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The shocking truth in FBI files reveals Michael Jackson innocent; Media reports otherwise

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:23:06 +0100

The shocking truth in FBI files reveals Michael Jackson innocent; Media reports otherwise

by Charles Thomson

I should begin by saying that the release of Michael Jackson's FBI file was not motivated by any desire to damage his legacy or smear his name. Many of Jackson's fans are understandably distrustful of the establishment which repeatedly pursued the star on trumped up charges, but the release of Jackson's FBI file is no conspiracy. Jackson's file was requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and I was one of those who requested it.

The FOIA allows members of the public to request classified or unattainable information held by any public body. The act is designed to uphold democracy by allowing citizens to scrutinise anything from local government budget reports to dossiers on UFO sightings. Requests can only be turned down for a handful of reasons, including privacy issues and national security.

When I requested Michael Jackson's FBI file, I wasn't even sure he had one. If he did, I had no idea what I would find in it. In Sammy Davis Jr's I found nothing but countless investigations into death threats sent to the singer. In James Brown's, however, I found an explosive re-telling of his infamous 1988 'car chase', which showed the authorities in a very poor light and contained numerous accusations of police brutality.

The FBI released roughly 300 pages on Jackson, constituting less than half of his overall file. The reason behind the withholding of the other half is yet to be made public, but it most likely consists of information on Jackson's dealings with still living figures of interest to the bureau - civil rights activists like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, and the various Middle Eastern businessmen and royals Michael Jackson befriended.

The released half of Jackson's FBI file supports the star's innocence entirely. Perhaps most notably, a lengthy report shows that when Jackson's Neverland Ranch was raided in 2003, the FBI went over every computer seized from the property with a fine toothcomb looking for any incriminating files or internet activity. Jackson's file contained individual summaries of the FBI's findings for each of the 16 computers. Scrawled in capital letters across each of those 16 reports - 'NOTHING'.

But not many media outlets included that nugget. In fact, numerous outlets - including the Daily Mail - inaccurately reported that the file did not include the bureau's findings.

On a more general level, the files reveal that it was not only the Los Angeles Police force which pursued Jackson for more than a decade and failed to produce one itoa of information to connect the star to any crime - it was the FBI too. That Jackson's life was dissected and his bevahiour was investigated for more than 10 years by two major law enforcement agencies and not one piece of evidence was ever produced to indicate his guilt speaks volumes.

On the whole, the media didn't quite tell it that way, though.

The FBI file included numerous allegations reported to the bureau which, of course, the media at large bogusly reported as the bureau's own findings. So here is a breakdown of what the media told you existed in Jackson's FBI file, and what the file actually contained.

MYTH: Michael Jackson was investigated for possession of child pornography.

FACT: The FBI file includes analysis conducted on a videotape 'connected to Jackson' in order to ascertain whether or not it included child pornography. Some media outlets erroneously claimed that the tape had been seized from Neverland. In fact, the tape was seized by customs at West Palm Bach and there is no indication that it ever belonged to Jackson. The file states only that the tape was 'connected with Jackson' and the connection appears solely to be that the programme recorded onto the cassette had Jackson's name in the title.

The FBI file does not contain any indication that the tape included child pornography at all and certainly does not contain any indication that the tape was ever in the possession of Michael Jackson.

But that's not a particularly media-friendly story; a videotape that didn't belong to Michael Jackson was analyzed and didn't have child porn on it. So the media told their own story instead, working on the assumption that nobody would read the files to verify the facts for themselves.

MYTH: The FBI file reveals that Jackson was investigated in 1985 for molesting two Mexican boys.

FACT: An FBI officer recorded an allegation that the bureau had previously investigated Jackson in 1985 for the molestation of two Mexican boys. This allegation was made by an unnamed writer who said the story had been told to him during research for a book. However, the FBI files contain no information whatsoever about any 1985 investigation into Michael Jackson.

Countless media outlets reported this story as the FBI's own finding when in fact it was merely a baseless allegation made to the bureau by an anonymous source. The FBI found no merit to the allegation:

... but the majority of media outlets failed to mention this important fact. A simple oversight, I'm sure...

MYTH: The FBI found a couple in the Phillippines who witnessed acts of molestation at Neverland.

