In the Michael Jackson plays the race card thread in the pit, it seems there are a few tongue in cheek jokes about the “race card”. Joking about the color of his skin. I think it is agreed that biologically he is a black male, even though he looks like a 37 yo white woman… I feel that if you did this to any other person of color, you wouldn’t here the end of it. But time and time again, people of all cultures still love to poke jokes at him about his race (more of his outward appearance, and I could be wrong on this). Do you feel that this is ok? Is it more acceptable because he is an accused child molester, and he deserves it?
One of the reasons people make fun of his race is because of all the things he’s done to make himself look less negroid: the straight hair, the weird elf nose, the thinned lips, the makeup.
read post #9 in the linked thread. Pretty much says it all
You’re looking at it the wrong way - people mock Jackson because they feel that he’s a racist. To many, it seems obvious that he loathes and despises his own heritage.
Poking jokes at bigots is acceptable to just about everybody.
Michael Jackson hates loons?
Say WHAT? If I look even remotely like that in 4 years, shoot me.
Please.
Michael Jackson is in his forties, not 37.
We make fun of him because when they were making a TV movie about his life, MJ asked that a little white boy play him as a child.
I think many people find it acceptable to make fun of Michael Jackson because he is a celebrity- and an odd one at that. Accusations of child molestation are almost beside the point, although I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks MJ’s previous behavior had indicated that he should not be trusted alone with young boys. The fact that his appearance has changed so dramatically- while he has remained in the public eye makes him a target for jokes.
Anyone who does to themselves what Michael has done to himself deserves whatever jokes they get. The child molestation is besides the point as far has jokes go.
I don’t get the title. Are you saying that it’s racist to say that he’s made himself look like a white woman, or to make fun of him for doing so?
Yes, I was thinking the same thing, it’s 8 years for me, though. But if I look like that, I’m jumping into the Hudson River.
:dubious:
Please understand that I am not a fan, but this seems an inadequate reason.
A person undergoing a sex change operation might (is likely to) go to similar lengths to make him/her self look like what he/she wants to be. Michael Jackson has simply done the things that make him look like what he wants to be.
It seem plausible that whatever genetic compulsion makes a man want to become a woman (or vice versa) may be similar to a black person wanting to be white. We just don’t see as much of that because it’s tougher to pull off, given current medical technology, and tougher to justify, given current social norms.
That aside, he’s a complete freak in every other way. 
I couldn’t stand not knowing, so I looked it up. Michael Jackson is 47.
He doesn’t look his age, but he doesn’t look his sex, race, or species, either.
I was saying that racism in general is not tolerated, but it seems that all bets are off for Jackson. And picking on him for previous, and current color, is somehow ok. I mean, he is who he is now (based on appearance, not his alledged actions). He can’t really help it now, whether he likes himself, or not.
I hope I didn’t insult anyone with the age thing, that was not my intent. And certainly 37 year old women don’t really look like that amongst us! For some reason, this is the image in my head everytime I think of Jackson:
http://www.encorecelebrities.com/gallery/music/michael_jackson_large.jpg
I mean, all I did was pull the number 37 out of know where, it was random. Honest.
Frankly, I’d think that most women would want to be shot if they looked like MJ, no matter what their age.
QuickSilver, I’d say that it’s wrong to compare Whacko to someone undergoing a sex change operation. First of all, there’s no evidence that I’m aware of that people can have a genetic revulsion to their particular ethnic background. I’m not saying that it’s impossible, just that I’ve never heard of it. I’d say that in Whacko’s case, it’s a psychological issue. We do, however, have plenty of evidence of a biological element which is responsible for folks needing to undergo gender reassignment surgery (and if I’ve used some incorrect terms here, please forgive me). Additionally, I don’t think any person who’d undergone gender reassignment surgery who was a public figure well before they ever had surgery would try to deny that they had ever had any surgery, as Whacko has done.
I think that the reason it’s perfectly okay to mock him is that he has gone so far over the edge, that he’s painted a large target on himself. It’s sort of a defense mechanism. We all have our own little quirks, and we’d like to think that if we became filthy rich that they wouldn’t take over our lives and totally transform us into a characture of what we once were, but deep down, we suspect that we would.
Well, it’s not a joke, but the thing that’s always really bugged me about Jackson’s approach to his appearance is:
What’s wrong with looking like a normal black boy? It seems he’s the one with a real problem with it.
And he’s denied it, or at least denied the number of surgeries he’s had. I’ve seen interviews with him (I thiink it was the notorous interview which got him in his current mess) where he stated that he’d had only one or two plastic surgeries, which is far fewer than he’s obviously had. In one of Cecil’s columns (which unfortunately isn’t online), he discusses the fact that the number of surgeries Whacko’s had, is obviously higher than the number of the surgeries he’s claimed.
Two posts ago, you had him denying having had any plastic surgery. Now you say it’s the number of plastic surgeries. Which is it?