Fundamentalist religion, abusive childhood and fame make a strange cocktail
Michael Jackson, other wordly image by Daniel Nieves
With story from BBC – updated October 10, 2011
“Any of us have less than perfect personalities and upbringing. The pressure cooker of fame and stardom along with virtually unlimited wealth can and do let those demons out.”
Michael Jackson was a super talent, in the same league as Elvis and the Beatles. Like great artists he had a peak in his career and then a long decline of lesser work. During the decline he was rich beyond the means of most people and indulged in a weird and rumored deviant life for the past two decades.
He lightened his skin, re-shaped his nose to look Caucasian or actually just weird. He hung around in a playground, slept in an oxygen tent. None of those are totally weird but he caught the attention of the LA DA when stories about sleeping with little boys surfaced. While acquitted at trial, the whole effort make his name less than savory.
In one of the great ironies of show biz, Jay Leno used Jackson as a comic punching bag for years on the wacko-Jacko theme then gave testimony at the trial on how nice Michael was.
The BBC article uses psychologists to explain his personality. Five major factors are named: beatings by his father, unique gift, impressionable child, child star, and having a large close family.
They left out one big contributor to his unhappiness, his domineering Jehovah’s Witness mother and fundamentalist upbringing.
Any of us have less than perfect personalities and upbringing. The pressure cooker of fame and stardom along with virtually unlimited wealth can and do let those demons out.
Parents shape children. Joe Jackson was a stern disciplinarian. A musician himself, he browbeat the Jackson children into being perfectionist musicians. Using a belt and whatever suited him, Joe beat the children to practice and be the perfect little musical act.
“Young people in receipt of physical violence have difficulty forming and maintaining long-term relationships,” he says.
“They’re ‘anxious-avoidant’, which means they will often take on what they know they can be successful in, therefore avoid challenges outside their comfort zones and may try to provide their worth by excelling and over-excelling in one particular area.” Peter Sharp, chartered psychologist at the British Psychological Society BBC
That ignores the fact that most parents beat their children until recently. Principals and teachers strapped children in school. They caught Kate paddy whacking Leah on camera – the super-bitch mom.
What Peter Sharp leaves out is the Jehovah factor. Joe Jackson is Jehovah, the mean and exacting God of the Jehovah’s Witness (JW) sect. Do as I say -10 Commandments, 66 books of the Bible – or else you will get punished.
Punishment is a Jehovah’s Witness game. JW’s have corporal punishment at home for all reasons. Spill your milk and the child gets a slap on the wrist or upside the head depending on the mood of the all powerful father figure. JW mothers prefer wooden spoons, spatulas and other hand tools.
At the Kingdom Hall, the punishment is psychological. Do the wrong thing, get a reproof. Do something silly-serious or act independent and get disfellowshipped.
Disfellowshipping is similar to Catholic excommunication or Protestant shunning. Everyone in the family will avoid the shunned JW.
The other side of the JW team is Katerine Jackson, the mom who saw show biz as the way for her family to leave the grime and crime of Gary, Indiana. No less ruthless and determined than Joe, Katherine had Jehovah on her side.
She read the Bible and studied the Watchtower and Awake with Michael and his siblings usually every day. There were five hours of meetings to attend plus the door to door Watchtower ministry. The mother is the keeper of the Jehovah flame in the matriarchal religion.
The message: do as Jehovah God commands you and you will live on the earth in the New Order where the lion and lamp lie down as one. The prophet Isaiah said it and the Watchtower made it the main tenant of their promise to the faithful.
If you failed to please the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the people who represent Jehovah these days, you would be in big trouble. Death at end of the world and burning in a lake of fire – great images that Michael used in his videos.
Despite all the bible study and beatings, Michael and his siblings didn’t make good JW’s. Personal ambition, free thinking, modern life and money did them in.
However, the imagery and guilt over their fall from grace will be carried with them to their graves.
Michael Jackson’s weird behavior was a mix of his childhood as an ambitious and talented child raised in an abusive and fundamentalist religious family. Michael tried to break free from that with his fabulous career with fame and riches. Those demons drove him to some weird behavior that he had the freedom to indulge.
I was raised a Jehovah’s Witness and left in my 20’s when Michael Jackson was making his big career splash. During the 1970’s, the JW magazine Awake featured Michael Jackson as the epitome of a successful JW. I have studied the religion, its sociological and psychological effect on the faithful and those who leave.
Lorenzo
Micheal JACKSON was indeed wierd..super wierd…and like a lot of celebrities he used his wealth to buy his way out of life issues that would crush the rest of us…sleeping with and hiding his pedophilia for young males ,and using this money for high end legal representation to escape criminal prosecution and buy off his accusers…being a substance abuser and having his own “personal” physician and provider of prescription narcotics for years…possibly a genius,no doubt abused by his parents both physically and in the head thru the Jehovah Witness ideology …he was a”Peter Pan” a boy who never grew up….we all know someone like that….(but not with the personality flaws)..in reality he was a sex offender and a druggee.. you can sweet coat him all you want ….at least Elvis and John Lennon with their flaws were somewhat normal…although they both lived in their own secular world…Jackson’s death is sad because he left children behind..but I suspect more of the young boys who fell under his wing will come forward about sexual abuse ..and his personal life will be exposed to show how much of a flawed human being he was ..no different or better than the rest of us…meanwhile life goes on…
elsa for Jesus
I am sorry, there is no religion is the right one, but, believing Jesus and Bible is. People mix up with religion and belief. they are different.
all religions are man made.–including JWs. which has many fault regrading many things.
follow a religion—wrong path, follow Jesus–way to go!!
