I think that the person writing the response you posted, are trying to reason with people who believe all the trash that are written about Michael.
If she/ he was speaking to someone who also liked him, both as a person and as an artist whats written would propably be different.
As I see it, there are different groups of people when it comes to Michael:
Its the people that hate him with a vengance, and its hard to realy tell why- as in many cases it seems that their hate realy has nothing to do with Michael and more to do with who they are, and what they have experienced. There are also the rather immature "hater", that just get his kicks out of pushing peoples buttons.
Then there are the people who don`t realy like his music, or are indifferent to it. They may believe in all the rubbish written about him, but that is mostly because they realy don`t invest mutch thought or energy into it. And people are influenced by the massive negativity in the press ( thats why idiotic commercials has effect- if repeated long enough, people believe that "cilit Bang" realy is the best washing product on the market. They may just as well have bought something realy old fashioned that would have worked just as well- but that is how marketing works).
Then there are people who like him as an artist, but don`t come to terms with everything that has happened. Makes them uncomfortable. Mostly because they have a gut feeling its not right, but they don`t have the info to back them up. And they don`t know where to get it. And might not have the time, or incentive enough to go looking.
The thing is, what I have experienced is that MOST people belong to the "like him as an artist", and whenever his music is played they run to the dancefloor.
And: most people in this cathegory is the same as I am with most artists that I like; I don`t particularily care who the artist is as a person. And sometimes, I think that is very healthy, because the need to know everything is part of what creates the mess of tabloids, gossip, rumors etc.....
Just with Michael its all been impossible to avoid, as it has been too mutch. So people form half hearted opinions on the matter ( about as heart felt as if they should go in to an argument about witch shampoo is the best). But they do love the music.
As a fan, I no longer care about the haters- as their opinion often are based on personal issues, witch often would require proffessional work to get to the bottom of ( I had a heated discussion with someone, turned out she had been molested as a child, and this was her way of showing her anger- easier then focusing on her family, and it is actually understandable).
The people who claim to only like his music, well- let them! As long as they buy it, and enjoy it its actually a very NORMAL way of enjoying music!! No need to make a big fuzz about it.
I think the main problem is that because the treatment of Michael has been so unfair, and we like him so mutch - we tend to want to defend im even when he doesn`t need defending. And doing that we may cause more harm then good at this moment.
What I think is, that I defend him when needed ( inform about facts when appropriate), and rather turn the dicussion towards the whole problem with the media, and peoples need for gossip. Usualy does the trick.....................
And the message should be ( in my opinion) that its fine to just love his music, his art. I think its time to become more relaxed about it. That is also a way of making it possible for people to change their mind about things the easy way. You know, if you try to change someones mind by forcing them, they may agree with you at the end of the dicussion because you have proven your point. But most likely, you would also have caused some resentment, because nobody likes to be forced to admit they are wrong. But if people are alowed to make up their own mind ( and you just speak about why you like this or that etc.. and show interest for the other persons view on things) they may change their mind themself, withour resentment or a hard battle of minds.
