The Michael Jackson Creepshow. The infamous Michael Jackson documentary was on last night on Channel Two, I guess its been postponed in the US because of his arrest and frankly I’m not surprised. The picture I got from the documentary was of a seriously demented and dangerous individual. He appears to be the most violent case of arrested development I’ve ever seen. He looks, talks, acts, and apparently thinks like a twelve year old. Even worse, he seems totally oblivious to this fact. I normally despise the BBC interviewing style, but there was something seriously satisfying about watching the host bore in on Jackson’s denial, finally catching him in a series of obvious lies, evasions, and distortions. My friend remarked that there was clearly some very intense sexual abuse in his past, which would make sense, although I think the abuse may have been mainly physical/emotional. It’s also clear that Jackson has a major problem with children, which seems to be less a fetish than a desperate obsession. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if he’s guilty of the charges against him and a great deal more besides. One wonders if there’s any possibility of salvaging this wreck of a human being, but considering the extent to which he’s mutilated his body in completely irreversible ways would seem to preclude such a possibility. All in all, the most striking thing about the film was how much it underlined Jackson’s complete isolation not only from normal society but from other human beings in general. He doesn’t seem to have any friends to speak of, any family he talks to, any of the normal human contacts we take for granted. He’s surrounded by people all the time, but they’re basically all employees, people dependent on him financially and therefore likely to tell him exactly what he wants to hear. A sad story, I suppose, and there doesn’t seem to be any way it can end except very badly indeed.

As a brief aside, I also can’t understand how anyone could allow this person to raise a child. He claims that his children have never been out in public except wearing masks, so they wont be recognized. I’m not sure I want to contemplate the psychological impact of something like that.