Althouse: "I sit in my room at home and sometimes cry. It's so hard to make friends."

July 1, 2009

"I sit in my room at home and sometimes cry. It's so hard to make friends."

"Sometimes I walk around the neighborhood at night, just hoping to find someone to talk to. But I just end up coming home."

52 comments:

traditionalguy said...: Life is short and we have only 50 years or so to come out of our shells and grow up. It is a blessing to have safe people who help us without owning us too. Poor MJ never trusted anyone safe for him once he got free from Mom and Dad's using the boys. Let's hope that in heaven there is not eternal family life with the original unredeemed suspects again.; 7/1/09, 11:33 AM
Elliott A said...: There are some people who, regardless of talent should never be a "public" person, whether singer, athlete or politician. Michael is clearly one of these. It isn't fair to them to have to pay that price to provide us with the fruits of their talents.; 7/1/09, 11:39 AM
Methadras said...: This is clearly Bush's fault.; 7/1/09, 11:47 AM
kjbe said...: Boy, what a sad, sad story. It show's he's only human - and that riches don't necessarily define a peaceful life.; 7/1/09, 11:51 AM
Pastafarian said...: Do you remember that post in which you asked whether we were annoyed at how Jackson's death has overshadowed the Iranian protests?

I'd just like to go on record as saying: Yes, yes I am.

We've had huge stories, not just Iran, but Honduras; the cap-and-tax debacle that might be the last nail in American manufacturing's coffin; the looming health insurance plunder.

How anyone can give two figs about this self-pitying pederast who made more money with a few hours of thrusting his bony hips and squealing "OOOOHHH" and "YEAHHH" than most make in a lifetime is beyond me.

"It's so hard to make friends." Wow, that's really sad. You know that story about the 3 guys that fell down that "Stygian gloom of a putrid, manhole-size, 18 foot deep well", while making as much in a day of that dirty work as Jackson made with one pelvic thrust? Well, that's nothing compared to this millionaire sitting in his room at home and crying.

For the love of sweet Cthulhu, make it stop. Put this simple son-of-a-bitch in the ground and cover him up.; 7/1/09, 11:56 AM
A.W. said...: I gave a reference to that link last night, and wrote this in the comments to a different post (with minor edits for typos):

> It all reminds me of a line from King of the Hill when they play jokes on Dale until Dale goes completely off the deep end: "We put pressure on a structure that wasn't up to code in the first place." That seems like the story of Michael's life. Not an excuse, but we can still feel bad about it all.

That seems very similar to Elliot's sentiment above.; 7/1/09, 12:06 PM
Chase said...: "Sometimes I walk around the neighborhood at night, just hoping to find someone to talk to. But I just end up coming home."

I'm sorry - and people are going to hate me for this - but when a gay man says that he walks the neighborhood at night looking for . . . you get the point. It gives me the creeps. And frankly, tens of millions of other Americans as well.; 7/1/09, 12:06 PM
A.W. said...: btw, supposedly you can read jackson's will, here: http://www.businessinsider.com/michael-jacksons-will-2009-7

i can't vouch for it because my browser is giving me a headache with the file type, but fwiw.

btw, that is a great blog.; 7/1/09, 12:11 PM
The Dude said...: Like Elvis before him, Michael Jackson's career will now flourish. There will be releases of compilation albums, new film footage, new songs, new new new, until, maybe 30 years from now, when his fans start to die, the din will slowly die down.

But for now, expect more squealing, more moonwalking and more promotion than you can stomach. He made the only career move that was open to him, and he will do well. Other than being dead.; 7/1/09, 12:31 PM
Kirby Olson said...: I got this in my email this morning from a Romanian dadaist (not Codrescu), who didn't tell me where he got the info so I can't vouch for it. But in it he makes a lot of anti-Semitic remarks (Jackson did). Maybe if he hadnt been so hateful he would have more friends.

Michael Jackson, Anti-Semite
Back in November 2005, Jackson was caught on tape in a voicemail to one of his former business managers calling Jews "leeches".
While much of the world mourns the untimely death of the "King of Pop" Michael Jackson, it is worth recalling one of Mr. Jackson's more unfortunate qualities: he was an anti-Semite.

In case you think I am making this up, allow me to refresh your memory.

Back in November 2005, Jackson was caught on tape in a voicemail to one of his former business managers calling Jews "leeches". The tapes were played on ABC's Good Morning Am erica program, and Jackson was heard saying, "They suck…they're like leeches. It's a conspiracy. The Jews do it on purpose."

And in 1995, Jackson provoked a firestorm of protest when he released an album called HIStory containing a song entitled "They don't care about us" which had the following lyrics: "Jew me, sue me" and "Kick me, kike me". He subsequently promised to re-record the song and delete the offending lyrics.

