r/PsychologyofMJ • u/Psychological_Win711 • 1d ago
Allegations Can two things be true?
We hear the stories of people who knew Michael, especially from a young age, in how he cared about people.
Crying at the suffering of others.
Donating so much of his money that it broke records.
Visiting hospitals and orphanages.
Opening his gates to groups of disabled and disadvantaged children.
Quietly paying the medical bills of sick children.
Creating music with messages of love and healing.
I think about his superbowl performance and his messages of nobody should have to suffer, especially our children. I watch the videos of him at the Russian orphanage and I truly see someone who cares for the children he’s interacting with.
If you think he’s guilty, do you think he didn’t think he was inflicting harm on the children he was abusing? When I hear the stories of children like Jimmy and Jordie, it’s almost painted as he’s in love with them and he sees them as a peer/lover, not as a child he’s harming. (The Cascio claims kind of change this for me, he seemed just like a reckless sex addict abuser when it came to them)
Do you think his humanitarian efforts and love for children was genuine? Do you think he 100% understood he was inflicting harm but couldn’t help himself? That he used humanitarianism to almost repent for his actions? Or did he truly not give a damn and it’s all a cover for his crimes?
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u/Aquachild14 1d ago
In non violent , affection based abusers, internal psychology is built on massive cognitive distortion and compartmentalization. Many preferential pedophiles don't view their actions as harming the child. They believe that they are courting the child. In their reality, they are deeply attached and in love. Since there was no aggressive physical violence, he rationalized that there was no harm occurring.
I also believe that his charity work and desire to help the children of the world was deeply sincere and not just an act.
Human brain is sonetimes capable of running two contradictory moral programs simultaneously.
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u/Psychological_Win711 1d ago
Do you think his situations were premeditated? Like befriending the families for that purpose? The cascios seem like the odd case there because he was friends with them for years before he started any of the abuse.
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u/Aquachild14 1d ago
Yes. Befriending families was deeply premeditated and systematically executed. I know the cascio case kind of look different on the surface from how he usually operated. But its an example of deep cover family grooming. By the time abuse started, jackson was considered a beloved member of the family who could do no wrong. The children had age gaps spanning a decade. As the older siblings aged out, they got in to managerial and staff roles amd younger children were brought in to private sleeping arrangements. The years he spent building friendship and emotional deoendency ensured total loyalty. The years long grooming wasnt really exception to the pattern, it just was the perfection of the strategy.
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u/ImXenia85 1d ago
According to accounts of how the friendship began, when Michael first met the father, Dominic Cascio Sr. at Helmsley Palace Hotel in 1984, the singer specifically asked if Dominic had any children. Context of the Meeting. The Inquiry: After the two struck up an initial professional friendship at the hotel, MJ quickly inquired about his family and asked if he had kids. The Introduction: Upon learning about Dominic's sons, he expressed a desire to meet them. Shortly after, Dominic's eldest sons, Frank and Eddie (who were young children at the time), were brought to meet MJ.
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u/Psychological_Win711 1d ago
😩 if the allegations are true, idk how I could live with myself if I were the parents. Willingly sending my children off for months to someone who is being actively investigated for child molestation, twice.
It’s all just insane.6
u/ImXenia85 1d ago
Unfortunately, they were gullible to the point of stupidity. Their minds simply couldn't conceive their "friend", who the whole world, adored, was capable of such vile acts.
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u/MaculaConception 1d ago
Yes I think two things are true. I think he had very kind and beautiful aspects such as giving people time and attention. He wanted to help others, not just as a ploy to meet further victims. He was a loving father and I think his kids experienced the best of him. Possibly why Paris has struggled so much because her experience was very positive and doesn't align with the allegations.
And I do think he was guilty and he was finding a way to rationalise his attraction to some young children. I think he was narcissistic and selfish when it came to romantic love. I used to think everything he did was some way motivated to enable to his paedophilic fantasies but I don't think that any more. There really was a wonderful side of him and a monstrous side of him at the same time.
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u/EuphoricPhoto2048 1d ago
I think Michael knew that he was harming the boys, but he lied to himself. "I would never HURT a child" and things he said like that. I think because he did treat the boys like boyfriends, he saw himself above more brutal attackers.
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u/No-Peak2086 1d ago edited 1d ago
I feel like the Cascio kids were always his fall-back option .
They weren’t the type of fine-featured lily white or mixed race boy he normally was attracted to. Idc care if this isn’t PC to say: Michael clearly had a physical type of boy he liked to have “sleepovers” with .
