I will be fair to the Jacksons and say this.
I do not believe every last one of them are lying about Joe's abuse or lack of abuse. I have seen families who had abusive parents or even parents that molested them, which everyone except one or two people defend them. This can be cause by man factors.
The first one is that they are lying to protect the family as a whole. Given how public many aspects of that family is, they may see it as none of the public business if abuse took place. To them, it could only be seen as a family issue and didn't care about Michael running his mouth to the press. Even in Michael's case, he didn't tell the whole truth about what happen. That rabbi's book shows how bad that abuse really was, but Michael never made it seem that extensive. From all his other interviews, Michael made it seem like Joe was just overly strict. Which is one of the reasons I doubt Michael ever wanted those tapes release, but that is a different discussion altogether.
The second reason is that none of the brothers actually experience the same level of abuse as Michael did. This is actually quite common in a abusive relationship. Many people believe that an abuser abuse everyone in the household, but that is not true. In most cases of abuse in a family with multiple children, only one is usually abuse.
Michael was the golden child of that family, everything revolved around him. So, Joe may had given him more 'special' treatment than the others. Even the brothers admitted that when they were allow to play and have fun, Joe kept Michael in the studio for all hours to rehearse. So, when the kids say that Joe was not abusive, from their point-of-view he probably wasn't. Sure he may had beat them, but it most likely was not as extensive or a cruel as what Joe did to Michael. Since Michael was left alone with Joe alot, they also may not have seen more of these colorful beatings. Michael said himself that Joe never hit him during rehearsal for variety of reasons.
There are many layers to abuse in a family. It could range from denial, ignorance, or simply not telling. Which does the family falls under, I do not know. However, whether they chose to tell the public what happen in that house is a moot point. From what I have seen from the children of the Jackson's brothers, most of them do not have the emotional damage that plague Michael. So, it will appear that whatever cycle of violence that existed has been broken and I highly doubt anyone in that family would allow Joe or anyone else to lay a hand on Michael's kids.
I am in now way excusing Joe or any of his actions. What I am doing is trying to show why the brothers seems to go back and forward on the abuse issue. Even Janet could had been too young to see Joe at his worst and only talks about her personal experience with him. From Janet's views, Joe never hit her, he was just really strict. Is she lying about what Michael went through, no she is just telling how things were from her point-of-view. Which is no different that what the other siblings have done.
In either case, that is my take on things and I will not go any further into the subject.