FACT: This couple - Mark and Faye Quindoy - had worked at Jackson's Neverland Ranch between 1989 and 1991, but left in a dispute over pay. Between 1991 and 1993 neither ever made any complaint that Jackson behaved inappropriately around any child. However, after the 1993 allegations broke, the Quindoys began selling interviews about Jackson's alleged improper behaviour.

The pair's claims were suspect from the outset. They had left Neverland in 1991 in a pay dispute but were now telling tabloids that the reason behind their departure was that they were appalled by Jackson's behaviour around children - a provable fiction. Besides, if they had been so shocked and appalled by Jackson's behaviour, why had they not contacted the authorities?

Mark Quindoy's story changed repeatedly; the more money he was paid for his story, the more appalling the alleged molestation became. The prosecutors in the 1993 Jackson case sent two officers to Manila to interview the couple, but the officers concluded that 'their testimony was worthless and the credibility of their claims was highly questionable'.

MYTH: The FBI found that Jackson had engaged in phone sex with a British boy.

FACT: This story comes courtesy of The Sun.

The FBI file briefly references a newspaper story in which a man called Terry George claimed that Jackson, aged 19, had engaged in phonesex with him when he was just 13.

The Sun was rather proud that this story was referenced in the FBI file because it was the Sun which published it in the first place. As such, the newspaper was quick to toot its own horn with an 'FBI investigates Jackson over Sun's investigation' type fanfare.

In fact, the FBI did not investigate the claim and to date no evidence has been produced to support Terry George's story.

In its story about the FBI file, the Sun repeatedly referred to the phonecall between Jackson and Terry George as a matter of fact, even though no evidence has ever been produced to prove that the conversation ever took place.

George is a man of dubious character to say the least, currently owning a string of smutty phonesex companies. His story doesn't seem to add up, either. Despite Jackson's supposed inappropriate behaviour, George's website carries a photograph of himself with the star more than five years after the phonecall allegedly happened. The two still look like firm friends.

In subsequent interviews George has described how he lost touch with Jackson and resorted to behaviour which could be described as stalking - calling the Jackson all the time, hanging around outside his hotels, trying to bluff his way past Jackson's security. More than anything, George's interview with the Sun seemed like an act of jealous revenge by an embittered former acquaintance. Either way, the FBI found no merit to George's claim.

Re-titled by MJvivomi - Source from Charles thomson's
blog: http://charlesthomsonjournalist.blogspot.com/2010/01/fbi-files-support-jacksons-innocence.html

Who is really responsible for MJ's death - Dr Conrad Murray or the media?

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:34:04 +0100

Who is really responsible for Michael Jackson's death - Dr Conrad Murray or the media?

By Deborah Ffrench

The 2009 December released FBI files debunk the myth of Michael Jackson as child molester. Is it time to ask who is really responsible for his death - Dr Conrad Murray or the media? The one question I hear no-one asking in the press or blogland in general is:- 'why' was Michael Jackson taking an extreme drug? What made a relatively fit man known for abstention from the early part of his career until the mid-1990's, end his days in a made-to-measure trauma room?

A star by the age of 10, catapulted into superstardom after the success of his first two solo albums, his dominance in the music industry coincided with the multimedia explosion of the late 1980's. One of the first of the new breed of artists to fully explore the potential of synergistic promotion of product as a vehicle to reach new audiences, by 1991 Michael Jackson - the brand, had penetrated the consciousness of the entire developed and most of the undeveloped world.

With such unprecedented accessibility came also unprecedented pressure. Pressure to maintain and exceed his own standards, constant deconstruction by the press, and emotional isolation as the gilded chains of a life lived under the microscope bound ever tighter. There is no room here to list the enormous contribution he made to the lives of children all over the globe. His efforts are a matter of public record and the information regarding them is easily obtainable on the web.

Suffice it to say, Michael saw children not as 'people-in-waiting', but as bonafide, sentient personalities whose process and concerns were worthy of respect and protection. Using his fame and wealth to radically benefit the lives of such young people was something Michael believed to be his ultimate purpose here, and it is in this light that we can perhaps understand the catastrophic, internal damage the public cauterization that came from 1993 onwards must have done to him.

Something rotten has been decaying at the the heart of our media for some time now, but it took the death of one of its favorite page-fillers to expose the reality of what the cumulative effect of deliberate mental and emotional attack on a person actually looks like. It must surely now be apparent that the existing regulatory checks and balances within the media are totally inadequate –and further, that those monitoring capabilities are unable to prevent the now standard 'take aim' and 'destroy' default position the media now typically seems to operate from in relation to the subjects it 'goes after.'

