Interesting Words from LaToya Jackson

Article posted on JWS:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles_of_faith/2009/07/michael_jackson.html Scroll down to readers comments and see quotes from LaToya's book (#29)

Credit posting to:http://www.jwsupportforum.com/index.php?topic=6677.0

That's quite an interesting comment by Latoya, it might be an interesting book to read....

Sad, it seems by her words her mother really condoned her fathers behavior, goes to show you never really

know what goes on behind closed doors.

h4o

Excerpts from LaToya Jackson's own 1991 biography, LATOTA: GROWING UP IN THE JACKSON FAMILY:

" ... neither I nor my siblings ever led a normal existence, not even as small children, years before celebrity transformed our lives. We were a not-so-typical but classic dysfunctional family. Yes, there was love and happiness, but it was poisoned by emotional and physical abuse, duplicity, and denial. ... The proscriptions of my Jehovah's Witness faith, my mother's seeming love and devotion, and my father's inability to express any emotion but anger kept us all entangled in a web of guilt disguised as love, brutality that was called 'discipline,' and blind obedience that felt like loyalty. ... We couldn't identify it, but we all sensed something was wrong in our house. Most of my siblings 'rebelled' by essentially running away from home to teenage marriages. ... I was Mother's best friend, and the quietest, shyest, most obedient child of all. I surprised everyone. I also broke the cardinal rule of a dysfunctional family. I stopped living the lie and playing the destructive game. -- pages 1-2.

"Thinking back over all those years, I realized that Mother was the guiding force behind the cruelty and abuse. This lady who pretended to be so gentle on the surface had in fact caused all the turmoil in our lives. We'd always thought that it was Joseph, but it was her, telling him what to do and how to do it. Like I'd said to her before, she was always throwing the rock and hiding her hand, convincing everyone -- outsiders and my own
siblings -- that she was sweet, kindhearted, and compassionate. Little did they know that the minute they were out of earshot she talked about them very, very viciously. After seeing it so many times, I finally had to face the fact that this was her true personality. -- page 257.

"Michael and I were very active in the Jehovah's Witness faith. ... Five days a week the two of us and Mother studied the Bible at home and attended the Kingdom Hall. ... Every morning Michael and I witnessed, knocking on doors around Los Angeles, spreading the word of Jehovah. ... As my brother's fame grew, he had to don convincing disguises, like a rubber fat suit he bought years later, -- pages 53-4.

"... because we were supposed to associate exclusively with other members, Michael and I made few friends at the private high school ... We did, however, become close with another [Jehovah's] Witness. Darles was my first and only friend outside the family, and I treasured the time we spent together. ... Each day at lunch the three of us studied the Bible together. She also joined us at the Kingdom Hall. During a meeting, Darles bravely challenged one of the elders. ... The elder's reply was typical. He cited the scripture, which supported his position but did not really address Darles's
point. So she wrote a letter ... This outraged the other elders. One day Rebbie's husband, Nathaniel [Brown], also an elder, cornered me. 'LaToya,' he said, 'you're never allowed to speak to Darles again. Ever. ... She's been disfellowshipped.' ... After that neither Michael nor I had anything to do with Darles. We missed her so much and for the first time began to privately reconsider some of the [WatchTower Society's] teachings. We felt that questions should be encouraged, not silenced through threats of disfellowship. -- pages 55-56.

"Mother ... frowned on our socializing with white kids, an attitude I found hypocritical coming from a Christian. -- page 34.

"... both my parents harbor racist attitudes, particularly against Jews, ... 'Wherever you go, whatever you do in this business, you find a Jew,' Mother used to complain bitterly all the time, 'I can't stand it.' ... She'd go on and on. 'They're always on top. Jews are so nosy. They like controlling you. I hate 'em all.' To their faces, however, my mother was as sweet as could be. ... Hearing talk like this turned my stomach, especially when it came from my mother's mouth. How could a religious woman be so hateful? ... The depth of Mother's loathing was expressed in one of her oft-repeated opinions: 'There's one mistake Hitler made in his life -- he didn't kill all those Jews. He left too many dxxx Jews on this earth, and they multiplied,' --pages 132-4.

"On the Victory tour, ... , [Michael] hired someone whose sole task was to locate a Kingdom Hall in each town so that Michael wouldn't miss a single meeting. ... Michael ... won those record-breaking eight honors at the 1984 Grammy Awards. The very next morning one elder issued him an ultimatum that my brother must choose between music and the [Jehovah's Witness] religion. ... Because Michael diligently studied the Bible, he could usually cite chapter and verse supporting his contention that entertaining people was not wrong. 'I'm still living according to the [WatchTower Society's] teachings,' he pointed out, as he'd done so many times before. I still go door to door wherever I am, even if I'm on tour. I can't help it if people hang up my poster on their wall or tear my picture out of a magazine. I don't ask them to idolize me. I only want them to enjoy my music.' ... many Jehovah's Witnesses used to congregate outside the Kingdom Hall hoping to catch a glimpse of Michael Jackson,
knowing full well this kind of adulation was forbidden. Michael did everything humanly possible to demonstrate his dedication to Jehovah. Once when an elder criticized, 'Your movements on stage suggest sex; don't do them anymore,' my brother complied without protest and promptly changed the routine. He also invited an elder on tour to see for himself that he lived in harmony with all the [WatchTower] faith's rules, canvassed door to door, and attended all the meetings. ... One day I walked into Janet's room to find Michael crying his eyes out. 'LaToya, ... I can't talk to you ever again. ... The elders had a big meeting, and they told me never to speak to you because you haven't been coming to the Kingdom Hall. ... they said that if I don't stop talking to you, they'll kick me out of the religion.' ... Michael decided to disobey the elders' edict and after that never attended any more meetings. ... he subsequently severed his ties to the organization through a formal letter. What made this painful episode even more agonizing was that for a long time I believed Michael might be one of the Remnant, the select 144,000. -- pages 196-200.

