I didn't watch any live-as-it-happened cable news coverage of the verdict drama yesterday. I haven't even really followed the trial. I heard that the mother's shady past and questionable role is being blamed, etc, casting reasonable doubt. Etc.
(I would remind you that pedophiles like to select victims whose pasts and present would make them seem "less credible" if accusations come to light. It's part of the plan.)
So, no, a jury found Michael Jackson not guilty. But he is. And we are.
Guilty - of creating a culture and a society in which judgment is the greatest sin and normality is a forbidden concept. Yes, "normality" can evolve into something oppressive. Since the beginning of time, people have fled small towns for that very reason, had to strike out on their own and go far afield to be free from the irrational prejudices of the small-minded. But something is seriously wrong when Michael Jackson, obviously mentally ill, a middle aged man who shares his life and his bed with young men, can continue to do what he likes, shielded from consequences by his money and by our delicacy.
Yes, he was brought to trial, it's true. And yes, the evidence, such as it is - real evidence - is not strong, I suppose. But our disapproval of Jackson, as a society, is insufficiently serious. It is jokey and nervous, it taps on the shoulder rather than pushes hard against the gate of Neverland, nervous about issues of race, parental and personal rights. It ultimately shrugs in the shadow of cash, saying, well that's the way it is in this country. The wealthy have their ways and means.
Michael Jackson should be institutionalized. The money that is, I have no doubt, poured out to his "supporters" should be exposed. The community should find a way to shut down Neverland, to strip him of his HQ, and no other community should let him start another. Pipe dreams, I know. Based on wishes and hopes rather than the truth about what it takes to do such things in a system of law.
Not guilty?
I don't think so.
Not him, and not, in the end - us, either.
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