Senate "Race" Relations (was "U.S. Society and Black Men")

The existence of another person who didn't do that doesn't mean he's weird for wanting to cover it, though. I mean, there are women who don't get breast implants after mastectomies and just keep the scars on their chests. That doesn't mean the women who get implants are "weird" for wanting fake breasts to feel more comfortable in their bodies.

 

You're right. I was wrong to say it was weird. I don't know how dark-skinned people tend to deal with vitiligo. His weirdness comes from other aspects of his behavior.

 

Yeah, I should be very clear that I have no quibble with the claim that Michael Jackson was weird.

 

You have both given honor to Espy tonight.

 

What does that mean?

 

People apologizing or climbing down from a previous position when you recognize something nuanced or better. Which Espy has been forthright about doing publicly, which thing is most honorable. Humility ought to be more often lauded as a virtue.

 

I find it hilarious that you find such a thing so honorable considering how rarely if ever you yourself have done it.

 

I'm the humblest person there is.

 

you guys should get an award. we will call it the espy.

 

There must be a lot of humble people in sports.

 

Sportsmen are extremely humble, they rarely take credit for their own rapes.

 

I just think it's basically folly for anyone to attempt to play Michael Jackson in a film. I don't know that the actor (or actress for that matter; Cate Blanchett did play Bob Dylan!) exists, black or white or any other color, that could actually get past the obvious tics and make him feel at all like a real person. If such an actor does exist, I'm pretty sure Joseph Fiennes is not him. I don't trust this to be anything but a second-rate, not quite good enough for SNL level impression.

 

Robert Neckbeard;

You have done well today. That burn was, as the kids say, quite "sick" and I imagine Wocky is still icing his hands. That's the only explanation for why he's not posted back.

EDIT: Rogue, you've surely seen Der Untergang?

 

Those moral feats which seem greatest, or at least most easily recognized, are those we have aspired to without ourselves attaining them in their fullness.

 

Translations for the above:

"Do as I say, not as I do."

"I'll have corned beef with a side of hypocrisy"

"trololololol"

 

For the record, I don't think Bruno Ganz could play a compelling Michael Jackson.

 

They should probably just cast Shia LaBeouf and let him act exactly the same as he usually does. It wouldn't be Jackson, but it would at least be the same level of weird as Jackson.

FWIW, I don't think it's weird that Jackson wanted to lighten his skin to deal with his condition.... But having plastic surgery to look more classically Caucasian is an entirely different thing. I mean, who knows why he did that exactly (or why he did anything), but it's definitely not what one would consider a "normal" response.

 

i think he had a pretty messed up childhood and was in the public eye from a very young age. it's hard to turn out "normal" in those circumstances.

 

Well sure. I certainly don't blame him for many of his issues. I think his horrible family life has been fairly well documented. And I'm still a huge, huge fan of his music. I find his story to be more tragic than anything, as he was one of the most talented musical artists of the 20th century.

We were mostly talking about what prompted the casting though, right? Jackson wasn't just a black guy with vitiligo. He tried to make his features more Caucasian, so I'm not entirely surprised they'd try to cast a white guy considering all that. Although Fiennes doesn't look like him.

 

Should've cast Macaulay.

 

right, the conversation just sort of wandered. tbf no one looks like 2001 michael jackson.

 

That's true, it went off track there. But yes, I think Rogue is right in that it's probably folly to even attempt to portray Jackson in the first place.

Sure, Bruno Ganz could make Hitler a human being and not merely an impression, but I am going to assume that a bizarre comedy about Jackson, Taylor, and Brando taking a roadtrip is not quite going to be Der Untergang. If this were a serious look at Jackson's life, it would be a different story... Though no easier to cast.

 

Thanks for sharing. Cenk recently went on a rant about a number of things. It was initially inspired by the Oregon militia standoff, but he touched on some issues discussed in this thread.

This is not to say that all conservatives are vicious racists. Some are deceiving themselves and lack cognizance for how extensive these problems truly are.

As for Michael Jackson, I believe that it would be difficult for anyone to portray him. If I were in a charge of a film about him, I would cast different people to portray him during childhood, adolescence, the 1980s, and someone for the 1990s and 2000s. He still is misunderstood by many. From 2003 to early 2009, I agreed with those who believed awful things about him. However, after doing considerable research after his death, I came to believe that he had something akin to what was once referred to as an arrested development (i.e. that he was as a child in his own mind) and that both of his accusers had credibility problems and were pressured by questionable parents. This is what helped me to get back into his music and to truly appreciate his talent. One of my friends and fellow majors at TWU was a trans man who believed that Jackson had Gender Dysphoria and that that was the reason behind all of his plastic surgeries. I don't know about that. I think that he had body dysmorphic disorder, which caused him to obsess over his appearance.

At any rate, I agree with assessments like this about him.

 

https://theintercept.com/2016/01/28...ture-super-pac-100-funded-by-rich-white-guys/

 

Right now I'm having to avoid cussing. My sister-figure and I went to chill. We just learned via social media that the police shot this African American they pulled over off McCart in Fort Worth. The more I hear about bad officers shooting people the more disgusted I am and amazed I'm not more pessimistic as a result of this crap! I don't know how I can be both so cynical and idealistic about things. Just venting.