Copied over from http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles_of_faith/2009/07/michael_jackson.html

How deeply the knife cuts. Interesting excerpts. Thanx for posting them.

Jeff

I used to think she was a loon. I was of course an active JW. Well I guess the oxygen gets cut off when u stick your head up your own ass. These quotes sound so sincire and real to me now. The comment about the elders answer and his double speak was so close to the truth

I used to also think she was a loon and yep, that was way back when I was a JW myself. Looking at those excerpts now... I find them very real and sincere.

My opinion of the family has changed alot recently. The old JW rumour machine is so out of touch now

It still blows me away how much common ground everyone's story has. Doesn't matter what background, country, culture etc we come from, we've all had very similar experiences... and they claim they're not a cult...

Well I guess the oxygen gets cut off when u stick your head up your own ass.

That description fitted me so well.

Thanks for the laugh.

Cheers

Chris

Wow.

Thank you.

I guess LaToya wants her book to sell.

It is very easy to find differences between myself, and my upbringing, and Michael and his family and their upbringing, but over the past few days I keep bumping into similarities.

I have known for a long time that we did have some common factors in our background and even in current issues, but I had no idea of how many.

It seems like not a day goes by and I find out something about him and his family that has a parallel in my life.

I am sure I am not the only 'born in' that is noticing this.

His family has my deepest sympathy for their loss.

My greatest fear for their family is for the children.  I know what it is like to be a child victim of a family controlled by a cult and a tyrant father.

Chris

Consciousness expresses itself through creation.  This world we live in is the dance of the creator.  Dancers come and go in the twinkling of an eye but the dance lives on.  On many an occasion when I'm dancing, I've felt touched by something sacred.  In those moments, I've felt my spirit soar and become one with everything that exists. I become the stars and the moon. I become the lover and the beloved.  I become the victor and the vanquished. I become the master and the slave.  I become the singer and the song. I become the knower and the known.  I keep on dancing and then, it is the eternal dance of creation.  The creator and creation merge into one wholeness of joy.    I keep on dancing and dancing.......and dancing, until there is only......the dance.......       © Michael Jackson

wow Michael Jackson wrote that- sounds like he could see beyond his "abusive father and abusive cult background".

It"s such an odd Scenario and it's sad how the politics and legal behavior and so called family reacts .....

'We couldn't identify it, but we all sensed something was wrong in our house. Most of my siblings 'rebelled' by essentially running away from home to teenage marriages. ... I was Mother's best friend, and the quietest, shyest, most obedient child of all. I surprised everyone. I also broke the cardinal rule of a dysfunctional family. I stopped living the lie and playing the destructive game. -- pages 1-2.

"Thinking back over all those years, I realized that Mother was the guiding force behind the cruelty and abuse. This lady who pretended to be so gentle on the surface had in fact caused all the turmoil in our lives. We'd always thought that it was Joseph, but it was her,'

I find this part so interesting, cuz, in my family, it was similar.  Growing up, we thought my dad was the bastard, but after having left home for many yrs and reading a lot, we found out it was my mother who was the source of the trouble, and she skillfully passed the blame onto my dad.  My jw sister also has said the something similar to me.

The quote about dance, also very interesting.  It seems that for michael, dance was his mystical step into the spiritual.  No wonder.  It was what kept him going, perhaps.  Kinda glad that he went while he was doing the one thing that he loved, that allowed him to transcend the physical.

S

Thanks micky mouse and blacksheep for providing those quotes, btw:)

S

satanus, being a mother myself, the way I see it, it seems mother nature has a lot to answer for

"...one elder issued him an ultimatum that my brother must choose between music and the [Jehovah's Witness] religion."

To me this quote represents the greatest sin the wbts commits against God. The wbts pressures followers with ultimatums to turn their backs on God given talents and replace them with sales pitch meetings and distribution campaigns. How many people who were meant by God to be doctors, scientists, authors, actors, athletes, etc are instead sitting through mind numbing meetings and going through the motions searching for converts that don't exist? The belief that people must choose between developing real gifts given freely by a loving God or discarding that God given potential to live a life planned and structured by a book bindery based in NYC is sickening and sinful. 

quietlyleaving

'seems mother nature has a lot to answer for'

Do you mean that 'mother nature' is a bit on the cruel side to her children on this planet, being that evolutionary processes of survival of the fittest is one of her processes?

S

Satanus, not exactly but mother nature does have an "appearance of gentleness",  she can appear to be "very cruel" and to be as the "source of all our troubles".  when we say that our mothers are like this too, it makes me wonder what we are really talking about and describing.