Michael's early death was not a given. Only the most imperceptive would deny that the anesthetic that killed him was, in reality, just a formality. What killed Michael Jackson was the sustained agony of being put through a baseless, protracted trial in full view of the world's lens - knowing if found guilty, he would be removed from his children's lives. And even after his acquittal, facing relentless vilification by a media that chose to simply disregard a verdict they found economically inconvenient.

British journalist Charles Thomson's clear analysis of the recently released FBI files which can be viewed by click HERE or via Thomson's blog at:

http://charlesthomsonjournalist.blogspot.com/2010/01/fbi-files-support-j...

- Thomson's point by point breakdown of the files reveals not only the inability of both the FBI and the LAPD to provide any evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Jackson in an investigation that spanned over a decade, but also the continuing inference by the media of exactly the opposite of this.

It is important to note that there is a profound difference between the FBI stating that X and Y were alleged, and the FBI saying they investigated X and Y – and found X and Y to be proven. Thomson's review of the files is thus required reading for any who wish to separate the facts from the soundbites which have largely dominated the media reporting on them.

Because the truth is, after the most thorough investigation the American taxpayer's money could buy, one of the world's foremost intelligence gathering agencies and the LAPD came up with precisely – nothing. Instead we were served a collage of cut-out articles from a UK tabloid, the dubious recollections of an unverifiable woman on a train, and two ex-employees who only came forward after the 1993 allegations broke and who, coincidentally, were also hawking a tell-all book to anyone who would listen.

Long before Dr Murray ever wrote his first 'feel-good' prescription, a lie of epic proportions would set in motion a cataclysmic series of events that would bring Michael to the state of profound depletion we saw in 2005. Evan Chandler - a known brutalist, and Janet Arviso, a proven welfare cheat and compensation chaser, manipulated the American criminal system and a willing media to bury Michael under the worst label society has determined exists. No proof was required, the suggestion was enough. And the world watched on the edge of their seats, as the obvious perjury of the witnesses was overlooked in the stampede to crucify a man previously so celebrated.

The inevitably, frenzied media coverage of Dr Murray's impending trial which will replay the details of Michael's dying moments for months to come, has now already begun its crescendo. It is more than a little disturbing to observe how quickly those same people who actively colluded in the degradation and erosion of Michael's spirit and dignity for over 15 years, have regrouped to focus on Dr Murray as the 'fall guy' for the part he may have played in Jackson's death. Murray's culpability cannot be denied, but he was far from alone in his opportunism.

Where were the voices now wailing about 'wasted resources' and the 'rights' of taxpayers when Tom Sneddon authorized the use of millions of dollars of federal money to pursue Michael in his deeply personal and blinkered 'takedown' of the, then – biggest pop star on the planet?

Michael Jackson didn't bankrupt the City of Angels; they fell all by themselves. For a country that can shine so bright when it chooses to – what America did to this man stands as one of the most shameful examples of engineered cruelty and unmitigated persecution to be witnessed in modern times.

Re-titled by MJvivomi - Source: sawfnews.com

Solid facts about mainstream media bias against the black music's biggest star Michael Jackson ...

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:36:11 +0100

Solid facts about mainstream media bias against the black music's biggest star
Michael Jackson since several decades

Last week Michael Jackson's guitarist discredited widely reported allegations about the star's behaviour on the road. So why is the media refusing to publish her comments? British writer Charles Thomson explores media bias against black music's biggest star.
>> related article: http://mj.vivomi.com/updates/michael-jackson-former-tour-guitarist-the-allegations-are-untrue

Aging glam-rocker Gene Simmons made international headlines last month when he claimed to know that Michael Jackson had molested children. In an interview withClassic Rock, Simmons alleged that Jackson was on tape ordering alcohol for children and that during the star's 2005 trial a travel agent had testified to importing Brazilian boys for Jackson's amusement. He also claimed that a musician friend had quit a Jackson tour after seeing 'boys coming out of the hotel rooms.'

What followed was a classic example of copy and paste journalism. Within hours the story had been duplicated by hundreds of blogs, forums and news websites from Australia to India to the USA. None of them had fact-checked the story before they re-hosted it. Jackson was never on tape ordering alcohol for children. There was never any testimony during his trial about young Brazilian boys. Both of these claims were easily disproven by trial transcripts.

