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48 Hours Delves Into The Ambivalence Over Michael Jackson's Skin Color

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Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith
07/01/09

In reply to 48 Hours Delves Into The Ambivalence Over Michael Jackson's Skin Color
Has anyone else read Nelson George's writing? Love that man!
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SarahMC
07/01/09

In reply to 48 Hours Delves Into The Ambivalence Over Michael Jackson's Skin Color
I hate Joe Jackson for fucking that poor kid up so bad. Look at how handsome he was.
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kaiwhakamarie
07/01/09

@SarahMC: I'm doing this!: That he was. I was watching the Billie Jean video the other day and I could not get over how absolutely adorable and gorgeous he was. He had a very unique look, and that smile! How that guy could have EVER thought he was unattractive is beyond me.
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kaiwhakamarie
07/01/09

In reply to 48 Hours Delves Into The Ambivalence Over Michael Jackson's Skin Color
Doesn't LaToya have lightened skin as well? Has she ever weighed in on the subject? I always took that to mean that she probably had the same condition as Michael.

That said, I don't care what color he wanted his skin to be or whether it was the result of disease, peels, bleach, whatever. HE still identified as a black artist. I read numerous interviews where he said as much, and despite what color his skin turned out to be, he was African American by birth. So I don't see how its an issue.
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stoprobbers
07/01/09

In reply to 48 Hours Delves Into The Ambivalence Over Michael Jackson's Skin Color
Oh man, I've been waiting for the chance to do this:

I'M NOT GONNA SPEND MY LIFE BEIN' A COLOR!!
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PippaTea
07/01/09

In reply to 48 Hours Delves Into The Ambivalence Over Michael Jackson's Skin Color
What I still find confusing is that a man of his stature and affluence, would have chosen plastic surgeons who botched his nose like he/they did. Even if that was the nose he insisted he wanted...how would it help the plastic surgeon's career to be known as the man who did that?

I've seen people around town with patchy, almost giraffe-looking skin (completely not my intention to sound disrespectful for something I'm sure is so embarrassing for them), and I would imagine a skin-bleaching would be rife with problems and trials.
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la.donna.pietra
07/01/09

@PippaTea: That might be why it's hard to find a plastic surgeon who will admit to working on him. That said, there seem to be a lot of plastic surgeons who specialize in giving people what they want so long as they can pay for it. Measly little issues like "medical ethics" are not part of their world.
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kookla
07/01/09

@PippaTea: I said a long time ago, they should revoke any plastic surgeon that was willing to work on him once his face was beyond repair.
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JesiDangerously
07/01/09

In reply to 48 Hours Delves Into The Ambivalence Over Michael Jackson's Skin Color
I see plenty of people tanning their skin to an extremely dark color, and yet surprisingly, no one accuses them of being ashamed of being Caucasian...
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Hana Maru
07/01/09

@JesiDangerously: That's because being white isn't marginalizing. It's stigmatizing to being a minority race, and success is hard won, which is why solidarity and positive representations are important to many of us. Anyway, there's no question that white people who tan still look Caucasian. Those people typically don't dye their hair black and get a tight perm with their tan.
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maggeimerc
07/01/09

In reply to 48 Hours Delves Into The Ambivalence Over Michael Jackson's Skin Color
[inrepair.net]

Straight up proves he wasn't bleaching and just trying to even out his skin tone.
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special_boots
07/01/09

@missbananafish: Since you can't watch video, someone else posted this link below (sfw, shows pretty straightforward evidence of his condition): [inrepair.net]

Others have said that he admitted bleaching his skin because of the vitiligo. More than that, I don't know.
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special_boots
07/01/09

@special_boots: Augh, I don't know why this showed up here. Sorry!
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Hana Maru
07/01/09

@maggeimerc: thanks.
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Birthday Girl
07/01/09

In reply to 48 Hours Delves Into The Ambivalence Over Michael Jackson's Skin Color
Honestly (I admit that I could be ignorant) I never thought of MJ's dramatic transformation as an issue of skin color. He was a beautiful child and a really handsome young man and I think he clearly had Body Dysmorphic Disorder because, to put it bluntly, he really destroyed himself physically.

I don't think he was trying to un-black himself, I don't think it was about that. I think he wanted to become as physically distant from who he "really was" as he possibly could. I somehow doubt that it really was about becoming white.
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bluebears
07/01/09

@Birthday Girl: yeah I agree, I've always found the multiple surgeries much more troubling and hard to look at quite frankly.
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kookla
07/01/09

@Birthday Girl: Read his autobiography that "The Jacksons" movie was based on and he was extremely insecure about his nose and his acne. So much so that he would wash his face in the dark. It didn't help that Joe Jackson teased him everyday about how big his nose was.
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ohayou_kun
07/01/09

In reply to 48 Hours Delves Into The Ambivalence Over Michael Jackson's Skin Color
Who cares, it doesn't matter what color he was. His skin color does define who he was, but his actions define who he was. It doesn't matter if he wanted to actively change his skin color or not, its his body. If he was unhappy with it, he has all the rights in the world to change it as he saw fit. It's odd, how some people still bring up the black/white debate.
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China Blue
07/01/09

@ohayou_kun: Except it DOES matter - skin colour prejudice is still a sensitive issue in the black community and casually waving it away saying 'oh, it doesn't matter, who cares' is not giving the subject the respect it deserves, and it certainly doesn't give any insight. Sorry, with all respect I just vehemently disagree with you.

