R.I.P. Michael Jackson.

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This is not a hypocritical post about how much I love and miss the King of Pop.

This is a post about an ordinary human being who happened to live an extraordinary life.

I have never paid much attention to Michael Jackson. Sure, I've seen his amazing moonwalk and crotch-grabbing dance moves and heard some of his songs but admittedly, I never fell in love with him the way the rest of the world did.

So when I received news of his passing, my heart didn't miss a beat. It only struck me as a sad event of a loss of a human life. I wasn't at all surprised when I logged into Facebook to find my entire page filled with updates about him, but I was taken aback with what I discovered when I spontaneously decided to do a little research on this so-called musical icon.

Five first reactions prior to the 'enlightenment':
1. That joke about him being a poor black boy growing up to be a rich white lady.
2. Paedophile.
3. Freaky, bizarre.
4. That image of him dangling his child over a balcony.
5. He likes grabbing his crotch.

Five facts after:
1. As a child he was abused by his father.
2. One family accused him of sexually violating their son - evidence was inconclusive and 30 other questioned children all denied that he was a paedophile.
3. All other allegations were doubtful - his own sister La Toya who later withdrew her accusations, a lady who was later revealed to be a former maid he had fired, etc.
4. A statement he made that woke me up to the fact that no matter how rich, talented, amazing someone is, he/she is still just a human being. This was released after a strip search was performed on him following 'evidence' given by the accusing child regarding the 'physical description of his genitals'. I wasn't aware that penises could look that much different from each other.

"As you may already know, after my tour ended I remained out of the country [US] undergoing treatment for a dependency on pain medication...There have been many disgusting statements made recently concerning allegations of improper conduct on my part. These statements about me are totally false...I will say I am particularly upset by the handling of the mass matter by the incredible, terrible mass media. At every opportunity, the media has dissected and manipulated these allegations to reach their own conclusions. I ask all of you to wait and hear the truth before you label or condemn me. Don't treat me like a criminal, because I am innocent. I have been forced to submit to a dehumanizing and humiliating examination...It was the most humiliating ordeal of my life...But if this is what I have to endure to prove my innocence, my complete innocence, so be it."

5. His life from then on went downhill.

In his life, he was put under a microscope and subject to all sorts of lies and accusations not many could have endured. Upon his death, he is hailed and worshipped as a much-loved legend. This is what society today has become. We build people up to knock them down, and there will be leeches jumping in for a ride along the way for that 15 minutes of fame, extra cash, or both, even till the very end.

Posted by gossip blogger Perez Hilton but later taken down. [click to enlarge]

Lesson of the day: Never jump to conclusions. Often said and often heard but much less often practised. If only I could get a dollar - or better yet, a British pound sterling! - for everytime I looked at someone and somehow come to the conclusion that I just 'know' some things about him/her by 'instinct'.

For example, I know I'm very pretty, but at the same time I'm a really nice person too. =)

Rest in peace Michael Jackson, in death may you finally get the peace that eluded you in life.