As a relative Jackson expert, I was also unaware of any musician ever leaving one of the singer's tours midway through. So when I sat down a fortnight ago for an interview with Jackson's long serving tour guitarist Jennifer Batten, I ran the story by her.

She told me that no musician had ever quit a Jackson tour. Two musicians had been fired but both were let go before the show hit the road, so they couldn't possibly have witnessed anything going on inside hotels.

When Sawf News published Batten's rebuttal I observed an all too familiar phenomenon. Although the story appeared on Google News and was picked up fairly swiftly by the Examiner, nobody else seemed willing to touch it. Whilst Simmons's speculative and ultimately baseless accusations had been reproduced the world over, Batten's expert rebuttal was being suppressed.

I soon began receiving emails from Jackson's fans telling me that they were sending the story to every celebrity news outlet they could think of, including several of those which published Simmons's initial allegations.

But more than 48 hours later, typing an exact quote from Simmons's rant into a search engine produced almost 350 webpages. The number of news outlets hosting Batten's rebuttal? Three.

This was not the first time I'd had a Jackson story suppressed. After Evan Chandler's suicide in November 2009 I was contacted by the Sun and asked to supply information about the 1993 allegations. I spent quite some time compiling my research, advising the newspaper of common myths and how to avoid them, being careful to source all of my facts from legal documents and audio/visual evidence.

When I read the finished article I was stunned to find that all of my information had been discarded and replaced with the very myths I had advised them to avoid. I alerted staff to the inaccuracies but my emails were not replied. The same inaccuracies appeared in every single article I read about the suicide.

The same bias manifested itself the following month when Jackson's FBI file was released. Across more than 300 pages of information there was not one piece of incriminating evidence -- but that's not the way the media told it.

A videotape seized at customs in West Palm Beach and analysed for child pornography was repeatedly referred to as belonging to Jackson. In actuality, files stated merely that the tape was 'connected' to Jackson and that connection appeared simply to be that somebody had written his name on the sticky label.

In another document the FBI logged a telephone call from a tipster claiming that the bureau had investigated Jackson during the 1980s for molesting two Mexican boys. The files made no other mention of the supposed investigation and the claim was ascribed no validity -- the call was merely noted. But the media persistently referred to the anonymous tipster's unsupported allegations as the FBI's own conclusions.

Jackson's FBI file overwhelmingly supported his innocence but its contents were routinely manipulated to give the opposite impression.

Many are quick to scoff when Jackson's fans speak of a media conspiracy to destroy the star's reputation and I used to scoff with them. As a member of the industry I prefer not to think of it as sinister and conspiratorial, but I find it increasingly difficult to explain away the bias with which Jackson is treated.

I wonder whether the problem is pride. When the 1993 allegations broke, the vast majority of information available was released, either officially or unofficially, by the prosecution. Jackson, meanwhile, remained characteristically silent.

Perhaps because the prosecution's version of events went almost completely unchallenged (although I imagine that drama and selling newspapers had something to do with it, too), the media primarily chose to portray Jackson as guilty.

But as the facts started to trickle out it became increasingly apparent that the case was full of holes. The allegations had been instigated not by the boy but by his father, who had demanded a scriptwriting deal from Jackson before he went to the police. He was on tape plotting to destroy Jackson's career and dismissing his son's wellbeing as 'irrelevant'. Then the boy told cops that Jackson was circumcised, but a police body search concluded that he was not.

Although Jackson's innocence looked increasingly likely, most news outlets had made their bed and to this day they seem unwilling to do anything but lie in it.

Whatever the motivation, be it pride, profit or plain old racism, the bias against Jackson is undeniable. The suppression of Batten's comments proves once more than when it comes to Jackson the media is interested not in fact or reason but negativity and sensationalism. Batten accompanied Jackson on all three of his world tours and was known for a decade as his 'right hand woman'. But Simmons -- who self-confessedly did not know Jackson -- has been given over 100 times more media coverage for his inaccurate ranting than Batten has for her firsthand experience.

It is time for outlets to assume responsibility for their own content. Websites should not re-host other publishers' stories unless they can be completely certain that the content is factual. Even if the media refuses to print the truth about Jackson, they should compromise by not printing the lies either. At least that way he can rest in peace.

