51吃瓜

Michael Jackson has been named the “” for his timeless hits as a member of the Jackson 5 and as a solo artist. His lyrics have brought individuals across the world together as one. “Billie Jean” and “Thriller” are some of his best-known songs, but it is “They Don’t Really Care About Us” that has been the topic of conversation in .

Is Big Tech Ready to Tackle Extremism?

READ MORE

The far right took Jackson鈥檚 song out of context by framing the lyrics around the idea of the 鈥済reat replacement.鈥� Appropriating a global hit performed by one of the most famous artists in modern history allows the far right to reach a wide audience, using Michael Jackson’s star status to build credibility around its claims.

They Don鈥檛 Really Care

The far right has a fascination with the lyrics of “They Don’t Really Care About US” because of the themes covered in the song. The in question contain anti-Semitic “Jew me, sue me, everybody do me / Kick me, kike me, don’t you black or white me.” The conversations on Telegram involve praising Jackson for 鈥渞ecognizing鈥� that Jews were the ones in . Users continued to praise Jackson for using the word “,鈥� deemed anti-Semitic for its historical context that dates back to the Jewish community entering the United States via .

The word “kike鈥� is , which pleases the far right and helps build a narrative frame around a misconstrued version of Jackson’s song. The lyrics about Jews, in addition to the chorus, “All I wanna say is that they don’t really care about us,” also feeds into the beliefs espoused by the .

The song’s lyrics faced for being politically incorrect when it was initially released, but it was not until recently that the far right noticed how it could manipulate the lyrics to reach a mass audience. Despite Jackson’s of the song, both versions continue to be readily available online.

Jackson produced two music videos for this powerful hit. The first video with the statement: “This film is not degrading one race, but pictorializes the injustices to all mankind. May God grant us peace throughout the world.” The video takes place in prison, with disgruntled inmates surrounding Jackson. Throughout the video, visuals of weapons, bombs and beatings are shown across the screen.

The other of the video is more upbeat, taking place in Brazil, with bright colors and dancing, but with the same problematic lyrics. Some even claimed they saw Jackson doing a Nazi salute at one point in the video. Telegram users preferred the prison version because the visuals aligned with their us-versus-them frame.

After facing criticism, Jackson explained that he purposefully used that verbiage to highlight the injustice individuals were facing at the time by creating , specifically with the intention of showing the of name-calling people.

After users went back and forth in the channel providing their own interpretations of the song, they attempted to develop tactics to circulate the music video and create memes of Jackson鈥檚 photograph with the words “” or “they don’t really care about us.” images of the king of pop in this context across the internet could lead to those unfamiliar with the terms the opportunity to seek out further information on this type of content.

The mentality that binds the far right together is further solidified by the “us” Jackson uses in the song title and chorus, a user pointed out. After the user pointed out that they were considered the “” Jackson was referring to, the channel realized that he was talking about them. While the channel did not use the words “” outside of putting it on memes of Jackson, it was being described implicitly by users.

The channel audience agreed that the song鈥檚 purpose is to inform listeners that the government doesn鈥檛 care about them and that the authorities are willing to replace them through immigration to the extent that whites become the minority group. The great replacement and are two concepts of particular relevance for the far right because whites aspire to retain their majority status.

Based on the 2020 census results, there is a high likelihood of the far right panicking because the United States is becoming more . The world saw this fear of the great replacement in Charlottesville, Virginia, when protesters chanted “” during a Unite the Right rally in 2017.  

Narrative Frame

Despite evidence that Jackson suffered from 鈥� a condition where the skin loses pigmentation 鈥� users claimed he purposefully bleached his because he disliked his dark African American complexion. While there was no evidence for the claims Telegram users were making, they began to discuss how this framing can be used as a recruitment tactic 鈥� especially as these claims cannot be entirely disputed since Jackson has . However, the larger a conspiracy theory becomes, the that it will survive because it has crossed too many paths.

Make Sense of the World

Unique Insights from 2,500+ Contributors in 90+ Countries

I agree to receive emails and other content from 51吃瓜. I understand that I may repeal my consent at any time. You can review our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for further information .

The Michael Jackson the Telegram channel developed is a false reality and can be easily disproved after research. It only took one person to start the conversation before other individuals chimed in by trying to make connections between everything that has been said. The entire narrative framework is built on the foundation of an us-versus-them mentality the far right has always had.

Michael Jackson was not an ant-Semite, nor did he bleach his skin. But rhetoric can easily be misconstrued to fit a narrative that aids in furthering a specific cause. Rhetoric can have an impact, examined under a microscope, especially when delivered by someone of Michael Jackson’s caliber. Unfortunately, it is only a matter of time before the memes created by the far right that piqued interest in Jackson begin to circulate not only on other but also in the mainstream.

*[51吃瓜 is a  partner of the .]

The views expressed in this article are the author鈥檚 own and do not necessarily reflect 51吃瓜鈥檚 editorial policy.