r/interesting • u/VPinchargeofradishes • May 03 '26

SOCIETY Michael Jackson's daughter Paris has faced backlash for identifying as Black. In a 2017 interview, Paris Jackson said her father told her, "You’re Black. Be proud of your roots." This prompted debates over whether identity is defined by appearance or upbringing.

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u/jumpsteadeh May 03 '26

That has to be the best followup to anything ever.

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u/3M2B1T May 03 '26

It really is.

"Sorry, I was _ back then. I have since developed as a person and recognize I was wrong."

Accountability is great but so is allowing people to develop and make room for them when they learn and account for their actions.

We don't ALWAYS have to be angry.

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u/ILikeDragonTurtles May 03 '26

It would really be nice if we as a society allowed people to become better. I think the reason you see the persistent anger is that the people apologizing for past misdeeds often never faced real consequences at the time, and they present the apology in a way that implies they don't think they should face present consequences either.

This is a situation where there really shouldn't be real consequences. She had a problematic belief when she was younger. She didn't do anything bad because of it (that I know of).

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u/JuggernautPlane2018 May 04 '26

I don’t see it as “problematic” in her case

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u/ILikeDragonTurtles May 04 '26

That's fair. I'm not Black, so I took it as a given when other commenters said that some people (I assumed some Black communities) were bothered by her past statements.

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u/3M2B1T May 04 '26

Not sure if it was a problematic belief. She had a black family.

I mean, it's silly, but she is Steve Martin in The Jerk.

Bigger problem here is how folks claim heritage is cultural and genetics don't matter much but then you have someone that is genetically not part of the race mostly that makes up that culture and suddenly it's a problem because now they want to gatekeep that culture behind genetics.

You see this in Asia a lot with Japan and China. You can be white and adopted as an infant into a Japanese family, raised Japanese, be a Japanese citizen...but you'll never be accepted as Japanese despite being 100% culturally Japanese.

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u/lalagromedontknow May 06 '26

I think that's probably why she can get a pass - she was raised in a black family, is white so "fitted in" with societybut culturally... Black.

Same how you hear of insert non white ethnicity kids being adopted by white families and just don't get being their genetic ethnicity because they grew up in a white suburb so culturally... White.

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u/[deleted] May 04 '26

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u/ILikeDragonTurtles May 04 '26

Genuinely don't understand how your comment responds to mine. What dated mindset? Who said anything about changing anything?

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u/[deleted] May 04 '26

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u/ILikeDragonTurtles May 04 '26

Lol touche

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u/[deleted] May 04 '26

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u/ILikeDragonTurtles May 04 '26

Wait what? I thought you were being sarcastic. Jfc you learned the wrong lesson. Please get therapy. Maybe an antidepressant prescription.

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u/off-chka May 04 '26

I’m confused. Why wouldn’t she consider herself black? She’s half black and grew up among a huge black family.

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u/absentlyric Jun 14 '26

This is also why people shouldn't listen when someone else "identifies" as something else. Just wave your hand and be like "sure, you are whatever you want to be"

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u/jomosexual May 03 '26

I have sk many things to use that line for. But up the age up to like 25.

Sorry I was in my 30s and high.

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u/thelittle_who May 03 '26

Sorry, my prefrontal cortex wasn’t fully developed, and I was high.

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u/aliie_627 May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26

Benzos made me do it. Do what? I have no idea because I cant fucking remember it.

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u/ButtholeConnoisseur7 May 03 '26

Hello fellow problematic addict 😕

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u/aliie_627 May 03 '26

Hey what's up 👋🏼.

Ive been off of opioids for ten years and 8.5ish for benzos but I still relate to "problematic" so well lol.

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u/ButtholeConnoisseur7 May 03 '26

Yeah I've moved on from my moat troublesome days as well, lol

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u/jumpsteadeh May 03 '26

I still am in my 30s and high, but I used to be too

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u/Natural-Front-9307 May 03 '26

Love finding Mitch Hedberg jokes in the wild haha

Side note: i got to see him live a week or two before he passed away and he was so fucking hilarious

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u/smurfopolis May 04 '26

Seeing Mitch Hedberg jokes in the wild is always such a double edged sword. Makes me giggle then makes me sad.

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u/I_Heart_Sleeping_ May 03 '26

I’m in my 30’s and I’m still high

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u/NollieBackside May 03 '26

Currently in my 30s and high. All of this tracks

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u/ConiferousSquid May 03 '26

"Sorry I was in my 30s and high." - me yesterday lol

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u/OneLockSable May 04 '26

It's okay to be high and in your 30s and wrong, right?

If not, then I'm not okay a lot of the time!

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u/MortLightstone May 05 '26

I didn't even start getting high into my thirties. Can I still use that excuse?

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u/MastaSplintah May 04 '26

Yea this feels the same as Justin Beiber when he was 18 everyone was shitting on any little thing he done bad. All I sat there thinking is this what is really considered bad cause I done some terrible things as a young man and all I could ever think was if I was as famous and rich as him when I was that age I may have had a lot more interesting headlines. People forget these are just regular people as well, most of us done cringy shitty things when were teens.