Source: huffingtonpost.com
Click here for info of Charles Thompson and contact details

MJ's interview in 1982 with Ebony about E.T. movie

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:15:33 +0100

MJ's interview in 1982 with Ebony

MJ's interview in 1982 with Ebony (full issue) has just been posted at the following link
http://mj.vivomi.com/archived-e-magazine-ebony-1982-michael-jackson.php.

Michael Jackson's Thriller Tops The Charts: Wake-Up Video

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:03:55 +0100

Michael Jackson's Thriller Tops The MTV Charts: Wake-Up Video
Michael Jackson's Thriller Tops the Charts: Wake-Up Video According to MTV: It has been eight months since the passing of Michael Jackson, and his death continues to be felt deeply in the music world (you need only listen to the emotional Jackson part left in the remake of "We Are the World" for proof). It seems certain that Jackson's legacy will be truly immortal, and the reason why is his music. The artist left behind some of the most iconic pop songs ever written — many of which came from his staggering breakout album Thriller, which came out in 1982 and first topped the Billboard album chart on this day in 1983.

Fueled by huge singles "Billie Jean," "Beat It" and "Human Nature," Thriller kept a stranglehold on the top spot for most of 1983. After it entered the position on February 26, it stayed there for 17 consecutive weeks before getting bumped by the soundtrack to "Flashdance." Two weeks later, it returned to #1 before getting knocked out again by the Police's Synchronicity. It bounced back for one more week in September before dropping out, but it returned to the top for the last two weeks of the year. It then spent the first 15 weeks of 1984 at #1 as well. All told, Thriller was the top-selling album in America for a grand total of 37 weeks, an absolutely unheard of run.

Thriller sold 15 million copies in 1983 alone and has become the best-selling album of all time. Even more impressive? There are only nine songs on Thriller, and seven of them became Top 10 hits (with "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" both topping the singles chart). In honor of his tremendous feat, check out the video for "Thriller," which would get little argument against its place as the greatest music video of all time.

Michael Jackson Former Tour Guitarist: the Allegations are Untrue

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:36:27 +0100


Michael Jackson Guitarist Slams Gene Simmons' Child Abuse Accusations Posted on Samstag, 27. Februar 2010 (EST) Michael Jackson's former tour guitarist, Jennifer Batten, has slammed Gene Simmons' recent allegations against the King of Pop.

Jennifer Batten performing with Michael Jackson on the Bad tour from September 12, 1987 to January 27, 1989. Photo Credit: Sawf News

February 27, 2010, (Sawf news) - Michael Jackson's former tour guitarist has slammed Gene Simmons' recent allegations against the King of Pop.

In an interview earlier this month, Simmons told Classic Rock that a musician friend had quit a Michael Jackson tour after 'seeing boys coming out of the hotel rooms'.

But Jennifer Batten, who accompanied Jackson on all three of his world tours, says the allegations are untrue and that nobody ever left a Jackson tour after it hit the road.

Jennifer Batten performing with Michael Jackson on the Bad tour from September 12, 1987 to January 27, 1989he said: "Number one, there's no truth to it. Number two, I would guess that it was somebody who got fired. Somebody who was embarrassed that they got fired and so they made up a story."

Batten added that only two musicians were ever fired and they were let go 'like a week before we took out on the road', meaning that they couldn't have witnessed anything going on inside hotels.

The guitarist also blasted the media for widely publishing inaccurate stories, saying that after Jacksons death, "They were respectful for about two or three hours and then they turned it into a tabloid festival... It's all about money now, not about truth. People can be very cold."

[source: SN)

Michael Jackson is Remembered in 'We are the World' Remake

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:49:47 +0100

ET was under the big top of the media tent at the re-recording of "We Are the World." Several members of the ensemble cast spoke about the historical impact of the song and advocated the importance of contributing to the recovery in Haiti.

The "coincidence" of the song's 25th Anniversary and the tragedy in Haiti coinciding made for an appropriate time to re-record the famous tune, relayed Quincy Jones. Not only is the sound getting revamped, "We Are the World" is entering a world of technological advancements. It is being recorded in 3D and, using green screen technology, Lionel Richie reveals that "you can put yourself in the 'We Are the World' family."

Quincy is saving perhaps the most touching moment for last. At the request of Katherine Jackson, Maya Angelou penned a poem to be read at the end of the song. Quincy is going to speak to Michael's children about reading that narration.