But then, in February 1996, Jackson nonetheless released a video of the song in which he had re-instated the brazenly anti-Semitic remarks.

So before you go shedding a tear in Michael Jackson's memory, take a moment and consider the hate that he spewed against Jews, both in private and in public.

And then maybe you'll consider saving those tears for someone far more deserving.

[Like Ed MacMahon?]; 7/1/09, 12:53 PM
traditionalguy said...: Being verbally anti-Jew (sometimes called being anti-semite)is a most likely a family problem he inherited from his father. Still, he lived only half a life and was tortured most of that time. Not good PR for being verbally anti-Jew.; 7/1/09, 1:10 PM
Laura(southernxyl) said...: Chase, do you think that gay men never just want to talk to somebody?; 7/1/09, 1:10 PM
Jeremy said...: traditionalguy said..."Let's hope that in heaven there is not eternal family life with the original unredeemed suspects again."

And of course, some little kids for Mikey to "play" with.; 7/1/09, 1:33 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: He should have spent that time to knit himself a minty-fresh wedding dress out of dental floss.; 7/1/09, 1:34 PM
Jeremy said...: Laura(southernxyl) said..."Chase, do you think that gay men never just want to talk to somebody?"

I agree with your premise, but whether Mikey was actually "gay" is an entirely different story.

The fact that Chase says "but when a gay man says that he walks the neighborhood at night looking for . . . you get the point. It gives me the creeps..." it implies that he thinks "gays" are either pedophiles or some kind of evil sexual predators, and that flies in the face of factual evidence to the contrary.

First of all, heterosexuals make up the vast majority of pedophiles, and what gays do on their own time is just that; their own time and business.; 7/1/09, 1:39 PM
knox said...: I'm sorry - and people are going to hate me for this - but when a gay man says that he walks the neighborhood at night looking for . . . you get the point. It gives me the creeps.

I don't get your point. The things that were weird or creepy about MJ had nothing to do with him being gay.; 7/1/09, 1:56 PM
Jeremy said...: Knox - Jackson was strange, but how do you know he was gay?; 7/1/09, 1:58 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: For the love of sweet Cthulhu, make it stop. Put this simple son-of-a-bitch in the ground and cover him up.

AMEN! There are so many more important things to be spending media time on covering and so many more deserving people.

He had a weird and difficult life.
He was a pretty good entertainer.
Here is a retrospective of some of his work
He is dead

THE END.

Now shut up about him and move on.; 7/1/09, 2:15 PM
MayBee said...: He was troubled, but he was always successful enough that people pandered to his whims rather than help him. As a result, his troubles spiraled out of control and brought him to his death.

Sitting in your room crying, and walking the streets at night, are not the way to make friends. I suspect he knew that.

He loved performing, and he loved being famous. The people he surrounded himself with loved him to be and do those things as well, and none of them (including MJ) wanted to do the hard work of confronting his own humanness.

A cautionary tale.; 7/1/09, 2:28 PM
A.W. said...: may bee

but the fact that he could have pulled out of that spiral is proven by the fact that janet ended up being pretty normal. virtually the same environment but she's apparently fine.; 7/1/09, 2:36 PM
A.W. said...: okay i am officially getting wierded out. karl malden is dead, too.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D995RLV00&show_article=1; 7/1/09, 2:48 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: okay i am officially getting wierded out. karl malden is dead, too.

Well he was 97 years old!; 7/1/09, 2:51 PM
MayBee said...: Aaron- I absolutely believe he could have pulled out of that spiral. (Unless he was truly mentally ill, in which case he would have needed much more help than Janet or his brothers did.) Not all of his problems are due to his father. In fact, we have no idea how many of them are.
It did benefit everyone surrounding Michael as he spiraled downward to increasingly blame his father for never giving Michael a childhood.; 7/1/09, 2:52 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: Now you know if Bush was still President, the usual suspects would be saying that Rovian assassins were taking these celebs out to distract us from his plans to conquer the free world.; 7/1/09, 2:53 PM
Ann Althouse said...: @Pastafarian Of course, those 3 men dying is much worse, and yet, I can't help thinking that not knowing how to find friends causes far, far more suffering in this world than putrid wells. It's worth thinking about why a man who was so loved and had all the money he could spend could not figure out the most basic thing about life. People who know how to make friends really do not appreciate the difficulty that lonely people have.; 7/1/09, 3:00 PM
MayBee said...: I can't help thinking that not knowing how to find friends causes far, far more suffering in this world than putrid wells.

