Please let's not speak ill of the dead, especially when they were found innocent...

Submitted by Alana Ronald (Canada), Jul 15, 2009 at 17:16

Anne A. speaks about Jackson's alleged pedophilia as if it were an absolute fact. No one except those chlldren knew what really happened, and, observing the behaviour of the parents and reading court transcripts, with subsequent recants by at least one boy, makes this allegation very shaky indeed.

Jackson's Dr. Klein confirms the diagnoses of both vitiligo and lupus. The former J. mentioned in one television interview, and Klein explained that as the "leopard spotted" pattern, typical of the former condition, was not in keeping with standards in the entertainment industry, bleaching strategies were employed to even skin tone.

That Jackson survived abuse, fought through his embarrassment about the former and often debillitating effects of the latter speaks to a character stronger than Ms. A. would suppose. Since suffering a severe burn during the filming of a Pepsi commercial it is also understandable how he would turn to painkillers. It is clear to me that Jackson, supporting almost 40 registered charities, plus helping 6 African nations with his co-authored We Are the World and subsequent Live Aid drives, really was a humanitarian and I for one would prefer to ascribe his love of children to his child-like nature, and desire to recapture something of this carefree innocence he was denied.

We have little idea of how the everpresent paparazzi, the circling jackals who wanted pieces of not only his success but part of his fortune, nor how much physical and psychic pain contributed to his demise. And we certainly know many who have neither fame nor fortune who become involved in situations over their heads, resulting in bad choices, drug addiction and actions that seem bizarre. Let us not judge but rather remark over the G-d given talent, and the fact that he left such a remarkable body of work that delighted and inspired, despite a life of great challenge.

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