Let me say that I am SO SORRY I said what I did. I meant nothing insenstive or racially biased.
To me, Michael Jackson is a joke. He is a self-made caricature of his former self. He is a joke that Jay Leno and Letterman can legitimately target; why can't I??? They made the SAME JOKE about him on their own shows, yet they didn't get pilloried the way I have been here on this list and in private e-mails. I know Jackson is still black, regardless of his current skin color. His marriage to Elvis' daughter was widely perceived as a joke, and has always been surrounded by jokes and innuendo, and still is. Hey, I could think of a hundred jokes about her current marriage to Nicholas Cage!!! Yet if I made an offhand remark here about that, not an eyebrow would be raised. I would dispute your claim the MJ has the "genetic flaw" to which you refer. It is a documented FACT that he's had a number of "procedures" performed (many in the UK and other countries) which were deliberately aimed at lightening his skin pigmentation. The bottom line is that this guy is a FREAK, and an almost-proven homosexual child molester. My best friend in second grade was a black kid who'd survived a terrible house fire in which he lost his father, who was trying to save him. This poor kid came out looking horrible where skin color is concerned. He had large slotches of skin all over his body where he was as white as I am. It was awful. Other kids ridiculed him; made fun of him; called him "zebra," "leopard," and other horrible names. To me, he was the same kid. He didn't scar like my oldest son did when he was horribly burned when he was three years old. He didn't get the horrible blistering, bubbling scars like my son got. He was spared that. Instead, his skin did remain smooth, but his pigmentation was forever changed. I think we became even closer friends over the years, even though our paths diverged. Today, he's the principal in a high school in St. Louis, and he's quite happy, thankyouverymuch. He has 4 beautiful children, two of which already have Ph.Ds in Sociology and Criminology (the same things my oldest son is majoring in!). People look at him funny on first sight, and he's used to it. It's sad, but as humans, we look at car wrecks too much. I also have a friend who has the so-called "Elephant Man's Disease." He's horribly disfigured, and he gets worse year by year. He has less than 2-3 years to live. He has my sympathy, but he wants no pity. This man has courage; just like my boyhood friend who was burned. He just happened to be black. We still talk every now and then, and we revel in our boyhood memories. We were trying to break down the racial barriers in Indianapolis in the early 1970s without knowing it, and we did a good job. My friend with the "Elephant Man's Disease" has since isolated himself. His death is near now, and he won't allow anyone but his immediate family to see him. He lives in absolute poverty. He refuses charity. He will not allow me to publish his name or location. He is a good, good man, and he maintains his faith in God. After his death, I intend to try to establish a fund for his two children if I can to ensure they get a decent education. Elepant Mans' Disease is exceedingly rare, but it is estimated that 5,000-6,000 people in the US suffer from it in one form or another. This disease is not uncommon in Africa south of the equator. Allen ----- "David V. Pierce" wrote: > > > Allen Davis wrote: > > > >> * Can you remember when Michael Jackson was still black??? I thought > >> not!!! :-) > > > > I hate to point this out, but Michael Jackson is still black, at least > insofar as he is of African American descent. How light or dark someone > is only partially influenced by that. We have a news anchorwoman in > Detroit who is supposedly through-and-through an African American, but > her skin is lighter than mine, and she's got golden-brown hair. > > The shade of skin M.J. has is a result of a genetic flaw which afflicts > a great number of people throughout the U.S. and which causes the > unfortunate victim to be the butt of a great deal of teasing and > ridicule throughout elementary and middle school. I knew a couple of > kids in middle school like that, and if you don't use liberal amounts of > makeup to even the skin shade out - as M.J. has in the past - the > person's raw skin looks, well... just plain weird. There's no better way > to describe it. For those of you who are over 25 and might not remember > so well, 12 year olds hate Weird. In fact, they tend to take Weird out > back and beat the crap out of him. > > Of course, a middle school boy wearing large amounts of makeup to make > his skin look uniform has an entire other set of potential problems. > > As for his other problems, well, my grandmother told me once, "Eccentric > is what we call crazy people who have money." But any psychological > oddities are independent of his skin disorder, and it's grossly unfair > to pick on him for that. > > -David > > -- > Quadlist is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... > > Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | > -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | > > Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> > > Quadlist info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/quadlist.shtml> > The FAQ: <http://macfaq.org/> > Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/quadlist%40mail.maclaunch.com/> > > Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com -- Quadlist is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... 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