Whether artists were grown, toddlers, or not even yet born when the original recording of "We Are the World" was released 25 years ago, the response was resounding all around as to its familiarity. Young'un Jordin Sparks said, "The song has had a huge impact on me and I've always loved Michael's love for the world and for the earth and for other people and to help and give back."

This latest version of the legendary song has a new "swag," promises Jordin. Producer Lionel said, "It's the new generation doing it." There are no repeat performers. No one from the original recording will be heard on the new track.

Feeling a "responsibility" to help the Haitain people in need, Celine Dion says with poise, "When something terrible happens, it's not time to cry. It's time to act and react, so tonight, we're joining each other."

Wyclef Jean, who emigrated from Haiti to the U.S. as a child, represents and sympathizes with "the heart of the Haitian people." When he walked into the studio, he admitted he felt "like a kid in the candy store" because of all the top artists that turned out.

Jordin also commented, "It's kind of like when you go to an awards show and everybody's there...except this time they're not posing for pictures and they're not doing interviews. They're just there for the music."

source: http://www.etonline.com/news/2010/02/83593/

Michael Jackson's This Is It Tops DVD and Blu-ray Sales Charts

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:41:23 +0100

Michael Jackson's This Is It Tops DVD and Blu-ray Sales Charts

Even after his death, Michael Jackson cannot be beat! Michael Jackson's This Is It has debuted at the top of the DVD sales charts. Not even some roller-derby girls, Jigsaw or lifelike robots could stop Michael Jackson's swan song atop the DVD charts. According to The Hollywood Reporter

There was plenty of competition on the DVD charts this week, with the Bruce Willis film Surrogates taking second place in sales, but prevented Michael Jackson's This Is It's home video sweep by taking the top spot on the DVD rental chart. Tobin Bell's Saw VI came in third place in DVD sales and sixth on the rental charts while the Ellen Page/Drew Barrymore film Whip It came in fifth place in sales, but took second place on the rental charts.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film featuring The King of Pop in his last days of rehearsal has sold 1.2 million copies, which is a record for a music DVD.

This Is It debuted atop the Blu-ray sales charts as well, with an impressive 21% of the units sold. It came in third to Surrogates and The Invention of Lying on the list of DVD rentals. But that’s probably just because everyone wanted to own a copy rather than rent it!

This Is It was also released in Japan and beat expectations there as well. Sony Pictures mounted a huge publicity campaign in support of the release, including a YouTube video of Filipino prisoners dancing to two Jackson songs from the film that generated more than 3 million hits.

Have you gone out to get your copy yet??

Photo collections: MJ's kids Prince, Paris, Blanket (Prince II) at 52nd Grammys 2010 receiving ...

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:45:14 +0100

MJ's kids Prince, Paris, Blanket (Prince II) at 52nd Grammys 2010 Tribute to MJ (over 15 high def. pictures)

Michael wasn't just the man in the mirror, he was the mirror

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:22:34 +0100

Michael wasn't just the man in the mirror, he was the mirror

(originally posted by Barbara Kaufmann, an award winning writer, artist and poet on December 16, 2009. She was a MJ non-fan who cried for hours after watching MJ's This Is It, then she decided to rediscover Michael and... )

Whatever you thought about Michael Jackson is correct because it is more about who you are being than it is about Michael because he wasn’t just the man in the mirror, he was the mirror.

After watching Michael Jackson’s ‘This Is It’, award winning writer Rev. Barbara Kaufmann posted her thoughts about the film on her online blog. This was seen by an editor for Nature’s Pathways magazine, who contacted Kaufmann and asked her to write a follow up guest column in their December 2009 issue. The full text of Barbara Kaufmann’s article The Man and the Mirror: A Tribute to Michael Jackson and ‘This Is It’ can be read below:

Michael Jackson was a world messenger with a spiritual message — make a change; make the world a better place. This Is It, the film about his planned comeback concert, features Michael living his mission not only in what he is saying, but in who he is being. It features a man whose artistry and talent was too forceful for him to contain and too big to hide, someone who was ahead of his time and anything but understood. The film is a kind of event horizon — the place where the creative process leaves the creator’s mind, meets imagination and emerges in birth. The world’s biggest mega-star, lost in the act of creation, artfully wields his incredible talent in the spirit of politicians spending political capital. It is clear Michael Jackson was called; his work was a calling. There is no turning away from a calling for it will hound and haunt until expressed. This Is It was stirring and inspiring and begged the answer to what compelled him to step up and into a life mission that was anything but easy?

