If Michael Jackson had vitiligo

[woggle 10]

If Michael Jackson had skin treatment to make him lighter, wouldn't black people feel insulted by the fact he wasnt happy being a black man. No one can take away the fact he was a very talented man, but reading the black community are mourning his death as are lots of people I wonder how they feel about the fact he may have wanted to be white

[Jessica23 10]

If Michael Jackson had skin treatment to make him lighter, wouldn't black people feel insulted by the fact he wasnt happy being a black man. No one can take away the fact he was a very talented man, but reading the black community are mourning his death as are lots of people I wonder how they feel about the fact he may have wanted to be white

 

There was an iteresting article in yesterday's Guardian by Gary Younge about this.

 

To some extent his transformation provided no great mystery within the black community. Skin-whitening creams and hair-straightening gels have been part of our cosmetic lives for almost as long as dark skin and curly hair have been denigrated. And so long as whiteness has carried a premium, the notion that some black people might actively seek it was no shock either.

 

He was born black, but he didn't die white. Instead, he took on the *characteristics of a transracial *experiment, a combination of attributes that had never before been seen *collected in one human being. If ever there was a candidate to tick the box "other" on the racial categories of forms, it was Jackson.

 

Younge's conclusion is that Jackson's relationship to black America was ' often strained but never broken.'

 

ETA: Link to the whole article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jun/26/michael-jackson-black-superstar-icon

[Berberis 10]

I’m no expert but I did study psychology sometime ago. On the subject of lying, there are certain traits we find hard to mask. We can also pickup on these present in those we are close too without realising. While watching an interview with Jackson at the point where he says he has vitiligo, he does change his expression and gives one of the most common “lying” traits there is.

 

I’m not saying its categorical, but, vitiligo is a genetic disorder, it would be likely one or some of his siblings would show similar signs of the disease. That coupled with his addiction to cosmetic surgery and that he was obviously a troubled and damage adult. I would take the vitiligo story with a pinch of salt.

 

This does not detract from his genius as an artist and we can all empathise with not wishing to tell the truth on a very personal subject.

[Jessica23 10]

Does anyone actually believe he had vitiligo? I read somewhere else that he claimed to have had only two operations on his face.

[DuncanSmith 10]

If Michael Jackson had skin treatment to make him lighter, wouldn't black people feel insulted by the fact he wasnt happy being a black man. No one can take away the fact he was a very talented man, but reading the black community are mourning his death as are lots of people I wonder how they feel about the fact he may have wanted to be white

 

I was talking to a firend about jackos skin thing last night. My opinion is that he wasnt so much trying to turn white because he was unhappy about being black. I just think he wanted to be as different from his dad as he could possibly be as his dad was a cruel man by all accounts and robbed michael and his brothers of their childhood.

[Snook 10]

If Michael Jackson had skin treatment to make him lighter, wouldn't black people feel insulted by the fact he wasnt happy being a black man. No one can take away the fact he was a very talented man, but reading the black community are mourning his death as are lots of people I wonder how they feel about the fact he may have wanted to be white

 

I can see why it would make black Americans feel angry at a western society that makes people want to live up to an ideal of beauty based on white european images and being insulted by popular culture, but I can't see why they would feel anything but sorry for Jacko.

[sccsux 10]

he claimed to have had only two operations on his face.

 

That'd be about right.

 

The top half, followed by the bottom half:D

[Jessica23 10]

That'd be about right.

 

The top half, followed by the bottom half:D

 

 

I find this whole issue - the racial element on top of the surgery element - ridiculously interesting.

 

I've got very curly hair and people used to say I had an afro. I could never understand why all the black women I saw had hair that was straighter than straight. It wasn't until I saw pictures of Jimi Hendrix that I realised what an afro should actually look like (Yes, it was a sheltered upbringing).

[Minimo 59]

I used to work with a man who really did have vitiligo. His face was a patchwork of dark and light areas in a completely random pattern. If the man I knew showed a typical case of vitiligo, then it was nothing like Jackson's all over increasing paleness.

I am aware people react differently to diseases etc but that is just my take on it.

[Plain Talker 11]

I used to work with a man who really did have vitiligo. His face was a patchwork of dark and light areas in a completely random pattern. If the man I knew showed a typical case of vitiligo, then it was nothing like Jackson's all over increasing paleness.

I am aware people react differently to diseases etc but that is just my take on it.

 

Bob Monkhouse had vitiligo, and he used sunbeds to darken the areas of skin with normal pigmentation, and then used some sort of pan cake or fake tan to colour-in the pigment-less areas. (hence the rather jordan-esque orange appearance he had.)

 

It *is* possible that MJ did use bleaching agents, to strip the pigmentation from the darker areas, in the hope it would even out the skin tones. You can buy all sorts of "beauty" preparations to bleach your dark skin. (It is also more than feasible that his alleged Body Dysmorphic Disorder caused him to use bleaching agents, regardless...?)

 

As someone has mentioned above, lighter skin in Afro-Caribbean and Indian sub continent peoples is prized, as supposedly being "more lovely" instead of allowing people to love the skin they are in as beautiful, whatever depth of "tan" it naturally has.

[Plain Talker 11]

ps, I saw, in an article, yesterday, about MJ, an accompanying photo of his brother, Randy (?) and I was thinking that this was probably very much like what MJ would have looked like had he not messed about with his looks with all the surgeries.

 

http://www.getback.com/gallery/the-twisted-jackson-family-tree/2986631/2#image_top

 

Latoya has messed her face up nearly as badly as Michael's was, (And oddly, looks very similar to MJ's look http://www.getback.com/gallery/the-twisted-jackson-family-tree/2986631/5#image_top )

 

He was a very talented singer-songwriter, and performer, there's no doubt about that, but his mind was so messed up.

[saxon51 10]

Didn't there used to be a black kid who sang with his brothers called Michael Jackson too?