuts, you must know about this!” Except nobody does.

Like I said though, it’s nice that he has time to monitor conspiracy sites and let us know they exist. Everyone needs a hobby. If it turns out that David Duke and Fred Phelps are getting it on and Pat Buchanan has it on film, I hope he lets us know.

Jul 1, 2009 - 8:12 pm 32. moron:

Hey, put Jackson high on the pedestal. Governor Sanford had a fling with a HOT female South American while separated from his wife, place him in the pits of Hell. Aw, American “journalists.”

Jul 1, 2009 - 9:12 pm 33. Cliff:

I can’t believe the “libs” fascination with this pervert.
And we thought MJ was the sick one?????

Jul 1, 2009 - 9:36 pm 34. Delia:

28. Anon323:

“And by the way, plenty of people DID tell him no. And they were fired instantly and replaced by people who were more with the program.”

-And, B-I-N-G-O was his NAME-OH.

Therein lies the crux of the problemmo. There’s a word for it…hmmm….think-…think-….think-… ‘Co-Dependency’? His FAMILY should have been the first response team when he was going nuckin’ futz, rather than the funeral organizers.

Jul 1, 2009 - 10:54 pm 35. Thomas L......:

Well, let’s be serious, who gets to hang around the boss, say no all the time and still have a job? Unless these people have old friends or family members who can bring them down to earth with a well placed word, they’re hopelessly at the mercy of their own power.

Jul 2, 2009 - 5:50 am 36. NahnCee:

Compare Jackson’s childhood with that of the Gosselin twins and sextuplets. My guess is that the Gosselin kids ONLY hear “no” on an hourly basis, as in, “no, you cannot use chewing gum or crayons” … “no, you cannot talk now while the cameras are rolling” … “no, you cannot have a drink of water” … “no, you cannot let the dogs out of their cages to play with them” … ad nauseum.

Society couldn’t cope with Jackson’s megalomania because of his wealth and fame. I’m wondering if it will be possible to rein Kate Gosselin in before her 8 kids are permanently tortured into the mental equivalent of a bonsai plant.

Jul 2, 2009 - 8:34 am 37. Fred Suggs:

It seems that doctors have different standards for wealthy celebrities. Jackson is said to have developed an addiction to painkillers for injuries, specifically a stage fall that hurt his back and the 3rd degree burns on his scalp from that Pepsi commercial mishap.

Those are not the kinds of injuries, though, that typically require maintenance doses of demerol and oxycontin.

I’ve hurt my neck in a 30 foot fall into a riverbed, and hurt my back in a bad bicycle wreck. Some nights I can’t sleep due to back pain. I don’t bother to take less than three aspirin at a time. I’m sure, however, that if I went to a doctor and asked for opiates for my back pain, they would call it drug-seeking behavior.

Jul 2, 2009 - 2:25 pm 38. Sebastian Shaw:

I will only take pain pills if my pain is BAD. I don’t like pain pills for the fact they knock you out. I discovered this when I had knee surgery several years ago; I took some pain pills & I was asleep for several hours. I woke up groggy & was out of it for another couple of hours. I hated it! Therefore, I refused to take anymore pain pills. I had a similar experience when I dislocated my knee & had some kind of pain pills which was like taking 3 or 4 Nightquil. I couldn’t drive since my reaction time was slow & was forced home for a couple of weeks. I stopped taking the pills after a week though. I just worked though the pain.

Jul 2, 2009 - 6:03 pm 39. Banned by Huffpo:

The world is minus one pedophile.

YAY! Too bad it didn’t happen thirty years ago.

Jul 2, 2009 - 6:27 pm 40. Realist:

During the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ in Hitlers Germany some of the executed Brownshirts died with ‘Heil Hitler’ on their lips. They could not or rather would not believe that their Fuehrer was betraying them and their socialist beliefs. So it is in Obambi Land now and ‘neolibs’ and the dumbed down MSM only have time for the worship of false Gods like Obambi and Michael Jackson and completely ignore the depravity that was Michael Jacksons life and the fact that the ‘Hope and Change’ the LIAR Messiah is following is an absolute betrayal of the ‘Hope and Change’ that they THOUGHT the BOGUS POTUS was talking about.

Why is it that deluded gullible hysterical worshipers are the last to wake up and smell the coffee.

Jul 2, 2009 - 11:53 pm 41. Mark in Texas:

Michael Jackson was rich and powerful enough to buy children as pets. Don’t tell me he couldn’t have you killed and disappeared for telling him “No”.

Jul 3, 2009 - 5:39 am 42. NahnCee:

Mark — I heard an interview a couple of months ago from the guy who was supposed to be in charge of the auction of his possessions that Jackson had supposedly agreed-to. If I remember correctly, a very short time before the auction was scheduled — like, a week — Jackson woke up out of his stupor and said, “hey, wait a minute — I still *want* all that stuff.”

Part of the reason the auction was called off, according to this auction guy, was death threats on behalf of Jackson made by the Nation of Islam. So yes, I don’t think it’s overstating it that, given his on-going connections with Lewis Farrakhan and American Muslim thugs, he could have had you killed, although disappeared might have been beyond their scope of expertise.

Jul 3, 2009 - 9:25 am 43. Sandra:

Things like people not telling MJ what dumb things he was doing that was wrong or questionable is the same as the culture war in the rest of the country. You have people terrified to speak out about their beliefs lest they come under assault of the Perez Hilton’s of the world. Someone being afraid of losing their job by disagreeing with what their boss is doing who is such a cash cow for them isn’t out of the ordinary. Like liberals who barricade themselves in places like New York to keep undesirables out, so do people in the business and personal worlds. They just cannot withstand the idea of their actions being criticized.

I know of a situation at an image board where the people there had role playing threads there the adults were role playing the idea of having sex with 16 year olds and doing these activities in front of 13 year olds, and when called on it they barricaded themselves and didn’t want to even answer yes or no if they thought role playing adults naked with kids was okay. You can see some of the stuff we knew about via my URL link. It’s pretty bad though. One of the children involved has already been removed from the internet by their parents, and no one from the group that did these things, or anyone that was their friends that knew about it said anything in fear of upsetting the apple cart.

Truly open-minded people are ones that have actually thought out the alternatives to their actions if they have the capacity to do so. I think the people that knew MJ close up knew that he probably wouldn’t be receptive to that level of criticism and just kept their mouths shut, or were fearful that if they said something that not just would they be fired, but a powerful person would move against them in some way.

Jul 5, 2009 - 8:31 pm

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