Mr. Wow, interesting view. I grew up when MJ was well into his plastic surgery overload, and the look freaked me out as a kid…never did care for him since. I too feel sorry for him when he was a kid, but I’ve no respect for what he did to himself and others later on. But that’s not why I’m writing. I was thinking about your comment about him hating his father, and here where you mention that he left Joe Jackson out of the will.

I agree that it was not love that prompted him to do so, but I’m not sure that that was hate. It might have been, but it might also have been just coming to grips with who and what his father is, and deciding that that was not worth rewarding. Physical and mental abuse is something that leaves you with scars for life, and you can deal with them in any number of ways. Hate is one way, but it is not a healing way. Acceptance — of the past, that you cannot change; of the reality of what your abuser is/was, that you can also not change — and courage are other, healthier ways. To accept the reality of what your abuser is, you have to accept the ugly truth…it’s not pleasant, and your first reaction is to hate. But eventually you come to realize that that person is not worth hating, or loving, or otherwise wasting your emotions on. Sometimes the most difficult part, particularly in cases like this (where the abuser was a parent) is letting go of the innate sense that you should love your abusive parent, because he is your parent. It’s hard to make peace with childhood abuse when you are struggling against loving and hating that person. But eventually you do neither — you see that person for what he/she is, you see what they did to you, you stop asking why, and you focus on the present and the future. It doesn’t mean you will (should) ever forget, that you will ever like that person again, that you would ever let him/her near kids of your own or that you want to carry on any relationship with him/her — or that you’ll include him/her in  your will. But that doesn’t mean it’s hate. 

Wow, that was long, I know…sorry, lol. The subject is personally significant to me (I’ll bet you gathered that much :P). Anyway, what I meant with all of that is that we don’t know if MJ’s leaving his father out of his will was done out of spite/hate, or done because he knew it was the right thing to do. Only MJ knew that.

Given that Joe’s first comments were to promote his new company, and subsequent comments seemed to be ready to hype the "talents" of Michael children, who are not his children, even if Michael did love him, it’s definitely not returned.  Joe Jackson is out for himself.  Always has been, always will be.  Since the day he died they have all been trying to figure out how to profit from it.  It’s just disgusting.

All I want to know is what my Thriller picture disc is worth.  I bought it back where there was talent and respect, and when he was black, so it must be a collector’s piece in some regard.  (And I have the Thriller 12-inch single, too.  Hint!)

I actually agree with you. Michael did not care his father all that much, and even he himself said that his father abused him and his brothers and said in his own words "I can remember my mother screaming ‘Joe, stop, you’re going to kill him!’"

-Nikki-