American society has nurtured thousands of talents that blossomed and eventually became international idols that still attract billions of audiences across the globe.
However, not all American citizens appreciate the efforts of these stars. The media plays a major role in giving stars both fame and negative image. Most of these stars have negative images that makes them appear as inhuman monsters. Through their agenda setting and propaganda, the media use may create negative social images picking on stories which incriminate celebrities. When the name Michael Jackson is mentioned, thousands of people think about a pop musician that molested children, a racist and a man who used demonic powers to influence his audience. Nonetheless, Michael Jackson was a person who made many contributions to his society providing social, economic and even humanitarian assistance.
This paper is an argumentative essay that shall justify that Michael Jackson was innocent and argue that he was not the monster that media created. As Jefferson (2006) has vividly put it, Michael Jackson was a major hero as he contributed to social development. Michael Jackson has greatly influenced the American culture by production of different types of music. Michael Joseph Jackson was born in the state of Indiana on 29 of August 1958 and passed away on 25 June 2009. He was the king of the art who had sophisticated dancing styles that stimulated the emotions of his audience.
. During his lifetime, he focused on production of pop, rhythm and blues, rock soul and funk music among others. He was a young man who grew up loving music with all his passion. Michael knew what he wanted and did it with devotion and interest.
His music was full of life and nobody could afford ignoring its tune. For instance, his album 'Thriller' was the best one. Through his career, he sold more than 750 million records. Michael Jackson had different trophies and awards for his work (Jefferson, 2006). His fans enjoyed seeing him performing live on both local and international arena. He was good at break dancing, however some Christian media claimed that he was a member of the illuminati, consequently their demonic powers influenced his dancing styles.
In fact, break dance is very easy and anybody can dance it. There is nothing demonic in the dance. It is a matter of practice. For years, the church was against any form of dances. In Africa, the Roman Catholic Church prohibited incorporation of dancing in church sessions. This led to the establishment of African independent churches.
These churches revolutionized dancing, after that almost all churches across the world adopted it as a form of worship. The independent churches dug out from the scriptures in the Bible that dancing was legal because King David danced in prais of God until his cloak fell off. Dancing is an art and dancers are expected to be creative enough. Michael was creative and flexible artist. Jefferson (2006) contends that the society should accept his contributions rather than using his efforts to incriminate him.
Moreover, the society does not have the right to judge Jackson because the judgment is the work of God.The media also accuses Michael Jackson to be a child molester. In my point of view, the media goes wrong again. Michael is not a monster. Michael loved and cherished children despite having relationship problems. He arrived at the court twice with charges that he had sexually abused a young boy.
During the first session, the court found him innocent. However, he appeared before the court with similar charges again but the court ruled iteratively that he was innocent. After his death, the second victim sent him apologies saying that he lied and he was very sorry. Nonetheless, media publicized many reports that labeled him as a child molester. If the court finds him innocent, then the question arises who the media person is who wants to convict him.
Michael loved children in his lifetime,. His own children say that he was the best father despite having issues with their mother. Michael diverted billions of dollars from his revenue to sponsor child organizations and other charities (Campbell, 1993). Therefore, it is important that the society appreciates his contributions rather than pasting him the monster image.
Furthermore, Michael Jackson was not a monster because he was empathetic. He was a true humanitarian of his time. He loved and valued life. He had understanding that the world had a wound and not everyone was rich. He understood that humanity was weak and insufficient.
He collaborated with other musicians like Kenny Rodgers, Lionel Richie among others composing a song 'We are the world' that requested people to contribute towards poor people in Africa and other developing countries. Apart from that, he also made his personal contributions through charities to financially incapacitated people. The Guinness Book of World Records noted Michael Jackson as the pop star that made large charitable contributions (Campbell, 1993). Additionally, he also promoted peaceful coexistence among the occupants of this world.
He noted that most people were dying and suffering for no good reason. In his song 'Heal the world', Michael Jackson urged world leaders to heal the world and enhance peace. This only proves how much he was a human being and not the monster that we knew. The society also thought that Michael Jackson did not value the black race.
The media made the society believe that Michael Jackson disliked his appearaance because his father made fun of his big nose. When Michael Jackson’s skin turned white, the American society considered the white race supreme. The white people dominated the media and they would say anything to make white race appear superior. Campbell (1993) believes that the media people presented Michael Jackson's skin condition that changed his identity from a black American to appear as a white American as his act of showing how much contempt he had for the black people. The truth of the matter is that Michael Jackson was suffering from the Vitiligo disease. Vitiligo is one of the skin disorders that occur to most individuals after their melanocytes cells, which are responsible for skin coloration process, are destroyed.
This disorder affects close to two million Americans from whichever race but it is more visible among the black people. The disease causes formation of white patches on the skins of the victims. Moreover, when one uses cosmetics when suffering from this condition, it destroys ones skin's appearance. Vitiligo was diagnosed in 1986. Being a celebrity, he used some cosmetics unknowingly, which made his skin lose his black color. The media did not spare him when came to conclusion that he bleached himself (Landis, nd).
Nonetheless, he did not mean to disown the black heritage. He was proud black young man and he respected all races. If Michael had much contempt for his black appearance, he would not have made photos and videos as a black boy. Furthermore, the medicine at that time did not have technologies or cosmetics that would permanently turn one from black to white. Moreover, bleaching would not have made Michael a perfect white. After much criticism, he decided to compose the song 'Black or White'; the public still cannot get his message because it focused on its entertaining impact rather than the message.
He also presented his official diagnosis report to Oprah Winfrey interview in 1993 that proves that he did have a the Vitiligo disease. Therefore, instead of being sarcastic and merciless, we should be sympathetic and accommodating to Jackson (Landis, nd). He deserves empathy.To sum up, over the past few years before his death, the media portrayed Michael Jackson as a monster who molested children, a devil worshipper and a racist who could not stomach being black to the extent of bleaching his natural color living out his positive contributions earning him a negative publicity. Michael Jackson was a businessperson, father, musician and composer of original songs with much love for children and the society.
He aimed at helping people in the developing world. He was also a real achiever apart from making many contributions to the society. Therefore, he deserves the honor as he is not the monster that the media wants to make out of him.
