Project Willow wrote: I don't see it. There are lots of toys and representations of children, a focus on children forced into hugely difficult and public roles, a "new wealth" type fascination with more traditional symbols of wealth and status. All of that is explicable by what we know of his biography. I don't see anything surprising.
I was very definitely surprised, but I did not and have not followed MJ's life and times. I didn't like his music and I was never a fan. It was just about impossible for even a casual consumer of mass media to avoid the pedophilia lawsuits though and I think that colors my vision although I have no opinion about his guilt or innocence. I've never read a biography of MJ's life either. I had not seen most of this stuff until I stumbled upon that
auction catalog and honestly I find it all pretty surreal with a tinge of creepy, but again, maybe my perception of MJ has been skewed.
Before I went looking for images of the bronze statues of children on the grounds of Neverland I had been examining images of the front gates. There's a large, gaudy coat of arms in the middle that as it turns out is the UK royal coat of arms. Why the UK royal coat of arms I have no idea.
What do you both think a survivor of mc would keep in his house?
I honestly don't know and was looking for the intuitions of others. I assume mc/ra survivors are all unique individuals that will act in unique ways even if they do share the horrific experience of mc/ra. It seems to me that if MJ was a victim of mc/ra he might well behave in particularly unique and unpredictable ways. He was, after all, world famous and at times fabulously wealthy and more than a little eccentric. And it seems to me that MJ might not have ever been a "survivor" in the sense that he freed himself from his handlers' control, so the question may not even apply to him at all. I suppose one of the aspects of MJ's life that leads me to the nagging intuition that Mj might have been a victim of mc/ra (I realize you might not like the term "victim" PW as it is disempowering, but I'm not coming up with a synonym that works) is his near obsession with children, to the point of erecting dozens and dozens of life size bronze statues of them all over the property of Neverland. Now a more pedestrian armchair diagnosis would be some sort of Peter Pan syndrome, which would of course make all the sense in the world. But, an alternative explanation would posit the existence of child alters. Now imagine child alters with the wealth to create whatever environment they wanted to and a bunch of hangers on and yes sayers supplying no limits to those desires. What sort of world would such a person construct? Maybe something like Neverland? I dunno. That's why I'm asking. Also, as we know, victims of trauma often times, depending on when they were traumatized and how they were imprinted (timing is everything) will reenact their traumas. If the charges of pedophilia were true it seems concievable to me that MJ was potentially reenacting his own traumas. Hanging his own child over that balcony is really bizarre behavior. How could anyone not be aware of the terror that might induce in an infant?
I've never really thought any of this out before. So I'm pretty much thinking out loud here.
Some of MJ's possessions that set me to thinking were the robotic stuff, the Wizard of OZ memorabilia, the mirror model of Falkenstein castle, the disney memorabilia, especially the Pinochio stuff and especially the Pinochio masks. It's hard not to connect all the bizarre rhinoplasty with the Pinochio stuff. (It's also hard not to think of AI. Jesus, I wish Kubrick had made that film)
I dunno, I've got a pretty active imagination and so maybe my intuition is running away with me, but that's why I put out a call for anyone else's thoughts. I weigh yours (PW) pretty heavily. If you're not sensing anything then it's probably not there.
Regardless, I think it's fascinating to rummage through MJ's stuff. Clearly MJ was a pretty disturbed individual regardless of the causes, although they may not have been anything more unusual than a sadistic, greedy, overcontrolling father and the weird childhood of a child star.
Do you think he would keep objects that trigger him?
From what I understand of survivors that would be an unequivocal no. But, like I said, perhaps MJ never freed himself from his handlers. You would know alot better than me. Certainly in your own case it seems you confront your demons and your past in your work. I don't know what level of recovery it takes to do that and I don't know what state of mind you work in.
Anyhow, MJ's secrets will probably remain just that.
Secret closet where MJ hid valuables"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." - Martin Luther King Jr.
