In the long run, I don’t care if he did it. [He = Michael Jackson. It = sexually molest young boys.] But some of the media hoo-hah surrounding it this time brings up some things worth commenting on.
- Is the investigation racially motivated?
Pfft. I rather doubt it. Everything negative involving a black man is not racist. Get off the cross, we need to burn it. [For the sarcasm impaired, yes, that last comment is intended as a tasteless joke.] However, it’s worth noting that since there are fewer famous blacks than famous whites in this country, we do tend to pay more attention to the stories involving famous blacks, and thus the media may give us more of what we pay more attention to. So while I don’t think the investigation is racially motivated, the media attention may be, indirectly.
- Is this an attack on Michael himself?
Well, sort of. But less because he’s famous than because he’s eccentric. Oh, and because rumors and full-on investigations about exactly this have swirled around the guy for over a decade. Let’s face it, Mikey: it’s not like no one ever imagined that you might have done this before.
- Why does this happen when he has a new record release?
Is this taking advantage of Jackson’s other current media attention to get this higher play? Or the conspiratorial reverse, is this intended to distract attention from his new record and damage his sales? These questions play into both the racial and personal attack screeds. Frankly, when I heard that the police search of the Neverland Ranch occurred while Michael was in Las Vegas shooting a new video, it seemed apparent that the investigation probably was timed… to be done while Michael was out of town and couldn’t interfere with the search than to specifically target his fame.
- And finally, did he do it?
It’s really tempting to say “Yes, of course, I always knew he was a pervert,” but what we “know” is largely innuendo and supposition and accusation, all supported by a media who would love to crucify him (there’s that cross thing again!). Him or anyone else equally famous they could dig at.
On the other hand, Jackson has enough eccentricities that it could be just one more. Maybe this all truly is a fabrication of a sex-crazed media, and he really does love (platonically) children and wants to embrace his inner child so very dearly (perhaps in response to his own media-stolen childhood), and thus when he “sleeps” with kids he really does just sleep with them, cuddling them like teddy bears. And nothing else.
Updated on October 19, 2010
And as of summer 2009, we will perhaps never really know.
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