Re: Update: Air date Nov. 8 th / Katherine Jackson May Be 'Oprah' Bound
Well, I watched the whole inteview and I really liked it apart from the drug addiction part. Personally, I don't care whether Michael was addicted to prescription drugs or not; it doesn't change my perception of him in any way because he had a damn good reason to take those drugs considering the excrutiating physical and mental pain he undoubtedly went through. If we put ourselves in his position I think most of us would have caved in to the pressure. So that's not the issue for me, I'm not some fan in denial because I want to preserve a god-like image of him in my head.
However, I do have a problem when people are being lied to, particularly when these lies come from the very people that Michael trusted. The autopsy clearly shows that Michael Jackson was in a good physical condition (apart from some minor issues that come with aging, and of course his well-documented immune disorders), if he really had a problem with prescription drugs ever since the Pepsi accident this would have come up in the report some how. His organs were all healthy, how is this possible when somebody is addicted to painkillers for over 20 years? The people who claim he was addicted (several family members, LMP and now even Katherine) all admit they never saw him taking any drugs. They just assume he was addicted because 1) he alienated himself from them (acc. to family); 2) he was sometimes confused, paranoid or seemed "out of it" (acc. to LMP); 3) he denied he was addicted when asked about it, which apparently is something addicts typically do (acc. to Katherine). However, if we look at it from Michael's perspective these arguments can easily be explained by others reasons than drug addiction. First, he may have alienated himself from them because he did not trust them or was tired of everyone depending on him. He also said in the Glenda tapes that this whole image of his family being so close was fake (in his own words: "Tight-nit family? My ass!"). And can you blame him, after all the stunts they pulled over the years? I believe the only family member he stayed in close contact with up until his death was his mother. That's why it's so disappointing to hear her go along with this addiction theory even though a while back she clearly denied it. Second, the fact that he sometimes seemed confused, paranoid or "out of it" could have very well been side-effects of the medication he had to take due to legitimate health concerns. Remember LMP said he particularly behaved this way after she went to pick him up at the doctor's office. So yes, he did take pain medication (I think we all know this) but he did not "abuse" them, that is the essential difference. Third, the fact that he denied being an addict only confirms to me that he wasn't, particularly since he was so upset that "even his own mother didn't believe him". That is heartbreaking to me.
Anyway, I am afraid we are heading down the same road as we did during the molestation trial. Like Michael said: "If you hear a lie often enough, you start to believe it". Back in 2003-2005, the media was so eager to push the image of Michael as a child molester and took such great efforts to sway public opinion this way, that whenever we as fans or non-brainwashed neutrals tried to argue this and even come up with reliable evidence to back up our claims we were labled as "delusional" and not taken seriously. The same is happening now. There seems to be a general consensus that Michael was indeed addicted to prescription drugs and this is what killed him, and I've even seen fans accepting this position. Very few people are actually going to do their own research and read the autopsy report for themselves (just like hardly anyone apart from MJ fans have really studied the court transcripts) so their opinion on this will be based on what they hear in the media, and if even his friends and family support the media's agenda it's pretty much a lost cause for us fans to argue against this.
Sorry for my long post, I hope someone will take the effort to actually read this and tell me if you agree/disagree with my position
