:wtf: Tell me, in what context is it ok to berate a child by calling him UGLY? Emotionally scarring a child isn't "discipline" and neither is physical abuse. What is it exactly that Joe "sacrificed" to raise his children? NOTHING! It is a parents' duty to give their best, do their best, go above and beyond to nurture and protect the lives they CHOSE to bring into this world.
As for the 'keeping their kids out of the streets, out of jail because of the times, lack of opportunities and their race' is a crock, sorry. Unless one thinks that the only fate for Black people (other than prison or the cemetery) is entertainment and/or sports, then that thinking is twisted in the worst possible way! I'm a few months older than Janet, black and my father never crushed our spirits or demeaned us; he showed us love and affection along with giving us discipline (when we needed it, which wasn't that often). My parents were also people of strong faith and took their parenting responsibilities to heart until the day they died.
All black fathers aren't vicariously living through their children and aren't hiding behind a twisted view of what it means to be a strong black man/head of the household.
I find it hilarious how everyone twisted words to imply how wrong I am...For one, I agreed with most about the ugly thing, I simply said we don't know in what context it was said, I followed that up with, that action being "terrible within itself"..But excuse me for not pretending like I was in the Jackson household or around them all the time to assume that it may have been something vicious or not.
Secondly, you telling me those weren't among some of the only options for African American's during that time? When the world was still rife with the civil rights movement, you're telling me Joe's decisions had no impact on what his children became? The fact is, we weren't given the opportunities we were back then, that we are now, that's just the simple fact of the matter. Would it have been possible for Michael Jackson with no Joe to go on and become a successful business entrepreneur? Entirely. Yet highly unlikely. What do you mean what did Joe sacrifice? He sacrificed everything, he also gave up on his job, his chance of feeding his wife and his family, in order to ensure his children had a better life than he did.
Whoopings happen, getting beat while you're naked with a belt, happens. A lot of us call it parenting. And not everyone has to agree with how you raise your children, but when you've managed to keep your kids out of negative situations thus molding them to be successful, positive individuals, nobody has the right to tell you, you do not love your children. Which is exactly what's going on in this thread, which is exactly the only thing I spoke against in that post. I don't agree with Joe's tactics, nowhere in that post did I even state that I did. However, I'm not going to sit here, and spew through my teeth that Joe Jackson didn't love Michael nor mourn for his son. When the former, has been disproven by Michael himself later on in his life. And everyone mourns differently, Joe Jackson is clearly a man who will not let his emotions be seen in public. So again, excuse me for not following the bandwagon.
And at Victory22, what the hell does being African American have to do with not labeling Joe Jackson as an "unloving parent"? For one, while there MIGHT be millions of African American fathers in America who have sacrificed for their kids, there are still millions of African American fathers who skip out on their families, and that number probably outweighs those who stick around. If that wasn't the case, America and African Americans would not have this problem where statistically the average African American household the father is absent. Look it up, I'm not lying to you. Because something is that way for YOU, doesn't mean it's like that for everyone, or even the majority, because to this very day, in 2014, that is certainly not the case. That's great your father took you to the beach whenever you acted out....Because that works for you, and made you listen, it doesn't work for everyone else. And again, we are nobody to say that Joe didn't love his kids because he beat them. Spankings, whether it was via hands or a belt, and those welt marks were received, turned me into a pretty decent human being, knowing what's right and whats wrong. Yet I later realized as I got older, that these things were done for the better, so that I would listen and understand what was acceptable and what wasn't, so I could know how to treat people, and how I shouldn't, and it was done out of LOVE, regardless of how much I cried or how much it hurt me at the time. Apparently taking you to the beach was your solution. You gonna sit here and tell me that my mother, grandmother & grandfather didn't love me because they opted for stronger acts of discipline? Hell with that.
@ Bubs, again, statistically the majority of gang members and drug dealers come from broken households. These are statistical facts, so what are you saying? Of course there's still drug dealers and gang bangers, because there are still men out there, thinking shit is a game, impregnating girls, and then not being able to handle their responsibilities and walking out on their families. So why wouldn't there still be gang members and drug dealers?
Bottomline is this, I don't agree with the extent to which Joe went to "discipline" his children. But I'm not going to criticize someone opting to discipline their kids, not mine, their kids, with a spanking via your hands or a belt. Simply because I know for a fact, the non-violent, "go sit in the corner and think about what you did" approach does NOT work for all children. I'm also not going to sit here and say Joe didn't love his son or mourn for his death. I don't like Joe Jackson, I'm not a fan of Joe Jackson, I wouldn't care if Joe dropped dead today. But I believe that he did love all of his kids, including Michael.
I seriously doubt he even shed a single tear for his son. I wonder if he loved Mike at ALL?
