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How I saw MJ, all the way from Dubai
In his home country, Michael Jackson was at times seen as something of a freak, but for his loyal fans across the world, he remained the king of pop.
- By Mishaal Al Gergawi, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 23:04 July 4, 2009
- Image Credit:
I have three memories of Michael Jackson. The first is of the bar scene from the Moonwalker film where Michael performs Dirty Diana wearing a suit and hat. The second is of a tour poster at the Dubai World Trade Centre. The third is when I bought my first CD player - I was probably about 15. I remember calling my cousin and telling her that I had a Hi-Fi system - that was a big deal back then! Then came the task of buying the CDs themselves. I went to Dhiyafa Street and had only enough money to buy three CDs. So I bought a hits compilation and Michael Jackson's HIStory double CD album. This was the period when Michael had already been accused of molesting Jordan Chandler (the case was settled out of court). It was 1995 and the 1990s music scene was still trying to establish itself and counter the music of the 1980s.
What Michael did for the world will not be fully understood for a long time. In many ways, he was a visionary who refused to accept the status quo, whether imposed by society or by his father. While he may have been tormented and preferred to think of himself as Peter Pan, he did change the real world - without the help of Wendy or Tinker Bell - as much as Elizabeth Taylor would want to be remembered as the latter.
Shaikh Hamza Yousuf, an Islamic scholar who teaches at the Zaytuna Institute in California, wrote a eulogy in which he noted Michael's charisma and innocence, praised him for embracing Islam (no one can confirm this) and cited his life as a classic cycle of use and abuse by the American media.
Shaikh Yousuf's analysis is accurate, but while Michael was a victim of the American media, he was also a victim of his own curiosity. Following the 2003 documentary Living With Michael Jackson, Michael was accused of seven counts of sexually abusing a child and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent in order to commit that felony - all relating to one child. As part of the investigation, Jackson was examined by mental health professional Dr Stan Katz; the doctor spent several hours with the accuser too. The assessment made by Katz was that Jackson had regressed to the point of being like a 10-year-old boy and did not fit the profile of a paedophile.
It is this analysis that leads me - and many others - to have no doubt that Michael was not a paedophile, nor did he actually ever try to hurt anyone throughout his life. Michael never left the age of innocence and perhaps given that he has inaccurately referred to himself as Peter Pan, because Peter actually defended himself. Michael - for better or worse - was a true pacifist.
On an American blog, Katherine Coble wrote: "I'm not crying for Michael Jackson. If I had decided to get it into my mind to cry for him I would have started around 1991 and never stopped". Yet for the rest of the world, Michael continued to go from strength to strength, which is why I couldn't understand why my half-American cousins from Massachusetts baulked at me buying HIStory in 1995. For them, Michael was a novelty from the '80s cum freak of the '90s, but this view never really caught on with the rest of the world. The strongest proof of this is the now famous YouTube clip which shows 1,400 inmates of the Cebu detention centre in the Philippines performing dance routines from the Thriller video.
Like family advice which we shun during our late teens and throughout much of our twenties, the genius of Michael was misunderstood during the '90s and will begin to be understood better once the next phase of the fascination with MJ is completed: the processing of his will and the ruling on the custody of his children. The fans and the media will consume all the information that they can get about him in a carnivorous manner and it will take some time for Michael to be seen as an artistic genius and not tabloid fodder.
So in the end, Michael, I won't say "I want you back", because you never left us and your music will be played well into the next century. Now I'm going off to play that song ...
Mishaal Al Gergawi is an Emirati commentator on socio-economic and cultural affairs in the UAE.
Your comments
An excellent article. I had always believed Michael was innocent and was totally being used by a gold digger.
Michael was too innocent and naive and thats why he was abused by all the people surrounding him.
I never quite believed the news of his death, never quite believed that he has left us. I still dont.
I remember the movie moonwalker, when tabloids showed "Michael Frozen at 50", maybe thats what he is frozen. Frozen in our minds, frozen in our hearts, frozen and forged forever.
Muslim or not Michael, ure fans will forever love u.rest in peace.
May God give u the peace you always wished for.
Mohammad Rasool
Manama,Bahrain
Posted: July 05, 2009, 11:34
I wanna say that no one in this world can replace him. He is the only king of Pop. I love you Michael. God knows my heart is bleeding when your gone. You are our inspiration. Wherever you are I'll always remember I love you....
Jessie
Dubai,UAE
Posted: July 05, 2009, 11:33
Dear Mishaal,
That was an excellant and fitting tribute to a muscial genious and his unrecognised contribution to humanity.
Jeeva
Dubai,UAE
Posted: July 05, 2009, 08:59
I first heard the news through a text message from my brother, and i was like i could not believe it so i turned on the tv and there it was all over the news...i could not explain what i felt that time, i was watching the news but my mind was somewhere else, i did not cry. Everyday from my office i would surf the net to get more information and latest updates, and i was still not crying until, exactly 1 week from his death while browsing the net again from my office i can't help it but my tears just fall down my eyes that i have to run to the rest room so that my colleagues will not notice. It was then and there that the news sunk in, it took me 1 week to finally absorb and accept that he is no longer living. Its hard, growing up listening to his music, watching him in every news, seeing that smile in his face and suddenly he was taken from us. I tried to convince myself by saying that, he is in a better place right now (which im sure he is) and that he is finally free, free from people who are trying to bring him down. My heart goes out to his children and family, whom he loved so much, I hope they will find peace and strength to cope with the lost. As for me, I will continue to love michael and his music will live in me forever. I would forever miss the artist, singer
Noreen
Dubai,UAE
Posted: July 05, 2009, 08:34
I really appreciate this story on MJ and pary the whole world would remember him as an artistic genius but not some kind of Psycopath which he is not.
MJ lives forever in our hearts through his soul touching music.
Sagar
Dubai,UAE
Posted: July 05, 2009, 06:59
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