This Message to Michael Draws Both Scorn and Praise

Calendar received several responses to Dawn Steel’s “Open Letter to Michael Jackson.” A sampling: Dear Ms. Steel:

I agree with you that Michael Jackson was irresponsible in producing a work containing offensive language, but I wonder how you can blame him for “teaching my child the word ‘kike’ ” and doing “the damage you have done to my child?” Did he come into your home at your invitation and sing the offensive song in spite of your protestations that you’d rather hear “Rockin’ Robin”?

Maybe you need to take your own advice and “think about it up front” before you allow your child to watch television or videos or listen to the radio or discs. Please take responsibility for what your child experiences. If she’s only 9 years old, you should be in control of her environment. She’s the child, you’re the parent. And yes, I do have children. And yes, I know how hard it can be to monitor the input, but I also know it can be done.

LAURA PETERS

Studio City

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Michael Jackson has apologized for the words. He is going into the recording studio to change the words. He has attempted to explain the reason behind the words, to untangle the critical rhetoric that has descended, like a firestorm, around these words, to show the intention behind them, that they were words from a victim’s point of view.

The rest of the words in Michael’s song did not convince a number of people, and so he bowed to the wishes of others and moved quickly to remedy the condition.

Only eight words caused the apparent problem. Michael wrote a complete song, with a beginning, a middle and an ending. Eight words, that were, he maintains, taken out of context, and caused the furor.

Now come Dawn Steel’s words--hurtful words to Michael, all the more so because she talks of the effect on her daughter.

Of course, Michael would have preferred it if Ms. Steel had taken a moment to take in the larger picture, interpreted his real reasons as to why the word “kike” and others were used.

Explosive, yes, and intentionally so. But exploitative, no!

Please take a look at his career going back some 25 years and tell me if you can find signs of prejudice, bigotry, intolerance or just plain racism. Of course not--that is not who he is.

I think you will find evidence of love of humanity and a concern over its faults and failures that comes through, particularly in his work outside the recording studio and away from the concert stage.

I could give you a litany, chapter and verse, of what he has accomplished but, no doubt, Ms. Steel would accuse me of being self-serving. Somebody once called Michael a humanitarian and he was very proud and honored by this description.

Years ago, Lionel Richie and Michael wrote a song called “We Are the World.” Those sentiments still hold true today for him and still represent his feelings.

Not everyone takes such a discouraging view of Michael Jackson as Ms. Steel. At least the real picture of the situation is getting through--that the real Michael Jackson is not some creature imagined by media and ill-defined by attraction seekers.

If I read my mythology correctly, the Pandora’s box that Ms. Steel accused Michael Jackson of opening contained all the ills and evils of the world.

That’s quite a burden for him to bear, if he takes it seriously.

If you’re talking about Pandora’s box, somebody else has the key, not him!

MAGGIE HATHAWAY

Founder, Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP

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While I agree that the use of any slurs is hurtful and not useful, and I do not support prejudice of any kind, I feel that Ms. Steel’s argument was ineffective and that her tone of condescension was inappropriate. Anger with prejudice is natural. However, we, as adults, can choose our response. Education is the answer to prejudice, not acting out in whatever forum one chooses.

I also take issue with Ms. Steel’s suggestion that her daughter, who “will not be buying either version of the CD,” could be damaged by a song she has no access to. If Ms. Steel was referring to the media attention the slurs used in the original song received, then she is only perpetuating that attention and even reprinting the slurs in her letter. My suggestion is that Ms. Steel, who suggests that Mr. Jackson did not “take responsibility” for the song, should actually propose how this should be done. Tell Mr. Jackson what it is you want him to do. That might be a great deal more useful than simply dramatizing your point of view.

CHARLES R. PSALTO JR.

Los Angeles

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An open letter to Michael Jackson’s manager, Sandy Gallin: You were quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying this was “the most ridiculously misconstrued interpretation of a song” you’d ever heard. In the New York Times, you called Jackson’s hate lyrics “brilliant,” adding that Jackson’s intent was to instruct listeners to “stop degrading people.” I beg your pardon-- stop degrading people? Your name indicates Jewish ancestry. Didn’t it strike you as strange that he only singled out one group for an ethnic epithet? He said “kike” loud and clear, but no reference to any other group that encounters similar prejudice. How do you explain this? Dawn Steel’s open letter to Michael Jackson referred to a “little Jewish boy” whose accusations perhaps triggered the lyric. I don’t know how close that came to the truth, but maybe you do. And as to being a condemnation, that sort of got lost in the rhythm, didn’t it?

BARRY COHON

Los Angeles

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Congratulations to Dawn Steel for having the courage to speak out about someone from her own industry. Too often, members of the entertainment industry tend to shy away from commenting on the actions of their colleagues. Ms. Steel’s comments are an important reminder of the need for high-profile celebrities to behave in an appropriate and sensitive manner. Michael Jackson, who himself complains of unfair treatment and unjust portrayals by the press, had no business in committing the same injustices to another group. I agree with Ms. Steel that an apology after the release of the album is too late; the amount of planning and preparation that goes into the release of a record offered more than enough time to correct the hateful lyrics.

MARK C. MIZRAHI

Beverly Hills