NEWSWEEK: Many of Michael Jackson's Hard-Core Fans Feel That He Is Persecuted Because He Never Tried to Conform

NEWSWEEK: Many of Michael Jackson's Hard-Core Fans Feel That He Is Persecuted Because He Never Tried to Conform

'He Needs Me,' Says One Devotee, Who Prays for Jackson Three Times a Day

NEW YORK, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- To his fans, Michael Jackson is far more than the moonwalking legend of the '80s: he is a selfless being who embodies humility and generosity in a world where goodness is persecuted, discovers Senior Writer Lorraine Ali in a report on the hard-core fans people call Jacko's Wackos. Even those too young to have experienced Jackson in his golden era, the 1980s, feel that Jackson somehow has their back-or at least understands what it's like when no one does, writes Ali in the March 7 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, February 28).

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050227/NYSU002 )

Ali talked to Jackson devotees like Farah Pajuheshfar, a 46-year-old Las Vegas hairdresser and mother of two who runs a fan club (MJ's Soldiers of Love) and prays for Michael three times a day. Pajuheshfar's dining-room table is covered with banners: MICHAEL IS 1000% INNOCENT; MICHAEL, KEEP SOARING LIKE AN EAGLE. Her own drawings of Michael hang from an otherwise bare Christmas tree. "He was there for me when I needed him," says Pajuheshfar, who says Jackson's songs helped her overcome loneliness. "Now he needs me, and it's my turn to return the favor."

Like many fans, Faisal Malik, a 30-year-old biotech researcher who helps run mjjforum.com, feels Jackson is persecuted because he never tried to conform. "So what if he wants to get plastic surgery or live in a place called Neverland?" he says. "I understand what it's like to have a really strict father who makes you work all the time, who denies you of your childhood. Maybe he makes fun of the way you look-your nose, your acne."

Jackson hasn't had a No. 1 hit in a decade, his last two albums utterly tanked and he's now on trial for child molestation. Ever since the first accusations were leveled against him in 1993, fans have created hundreds of Web sites where they study and respond-coherently, too-to the legal issues, Ali writes. They organize large spur-of-the-moment rallies, complete with chartered buses and hotel accommodations. "Their dedication deepens as his personal troubles grow," says Michael Joseph Gross, who spent four years researching celebrity fandom and has found that they glory in a sense of exclusivity. "When no one understands him, no one loves him, there is a small group of fans who rush to his side. In doing that, they become someone special-maybe even as special as he is."

"These fans have what's called a parasocial relationship," says Stuart Fischoff, professor emeritus of media psychology at Cal State in L.A. "They think they know Michael, even if Michael doesn't know them. They have a bond they're not willing to give up very readily. It would take a Sherman tank to blow it out. That Sherman tank may be that kid on the stand."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7037586/site/newsweek/

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Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050227/NYSU002 AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/ AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN1 PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com Source: Newsweek

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