Double Standards

It is no mystery that Michael Jackson, the world proclaimed King of pop went through many physical changes during his lifetime, more changes than the average person.

Despite all of his changes, his fan base around the world, including his Jamaican fan base has always remained firm, being there for him through all his trials and tribulations as he was widely respected and loved in life and in death.

At the time of his death, we saw fans from all over the world mourn his death, with the purchasing of records and also constantly playing Michael Jackson records, made from the time he was black to records made at the time of his race change.

Right here in Jamaica, I got so annoyed with Michael Jackson records being played everywhere I went.  What this says to me, apart from the fact that people give you more respect when you are dead that when you are alive is that, people worldwide, love Michael Jackson for what they knew him for and that is music.

In the same breath Jamaican people know popular deejay Vybz Kartel for the

Pop Legend Michael Jackson

same reason as they know Michael Jackson, which is music, so then why is it that the same Jamaican people who loved black and white Michael Jackson criticize Vybz Kartel so much as if what he did to himself is any worse than what the King of pop did to himself.

In fact, what Michael did to himself is in my opinion worse than what Kartel did or is doing to himself, because Michael Jackson through plastic surgery made permanent changes to his entire physical appearance, from complexion, to his nose, to his hair.

Let me make it clear that I am not a supporter of bleaching or any means of changing one’s complexion, but simultaneously, neither am I a fan of double standards and hypocrisy.  If Michael Jackson is judged by his music, since that is what the world knows him for and not his personal decisions, whether they are mistakes are not, then why is it that the same Jamaicans who have a Michael Jackson poster hanging over their beds judge Vybz Kartel as a disgrace because his hue is noticeably different from when we first knew him.

Black and white Vybz Kartel

Other artists, who when Michael Jackson died lamented how much of an influence he had on them, growing up and how they admired and respected him are the same ones now making a fuss over Vybz Kartel’s new found skin complexion.

What I am saying is that, what goes for the goose should go for the gander, therefore if we are saying that the changing of one’s complexion is a bad thing then it should be bad right across the board.

Other persons should not be held at a different standard for whatever superficial reason we can come up with.  If we do not have a problem when one person does something supposedly wrong, then we should not have a problem when said wrong is done by another.