The Moral Support Thread

I feel for you. My bad day was yesterday. It was just triggered by putting on the TV Guide and seeing it there. Affected me more than I thought.

It's funny, I don't remember feeling this bad in '93 or even '05. It's bloody social media isn't it? Everyone's an expert.

Been saying it for years but this bloody phrase of 'there's no smoke without fire' is worst ever and the MeToo brigade and liberalism of not daring to not believe a 'victim' is so damaging.

And as I guess what you'd call a Liberal I hate to say that.

I don't think this will ever be the case, respect.

MJ is believed and loved by millions of fans the world over. That hasn't changed. And I also see an encouraging amount of support from non-fans/casuals. My brother watched it today and he isn't especially invested in Michael... I was nervous about his reaction but he didn't buy it.

People are more savvy and sceptical than we think, and for every person who thinks he was guilty, there's one person who thinks he was innocent and five people that don't care one way or the other.

I get your feelings of disillusionment, I think we all do. I've been there. I literally felt sick when I first saw the photos of James/Wade walking into Sundance.

But you more than anyone needs to look after yourself. You have been such a great ally to MJ and the fan community and we all owe you a debt of gratitude for the amount of work you have put in. You are tireless in your efforts and I know I speak for a lot of fans when I say you are greatly cherished in the fan community. Maybe on your next day off work you need to step away from it all, turn off Twitter, turn off the boards and recharge. You are too valuable to us all to be broken by this, respect.

I don't mean to sound like a Debbie downer but that is only if Wade and James stop going on TV and screaming about which I don't think they will do.

I think this will be over by the weekend. The programme has aired, MJ is dead, what's left to say? Of course, I'm sure Arvizo and Chandler have been offered large sums of $$ to come forward, especially at the moment as public interest is so high. But other than the extremely unlikely event of either of those two coming forward in the next few months, I think this'll be yesterday's news pretty fast.

This ultimately sums up my sentiments.

Michael was most of all human. The media, et al, always had a tendency to dehumanize him. It took Michael’s death for the media and the world to truly look upon him in a positive light again. But now with the advent of Leaving Neverland, it feels as though the media and the world has resumed what it’s always done best: strip him of all his humanity, portray him in the worst possible light, and disseminate the worst possible lies about his character. And given that, for example, (IIRC) Channel 4 have turned down opportunities to air positive pieces about MJ on multiple occasions, that’s no surprise whatsoever. I feel like his legacy and reputation are both permanently tarnished.

I can’t begin to imagine what this is doing to his children. Obviously Dan, James, and Wade didn’t stop to consider how devastating this would be for his children, or just didn’t care either way. Dan has too much of a vested interest in making the movie a success, Wade only does what’s best for Wade (the opportunist that he is), and James probably thinks the potential financial gain (with respect to the appeal later this year) is too promising to pass up (especially since he owes the estate several thousand dollars in legal fees, and Wade owes the estate seventy thousand dollars in legal fees... hmm...).

Whilst his legacy and reputation are definitely at stake, his children are the truest victims in all this. I still find it difficult to fathom how many are subscribing to the belief that MJ was guilty based upon the graphic details of LN alone (and maybe a bit of acting from Wade and his family, along with Jame’s “sad face”). I feel like LN has garnered far too much attention and praise, especially for a movie that only relies upon anecdotal “proof” and emotional sway to win viewers over. But I guess you don’t need more than that in this era of “Me Too”, where the accusation itself is deemed “evidence” and if you dare question any accusation, accuser, or claim of misconduct, you are a victim shamer and an apologist for sex offenders...    

And that’s what makes it ultimately arduous to talk sense into those persuaded by LN. The sheer possibility that someone could and would wrongfully accuse another of sexual misconduct, especially for their own personal gain, that would throw the Me Too movement into complete disarray, so it’s simpler for most to just blindly and unquestioningly believe all who claim they were abused, even at the expense of the presumption of innocence, the court of law, due process, etc. This is not to say that actual victims of sexual abuse don’t deserve a voice - they warrant that opportunity to speak out and share their story more than anyone. But it isn’t acceptable to conflate actual victims of abuse with disingenuous “victims”.

Hey MattyJam in a couple of weeks when hopefully all this has died down, can we archive all LN related threads or at least move them to the Trials subsection and let’s all move on and start arguing about too many guest raps on Invincible or some such trivial shit.