I do not believe Michael Jackson did not know how to make friends.
I believe he chose to take drugs and seek adulation, and put up roadblocks to people knowing him as a person.
He did not know how to make friends and be so self-indulgent. That is something that is virtually impossible.; 7/1/09, 3:05 PM
traditionalguy said...: The Professor points out the suffering of people who have no friends; and the terrible failure that becomes for them thru time. Friends come in several types: Close, acquaintances, professional, and superficial. These can be ranked according to their trustworthyness. But until a lonely man comes out of his strong shell and risks having a relationship including honest emotions, nothing happens. It is like swimming. Many are trained when young to fear water and drowning so much that they never go near the water. I guess that MJ was afraid of everything outside of his family (except young boys who were like his brothers at that age) when it was the family from which he needed to be rescued. Motto for today: Be a friend who can be trusted to a lonely person screwed up by their family.; 7/1/09, 3:28 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/1/09, 3:31 PM
Unknown said...: "It's worth thinking about why a man who was so loved and had all the money he could spend could not figure out the most basic thing about life."

Was MJ "so loved"? Mostly, he was idolized.

I don't doubt that his siblings and his mother loved him (let's face it, though, there's not a fully functional person in the family). Most of the people who were with him, day in day out, probably didn't really love him.

The person who's come out looking good in all this is Lisa Marie Presley. She either is a caring and emotionally mature person, or she has a great PR team.; 7/1/09, 3:32 PM
dcbyron said...: Given the thread title and teaser, I thought this was going to be about Mark Sanford.; 7/1/09, 3:33 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: I can't help thinking that not knowing how to find friends causes far, far more suffering in this world than putrid wells.

You can learn how to make friends, get some psychological help. You CAN'T learn how to not be dead.

Do I feel a bit sorry for Michael Jackson because he had a warped childhood. Just a little bit but not much more than that since he had plenty of opportunity and PLENTY of money to try to get his life in order. I have more sympathy for the neighbors innocent and pathetic dog that is chained up in the yard most of the day than I do for people like Jackson who wasted the opportunities that were his to use.

All the money in the world isn't going to get the lives of the men who were killed in the course of doing a very nasty dirty job that probably didn't pay them the equivalent of a pair Jackson's shoes.

So on the level of who do I give a shit about, Michael Jackson is really low on the list compared to the three guys in the well.

On the level of what is important in my life, the death and the life of Michael Jackson is next to zero compared to the importance of the Cap and Trade bill and the Health Care debacle that we are going to be saddled with.

But pay attention to those things that will seriously affect millions of people? Hell, no.....lets obsess some more about a twisted sister entertainer who doesn't mean much in the big scheme of things; 7/1/09, 3:33 PM
bagoh20 said...: Our obsession with him is an embarrassment. Especially at a time like this when historically dangerous things are happening. The worlds greatest experiment is being sacrificed because of our inaneness and distraction.; 7/1/09, 3:38 PM
Jeremy said...: The Fat Man Spews:

“I have an observation about this Jackson thing,” Limbaugh began on his radio show Wednesday. “Jackson’s success paralleled the rebound of the United States under Reagan. Jackson’s biggest successes took place the in 80s … He flourished under Reagan, he languished under Clinton and Bush, and he died under Obama.”

Deep.

Very deep.; 7/1/09, 3:58 PM
Chase said...: Michael Jackson was gay. He had gay lovers, including one long term. I know a young man who was involved with him.

You know it too. It will only be a matter of time before it becomes part of his regular biography, before magazines such as the Advocate are willing to claim him as a gay man. It will just take a while because of the political correctness involved - gay people don't want pedophiles or potential pedophiles associated with them anymore than straight people do.
But time will change that.; 7/1/09, 4:31 PM
knox said...: Chase,

People, gay and straight, don't like pedophiles because they're evil. Not because of Political Correctness.

I'm no defender of PC but it plays little or no part in this instance.; 7/1/09, 4:40 PM
Chase said...: PC has everything to do with this.; 7/1/09, 5:00 PM
Jeremy said...: Chase - "...gay people don't want pedophiles or potential pedophiles associated with them anymore than straight people do.
But time will change that."

What the hell does that mean??

Are you saying gays will someday want pedophilia associated with them?

Or that you continue to think there is some correlation between being gay and being a pedophile?; 7/1/09, 5:09 PM
Chase said...: People, gay and straight, don't like pedophiles because they're evil.

Absolutely true. I already stated such.

Not because of Political Correctness.

That is irrelevant to the point being made.

If Michael Jackson was not indelibly linked in the public psyche with that evil, then Gay America would RUSH to proclaim him another gay artist/man/victim.

But as of now = ZERO. Not a peep from the Advocate or OUT.

And I do not think that that is hypocrisy on their parts. As I said, it's understandable that they do not want to immediately openly celebrate that MJ was gay. It's still too hot. But the pressure is still from political correctness.