Shawn Holland
Please, do not state yourself as an authority on Jehovah’s Witnesses. You state you were raised as one and then left in your 20s. That does not make you an expert. That just means that as a kid, you did not like things God’s way.
You got so many things wrong. People do not please the Watchtower Society. That is not what JWs are about.
The Jackson kids problem is that they wanted to be with the world which is alienated from God.
Katherine wants to serve Jehovah and raise her children properly but they did not want that.
The religion is the right one.
Roman
You say, “During the 1970’s, the JW magazine Awake featured Michael Jackson as the epitome of a successful JW.”
I researched your statement thouroughly and it is a blatant lie.
No wonder you are no long a JW. You lie…purposely…for your own cause and selfish gain.
Dom Ajuri
What! The writer of this story is right! I was a JW from birth to around 21. That would make it 21 years, right Mr Holland. That is a long time in a religion so I know what I’m talking about.
The JW’s suck and I’m glad I left those brain washing freaks. The religion was started by Charles Taze Russell, a mason! The religion split into the Second Day Adventist and the Jehovah’s Witnesses during the early century.
These people will tell you that their religion is the only true one and thats a lie. People like Martin Luther King don’t mean a thing to their God because he wasn’t a JW! Imagine that!
And it’s true, If you get disfellowshiped, your family won’t speak to you period. This was more true in the 50’s to the 80’s but I’ve seen a slight change in this.
If you mother dies and she’s a Witness and your family has the funeral in a kingdom hall, you can’t come to the service. Because you’ve been disfellowshiped!
Wow. How stupid can a religion be.
All those meetings are to brainwash you into their thinking. And their thinking about the bible is wrong.
Michael Jackson was raised in a religion that messed his mind up. He was afraid to have sex even when he was married! Because sex is frowned upon until marriage.
Even thought many JW’s practice sex and get much counseling about abstinence!
They teach about the 144000 so-called meek ones or remnants who will inherit the kingdom of God as angels! These people walk around thinking when they die, they only will go to heaven as angels and live with God!!!!!!!!
This religion tries to pass itself off as Christ like worshipers. They are nothing but people who spread falsehoods. And they will pay for this in the end. Watch.
Raychel
Elsa for Jesus…
You say “follow a religion, wrong path- follow Jesus way to go.
Religion comes about by belief.
Religion as defined is a set of beliefs shared by an organization or set number of people.
Now what you have would properly be called a theory: contemplation or speculation that your thoughts are
correct but with no evidence-they are just random.
Have you ever picked up the bible and read a scripture? The answer is bad either way, if you answer “no” you need to get acquainted with the new testament, if you want to throw Jesus name around. You need to know a little about him. Following Jesus
closely in his foot steps, you dont know what that means. If you answer yes that you read the bible… WOW…. you must see words on a page and nothing more.
Your statement, no matter your religion makes you a cult. Go to the pope and tell him that and see what happens, you should be dismissed from the congreation.
I could sit here and try to explain to you your wrong thinking but I dont think anything anyone says to you would matter, see you think you are intelligent and that is scary.
that statemnt was igronant and has no basis for anyone reading it. People like you are disfellowedshiped as a JW and OMG you should be, why should you be allowed to infect the mind of someone else with your wrong ideas.
Science Theory for your little science mind and all of you that think independent thinking is shunned by JW’s. If I told you to jump off a 200 story building and when you land you will be unharmed, would you?
Of course NOT. Why? Because you have fallen before in your life from a much shorter distance and you can reason that if you fall from 200 storeies- surley you will die.
Now apply this with the Bible and what you will get is a person that is cauitous about the people they surrond themselves with and walk closely as associates. Proverbs 13:20 He that is walking with wise persons will become wise, but he that is having dealings with stupid ones will fare badly.
First let me tell you to “walk” means ongoing association. Stupid here does not mean uneducated but means someone who makes unwise choices in life on a daily basis.
So you do not closely associate with someone that told you to jump of that building cause you have enough education and common sense to know you will fair badly.
JW’s are encouraged to do more personal bible study than any other religion. Do you know what means? You are home, possibly by yourself, reading the bible, and mediating on what you are reading, and finding ways to grow spiritually from the information. That is far from mind control.
Stephen Pate
my point exactly
Ben
Michael Jackson always say that his childhood was robbed because he didn’t have birthdays, Christmas or any kind of celebration.
He never said it’s because of Jehovah’s Witness, most likely he loved his mother too much, and he doesn’t like to point fingers.