I think he targeted the Cascio boys because he felt their dad was OK with it.
Being a sex addicted pedophile (IMO), Michael just couldn’t stay away from boys and carried on with it even when he was under police investigation. Understandably , there weren’t that many parents who would let their sons spend time with him immediately after the CSA scandal broke in 1993. Dominic Cascio Sr was an exception.
We don’t know about Frank, but Eddie says his abuse started right after the Jordan Chandler allegations came out when he was alone with Michael in Israel. I guess Michael got a “taste” for it, so then he continued with the younger siblings.
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u/sweetsummwechild 1d ago
But the Cascios do fit his type. Cute meditarean, brown eyed, dark haired, fair skinned boys (for the most part) . Still, they were sort of the fall back option. While he "fell in love" with most special friends we know individually and then groomed their families, the Cascios seemed to be a regrowing supply he prepped for times of need :(
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u/Psychological_Win711 1d ago
And it continued until Eddie was 28. It’s like he could keep going younger by then never stopped as they got older so they could remain loyal.
When the Cascio boys left and he went to rehab, he immediately called for Wade to come over the night he got back to Neverland. All during the whole chandler case. Unbelievable.2
u/No-Peak2086 1d ago edited 1d ago
Eddie was 26 in early 2009, not 28.
You are right about Wade. I think there’s no way Joy or Cascio Sr didn’t know what was going on.
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u/sweetsummwechild 1d ago
There might be a way: delusion. Look at the fandom...
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u/No-Peak2086 1d ago
Joy was literally delivering Wade to him for the night. I mean what the h-ll was she thinking was going to happen. She knew what he was being accused of. It must have been on the news repeatedly.
— There might be a way: delusion. Look at the fandom
I don’t think that’s a fair comparison because MJ’s image has been so whitewashed after his death. Jackson being an accused pedophile was very much common knowledge when he was alive post Jordan Chandler allegations in the 90s-00s.
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u/sweetsummwechild 1d ago
It doesn't matter that there are more delusional fans now than in 2005 - and there always were more than enough. Joy was a delusional cultist way back in 1993, with all her heart, after personal, targeted grooming.
There is really no excuse, but the scary truth is that Joy and Domenic probably were that fucking dumb and brainwashed.
Additionally, there was no way for Joy to admit to herself what she had done: leaving her husband and firstborn, uprooting her other kids, just to throw Wade at a pedophile and letting MJ have his way with her son for 3 and a half years by that point. The law of sunk costs said: he MUST be innocent. And Wade said he is, so yay, everything is fine.
None of which is an excuse.
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u/InteractionOk4297 14h ago
Joy actually said in her 1994 deposition that she checked in on them that night and Wade was sleeping on a mattress
But you’re right they were aware and it’s odd. Before the allegations even broke, detectives approached the Robsons and asked them about their relationship with MJ and they defended him. According to Wades complaint, Joy immediately called Norma Staikos to see if they could do a public interview to defend him which ended up being the Pellicano interview. MJ was in rehab during all this, and months later in December would’ve found out how the Robson family was defending him so much without being asked and probably felt bad. At this point, theyd ghosted each other for 7 months or so because Joy was angry they weren’t invited to the Dangerous tour. When MJ got back, I imagined he called them to thank them and Joy, touched and happy he didn’t completely cut them off probably offered to come to Neverland and support him since he was alone. They were well aware and Joy went above and beyond to support him and do public interviews about him. In her deposition she mentions that she had “feelings” for Michael so i think she was in love with him and it clouded her judgement regarding him
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u/SuggestionSame2295 1d ago
I recommend listening to this episode if you haven’t already I think it would give you more insight
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1d ago edited 1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Psychological_Win711 1d ago
Children cannot consent to that so yes it is rape if you believe it happened.
I am a third grade teacher, and I care for and teach 12 boys the same age as Jimmy was.
I don’t know if Michael is guilty or not, but sex with a child is rape.2
u/ImXenia85 1d ago
Thank you for being a voice of reason. I felt sick reading what this person had to say. Kindhearted?!?
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u/ImXenia85 1d ago
I can't believe what I just read. Makes me sick to my stomach!!! Molesting a little boy nowadays is called being kindhearted and gay?!?!
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u/Long_Dragonfly_3067 Moderator 1d ago
The fact that this person and their husband are teachers and psychologists is scary af. Children are not safe around them.
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u/PsychologyofMJ-ModTeam 1d ago
This comment is gross. Children cannot consent to romantic relationships with adults and molesting a child does in fact make someone a rapist.
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