It's a useless argument anyway. In one year, the Michael Jackson wikipedia and biography will begin to mention it as a plain matter of fact.; 7/1/09, 5:11 PM
Chase said...: Are you saying gays will someday want pedophilia associated with them?

Or that you continue to think there is some correlation between being gay and being a pedophile?

I wrote poorly. I meant to say - and should have said it this way - that time will change the willingness of the gay community to claim Michael Jackson as a gay man.; 7/1/09, 5:14 PM
Chase said...: heterosexuals make up the vast majority of pedophiles

Citations please.; 7/1/09, 5:21 PM
Jeremy said...: Chase -

MYTH: It is only homosexuals who abuse children of their own sex.

FACT: Abuse is a crime of control, not sex. Victims are chosen because of easy access, not because of gender. Statistics show abuse of male children by males is most often perpetrated by heterosexual men or by pedophiles, rarely homosexuals.; 7/1/09, 5:45 PM
Jeremy said...: Chase - I forgot:

Information via The Children's Advocacy Center / Child Abuse Issues; 7/1/09, 5:46 PM
Fred4Pres said...: That strip search in his house seemed out of control. I understand he did not want to be arrested, but why not agree to a doctor doing it? You would think with the legal talent at Jackson's disposal that could have been handled better.; 7/1/09, 6:02 PM
Chase said...: Jeremy - I do not know enough to state that you are wrong. You may well be right. I am going to start with the citation you gave - thenk you - and research for a while, now that I am interested in finding out more.

My cousin was a priest who admitted to molesting an 11 year old boy. We knew there other boys he had touched and seduced as well, but he did leave the church and serve time on a lesser sex charge. I visited him once before he was sentenced, and he told me that he was gay and that the frustration for priests being gay and celibate is just too much - and that boys were more easily seduced than even fellow gay priests.

To be fair - I understand that that was his view and it might not represent even the majority of other men who molest young boys. But there has to be some truth to what my cousin said.

But as I cannot speak with any extended knowledge, I'll just shut up until I research it more thoroughly.; 7/1/09, 6:18 PM
TitusHelloIsThereSomethingYouWant said...: I am gay and many of my friends are. None are pedophiles. None have interest in kids.

Not a scientific study but that is what is happening in my life.

We want mens with large muscles and peepees.; 7/1/09, 6:27 PM
William said...: All the bad things written about him are true. Nonetheless, he remains a sympathetic, even pitiable figure. Only God does the bookkeeping, but I get the sense that he was more sinned against than sinning. There's something about him that engenders a protective response. There are bigger stories than Jackson's death, but, by the same token, there are more hateworthy villains to dump upon...... Maybe his death was a mercy. He was not the sort to grow old gracefully.....; 7/1/09, 6:32 PM
rhhardin said...: He's such a wuss.

Learn Morse code and get an amateur license. You can do that at any age.

Take flying lessons. You can solo at 16.

Read thermodynamics textbooks.

There's a million things to do.; 7/1/09, 6:44 PM
The Dude said...: How about that Duke rape case, eh? No, not the one Nifong dreamed up, the one where the gay couple adopted a black baby, raped it, filmed themselves raping the child, and offered the child up for sex in exchange for money? Oh yeah, that case won't ever get any MSM coverage.

And Steve, I know you speak with the voice of God, but when you say you want men then use the word "peepee" you undercut your own credibility. You are infantile in your manner.; 7/1/09, 7:24 PM
traditionalguy said...: The gay vs. pedophile comments always confuse me. I understood pedophiles operate their perversion on pre-pubescent boys circa 11 year an under. But when the target is post pubescent, such as 12 and over, then it is homosexual per se. That was the still concealed aspect of the Catholic priests scandals, Am I wrong?; 7/1/09, 7:52 PM
knox said...: Chase,

I can't even keep track of what your arguments/assertions are, so I'm exiting this discussion.; 7/1/09, 8:43 PM
kentuckyliz said...: I am Catholic--and could tell you about the lavendar mafia that took over the seminaries and promoted their own interests. Being a catholic priest became a gay career just like decorator or hairstylist. The straight boys were rejected by the seminaries if they were too traditional in their thinking as screened by lavendar mafia vocations committees.

Almost all the boys the priests molested were post-pubescent, not children. Ephebophilia. Yes, it's more gay than het pedophilia.

There, plain truth said.

I won't post a dissertation length comment box post about it for anyone who has issues with this set of facts. It's been written about in book length form.

Huzzah to the traditional, masculine, straight young men going into the priesthood nowadays...with all kinds of insulting comments routinely made at them. They are brave and bold.; 7/1/09, 11:45 PM
rhhardin said...: Knox - Jackson was strange, but how do you know he was gay?

I'd have asked "queer."; 7/2/09, 4:41 AM

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