Wednesday Night Open Thread

So, the jokes about Michael Jackson transforming from a black man to a white woman? Maybe they were over the line.

[The YouTube]

What got me thinking about Michael Jackson? You’ll find out tomorrow night.

Tonight, though, it’s Wednesday Night Open Thread. You get to pick what to talk about. Anything at all.

Who wants to start?

12 Comments

  1. Shortly after he died, I was in a convenience store with my 15 year old son when I spotted a tabloid with a picture if Michael at 14, I pointed to the picture and asked my son who it was. No idea. When I told him he said “no way, that guy’s black!” I told him that’s what drugs will do to you.

  2. “According to his family, and Jackson himself . . . ”

    Gee!

    Impartial sources, one and all.

    .

    “The one in two hundred and fifty or so people who have this condition . . . ”

    Really?

    One in two hundred and fifty people have this conditiion?

    Have any of you met them?

    I sure haven’t.

    Have you?

    .

    But we just haven’t noticed when we look around us — Is that the claim?

    .

    The question, then, is:

    Why did Michael Jackson’s skin condition seem so unique to everyone ELSE on Planet Earth?

    .

    “Approximately 30 percent of the people who have it also have it run in their family, which is true of Jackson.”

    No proof of that statement is offered. Dismissed out of hand. Who else in Michael’s family exhibited it? Who else on the planet Earth exhibited it?

    .

    “Jackson spoke openly about his condition for the first time…”

    He did not.

    Here is the quote the site offers in support of this claim:

    “It is something I cannot help.
    When people smack up stories
    That I don’t want to be who I am,
    I can’t control it. But what
    about all the millions of people
    who sit in the sun
    to become darker
    To become other than what they are
    Nobody says nothing about that.”

    .. then they move on, as if they have laid this controversy to.rest.

    I call B.S. — both on the quote and its reasoning intemding to debunk the claim.

    • I know people with the condition. Most that I’ve noticed have it on their arms, which isn’t always as noticeable. Those with it on their face are certainly more noticeable.

      The 1 in 250 seems high, but if only a single spot or two counts as much as those with large areas (and it does) then maybe it is that common. Still surprising.

      But, yeah, I know folks.

      Let’s both research it and see if a follow up discussion Thursday night (based on the “find out Thursday night” comment in the post) might be in order.

  3. Cyrus McCormick, who revolutionized farming by inventing the mechanical reaper, was born in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, February 15, 1809.

    Basil, it’s okay for you not to tell us what got you thinking about Michael Jackson. In fact, I think that I’d prefer that.

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