Anyone who knows me even modestly, knows that I'm a huge Michael Jackson fan. I have been for years since the early years of the 80s. In my eyes that man will always be the King of Pop. There is none higher. I don't stand there and defend everything the man does, but I can understand a good deal of it and sympathize. People wonder why he has such a fascination with childhood and children. I believe this stems from the fact that Michael never had a childhood. He was 8 and in the Jackson 5 by that time. Most children were playing and the like, but Michael was under the rule of their stern father, Joseph Jackson. Not allowed to go out and play, always required to stay close or with family, it was definitely not a normal child's life.

Jackson 5 is really about as pop as I get, considering I don't really respect other pop artists all that much. Ther's a few choice ones, but no one shines a candle to MJ and the J5. Yes there was the whole controversy in 1993 about Michael and that young fellow. While most people would stop there and continue to read the publications unfavorable to Mike, I've kept an open mind and found out as much as possible regarding that situation. That allegation was settled out of court, and later the boy admitted his parents had instructed him to lie to attorneys and police. Yeah it's easy to make somebody a scapegoat and ostricize them for things they've done, and even things they haven't. People can be really cruel by nature sometimes, and it's sad to see an individual suffer as a result. Still despite all the cruel things said about him, and all the criticism, I'm glad Mike is still around and battling it day by day.

Today I read an article on CNN concerning Michael and MP3's. While many music artists are all for the new bill that's being reviewed, Michael is quite against it and and jailing of any person who shares or downloads MP3s. This bill, if passed, would make it a FELONY to share OR download any MP3 under copyright. Mike made a statement involving this. "I am speechless about the idea of putting music fans in jail for downloading music. It is wrong to download, but the answer cannot be jail." Well spoken Mike. You've probably read my Mp3 rant below, and I couldn't agree more. This is a sloppy way of the music industry trying to clean up mistakes that they've made. It's a long hard road back from being greedy bastards! :P "Here in America we create new opportunities out of adversity, not punitive laws ...," he said. "It is the fans that drive the success of the music business; I wish this would not be forgotten." Most musicians are so quick to antagonize their fans when it is their fans who earn them all of their money. The music industry wouldn't mean jacko (no pun intended on one of MJ's nicknames lol) if there wasn't a consumer base for it. Mike ends off the statement saying that he thought the music industry and music fans should work together to figure it out. This has been the simple most intelligent idea I've heard concerning piracy in music yet. And not just because Mike said it.

I think it's a great idea to have the two mediums collaborate to find a solution. With the music industry attacking MP3 downloaders, and the downloaders just adapting and fighting back, there won't be any viable solution anytime soon. Just because you can't stop the P2P sharing services, doesn't mean you should take it out on the users. Certaintly mp3 trading is NOT a felony. There are MUCH worse crimes and certaintly offenses for which no laws prohibit yet!

Read the full article here.