Michael Jackson was a cynical and manipulative abuser

Psychiatrist Robert M. Kaplan diagnoses Michael Jackson: Jackson, we are told, was deprived of a childhood because of his early involvement in the music world and this, in some mysterious way, provided him with a lifelong excuse to perpetrate just about any self-indulgent, destructive, futile or mindless behaviour that an inordinately self-obsessed adult male who kept sleeping with young boys could wish to do for as long as he had the fame, money or credit to do it.... Jackson has eight siblings who were exposed to the same environment; why did none of them turn out the same way?… Jackson constantly branded his parents, especially his father, as “abusive”, the psychobabble word that conveys instant freedom from responsibility for the victim.... Considering the competition and pressures they faced, they would have had to be as hard on their charges as any parents of talented child stars. The results were little short of spectacular, and their children were given opportunities denied to many others… Does any of this explain the star’s infantilism? Jackson did not have a sweet childlike nature, living in a perpetual Wendy world. Far from it. The evidence at his trial showed that he was a caricature of the cynical, calculated and predatory adult, soaked in booze and drugs, constantly conniving to manipulate children into a coercive environment where he could exploit them as he wished without bearing the consequences… There is only one epitaph for Jackson. He was a disgrace: to his family, his people, his fans, his talent, his industry, his country and to every child who dreams of creating a better life for themselves as an adult without abdicating responsibility for their actions. Andrew Bolt

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