While I liked Michael Jackson, I can’t say that I ever met the definition of fan. I didn’t pay close attention to his career; maybe I should have. Much of my own work as an artist, messenger and writer has been about embracing the spiritual — with empathic impulse, evocative emotion to change the world and make it a better place with words. I recognize that impulse of calling. With Michael it was more than impulse — it was Force. It is there to see for anyone watching Michael in his last performance.

I left the theater a believer; there is more to this man called Michael. The movie dashed any of my doubts about his character, personality or creative process. The filming was intended for Michael’s private library, and that made me a voyeur, disturbing because he is gone now. But I am richer for that stealth and for the process bequeathed me now by Michael. I revisited accusations, slurs; the vitriolic tabloid insults that impaled Michael Jackson for years and, despite being proven not guilty, impale him still, even beyond death. Was he a master at commanding attention? Yes. Was he capable of what some accused him of? If you want an answer, ask silently in your heart and go see the movie.

I met the Michael in the music more than the music in Michael. I watched a master of transcendentalism building a meditation in magic. I saw Michael in the role of artist, leader, teacher, master and guru. I saw his infinite patience and I didn’t miss his kindness in dealing with his musicians, dancers, singers and crew, his long breaths of tolerance toward solicitous blather designed to impress. Stunned by his allegiance to the brutal taskmaster of message, I even glimpsed his vision. I admired his translation, his explosive embodiment of the music in motion, emotion, majesty and metaphor. I know the man’s soul.

What drove Michael? What kept him loyal to his message through some of the most laser focused unkindness, betrayal and ridicule I have ever witnessed in the world? What sustained him? What did he tap into? The film reveals his source when Michael, knowing he is rehearsing, holds back from performing full out, and you get a feel for the tide he is stemming. Watching his body move because it can’t NOT move, the light dawns. Whatever it was, it didn’t come from Michael; it came through him.

His talent painted feelings, conveyed sensation, became a portal for the vision of what is possible if we all just recognize what drives us, breathes us, what gives us life and being.

Michael was obviously an empath. When Michael felt, it was acutely, exquisitely. He may have been synesthesic as well processing through more than one sensory neural channel at a time: “and the pain is thunder.” Maybe Michael Jackson was following light that we couldn’t see, music that we couldn’t hear, and feelings that we couldn’t access and perhaps simultaneously. Michael’s lyrics are prayer.

Synesthesia may even explain his grounding of the music in his body in the lower chakras (energy centers), as that is where the seat of emotion lives.

Michael said dancing brought him in touch with the Divine impulse. That is not the first time the world has heard of that phenomena - Kundalini, spiritual energy that ascends the backbone to the brain, originates in the lower groin area; Sufis and dervishes whirl to create a vortex for spiritual energy: indigenous cultures use drumbeat and dance.

Michael’s Man in the Mirror is a Gandhi-esque message to be the change you wish to see in the world. I “got it” courtesy of Michael: about the mirror; about shadow; about reflection of self in the world. We see in the world as who we are being. For some, Michael was their everything, for others he would never be enough. And still others will see the reflection of their own darkness. Michael Jackson embodied Light, Shadow, Bright Shadow, the Divine Feminine, the aggressive masculine and androgyny.

He was born into a world too far gone from innocence to embrace it; too distant from naiveté to tolerate it in an adult; too cynical to believe Michael’s own words; too tainted to embrace the sensitive Peter Pan man who understood too well the world’s intolerance to blemish - he wore it in his face. How did he live in a world where dark minds made him things that he never was and couldn’t imagine? How did he show up for life ... in a world with so much shadow? When that shadow turned on him? How did Michael never give up on the world? On us? And how is it that Michael was coming back to try one last time saying This Is It? Is the irony of that clear enough?

Who now will be our planetary human cheerleader? Our global humanitarian? Who among us can amass millions to catch the vision and carry it forward? Who now in our world is capable of that? This is it? See the movie and then tune to your inner Michael. Whatever you thought about Michael Jackson is correct because it is more about who you are being than it is about Michael because he wasn’t just the man in the mirror, he was the mirror.

Barbara Kaufmann is an award winning writer, artist and poet whose passion is “writing to simply change the world.” To read more of her thoughts about Michael Jackson and more, visit: www.innermichael.com and www.onewordsmith.com