If he was unhappy with his looks and his body, he may well have had the right to change it (elective cosmetic surgery's not really a 'right' per se, more a privilege). But we're talking here about a prominent black figure who:

* May have had some kind of body dysmorphia, certainly some deep-seated mental health issues

*Made himself whiter - and I don't need to explain to you why a black person lightening their skin is controversial

*Chose not to have mixed-race children with white women, who seemed to be his preferred choice of partner, but white children instead

You're damn right that his actions defined who he was; that's the tragedy here. He seems to have been self-hating on so many levels.
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1.1.1.
07/01/09

@China Blue:

*Made himself whiter - and I don't need to explain to you why a black person lightening their skin is controversial.

You shouldn't need to explain, but as I recall a fairly recent debate on Jezebel in which certain people kept insisting that a black or Asian person lightening his/her skin was the equivalent of a white person getting a tan, perhaps it's best to take nothing for granted.
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DexterHaven
07/01/09

@1.1.1.: Indeed: only recently as well Silvio Berlusconi 'joked' that Obama was tanned. That noise you hear is me stabbing myself in the eye repeatedly with a pencil.
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ExtraCelestial
07/01/09

In reply to 48 Hours Delves Into The Ambivalence Over Michael Jackson's Skin Color
What about his penchant for white women and decision to have white babies?
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Ms. Ville Valo
07/01/09

@TinkishDelight: There are a lot of black men just like him (and other minority men, too). It's a status thing. The white woman is a trophy signifying that they've made it or have surpassed a certain level.
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stoprobbers
07/01/09

@Ms. Ville Valo: Isn't just a little possible that he fell in love (or his closest approximation of love) with those women? Do you think he needed to (or COULD) add to his cache or status with a white woman? He was Michael Fucking Jackson.

Also, he used black or mixed race women almost exclusively as his video love interests: Iman, Naomi Campbell, Ola Ray, etc.
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la.donna.pietra
07/01/09

In reply to 48 Hours Delves Into The Ambivalence Over Michael Jackson's Skin Color
One thing I do know for sure is that chemical peels and dermabrasion significantly reduce the amount of melanin in the skin that grows back afterwards. It's the main reason why I've never had either procedure done, despite having some major nodular acne scars. MJ had severe acne at one point, and I would bet that's where the skin-lightening started--not so much in an attempt to get rid of pigmentation but to get rid of scars.
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bluetrain84
07/01/09

In reply to 48 Hours Delves Into The Ambivalence Over Michael Jackson's Skin Color
The thing that kills me is that he was an attractive guy before all of his surgeries and procedures began. The poor man must have had so much insecurity about his appearance, stemming I'm sure from Joe Jackson's comments and remarks.
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la.donna.pietra
07/01/09

@bluetrain84: I was watching the 25th Motown awards for about the billionth time yesterday, and if he'd just stopped with the surgeries there...

I need a time machine, clearly.
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thecameralovesyou
07/01/09

@bluetrain84: Someone has uploaded Oprah's interview with Jackson in 1993 to youtube and he briefly talks about the comments Joe made about his looks, especially in his teens. It's awful
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Skellatrix
07/01/09

@bluetrain84: You have to admit "Thriller"-era MJ's eyebrows were ON POINT.
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bluetrain84
07/01/09

@Skellatrix: Maybe we should analyze his biceps as well...oh wait, we only do that to powerful women, NM!

PS- When I google-imaged "michael jackson thriller," some awesome alternate album covers came up of him in the same white suit but holding a cat. Just one more reason I heart him.
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Skellatrix
07/01/09

@bluetrain84: Not just a cat, but a freakin' BABY TIGER! Now I want that image framed and hanging on my living room wall.
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EkaterinaBallerina
07/01/09

In reply to 48 Hours Delves Into The Ambivalence Over Michael Jackson's Skin Color
Whenever the issues of his skin color comes up, I think about that scene in Three Kings where the Iraqi guard is torturing Mark Wahlberg and asking him what made Michael Jackson want to bleach his skin, what kind of country America must be to make someone want to do that.

I went to school with a girl that had vitiligo. It affected not only her skin color but her hair color as well. Aside from the fact that she was a graying middle schooler, the skin color wasn't really that noticeable unless you were looking at her for an extended period of time.
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bluebears
07/01/09

In reply to 48 Hours Delves Into The Ambivalence Over Michael Jackson's Skin Color
A friend of my mothers (she's white) has vitiligo and it presents itself as like, a speckling in certain areas of her body. Its noticeable to be sure but it in no way resembles an all over whitening. So this is very anecdotal but there you have it.
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BeckySharper
07/01/09

@bluebears: In its advanced stages, vitiligo turns a person almost albino-looking. Not everyone gets there, but I've met at least one person who had full-on vitiligo and he was whiter than me (and I'm a natural blonde).
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bluebears
07/01/09

@BeckySharper: hm. interesting. I'm not entirely surprised as her condition has noticeably worsened over the years.
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EkaterinaBallerina
07/01/09

@bluebears: There were rumors that he was uncomfortable with the speckling and had his skin bleached to "even it out".
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thecameralovesyou
07/01/09

@bluebears: My impression was always that he said he had vitiligo and then had procedures to even out his skin tone (to match the patchiness). But, I could be totally wrong.
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Hana Maru
07/01/09

@bluebears: Not everyone's vitiglio looks the same. MJ's started pretty early in his life. He was wearing body makeup for a long time, until it became impossible because the unpigmented patches were so extensive.
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lalaland13
07/01/09

In reply to 48 Hours Delves Into The Ambivalence Over Michael Jackson's Skin Color
Yeah, I can imagine Joe Jackson really fucked those kids up. Sigh. As the Onion said in a timeline of MJ's life: "Joe Jackson forces his newborn son Michael to redo his birth 15 times until he gets it right." God, what an asshole that man was. I wouldn't want to look like my dad in that case, either.
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