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“It’s the biggest story in the world.” –
Larry King
OK, everyone take a deep breath and think calm
thoughts. Butterflies, rainbows, fuzzy puppies …
The arrest of Michael Jackson for allegedly molesting a
12-year-old boy is not the biggest story in the world. It wasn’t
even the biggest story of the day, a day that saw at least 27 deaths
and 400 injuries in two terror attacks in Turkey.
The news riot should be no surprise considering how much
of the press makes its living from comically serious reports on the
rich and famous, but Jackson has been more of a sideshow than a
celebrity for years. This has not gotten in the way of reportage
thicker than any I remember since the September 11 attacks.
It even knocked Arnold Schwarzenegger out of the
headlines. Of course he’s been governor for a week or two now and
is pretty much old news anyway.
Suffocating coverage aside, there is no story here
except the story. Little has been reported concerning evidence of
an actual crime, which has not stopped people from lining up both
for and against Jackson. Those in a position to know aren’t saying
much and everyone else is just talking to hear their brains rattle,
as my grandmother used to say.
While some of Jackson’s fellow celebrities are keeping
mum, others have jumped to his defense. Elizabeth Taylor, once the
biggest star on the planet but now mainly known as Jackson’s pal,
insists he’s innocent, as do fans who have held candlelight vigils
around the world. Many accuse the boy of running a scam without
explaining how they happen to know.
Germaine Jackson can be forgiven a little excess in
defense of his brother but his notion that this is a “lynching”
presumes not just Jackson’s innocence but racism and malice on the
part of police and prosecutors. There is too little public
information to jump to either conclusion and Germaine seems awfully
quick to play the race card for a guy who believes the facts will
set his brother free.
Others have Jackson convicted. Attorney Gloria Allred
is not connected to the case but wants authorities to take his
children. Allred is known for butting in on high-profile cases and
recently grabbed a piece of the Laci Peterson murder publicity by
representing Amber Frey, Scott Peterson’s ex-girlfriend and a
potential witness. There is no more reason to believe Frey needs an
attorney – or can afford Allred – than to think Allred has any
insight on the Jackson case. It does get her on the evening news,
which appears to have become the point of this kind of story.
What no one has noticed is that two lives will be
irreversibly changed no matter how this turns out. I suspect
Jackson is not nearly as naïve as he’d have us believe; his career
took a nosedive after similar allegations in 1993 and has only
recently begun to recover. If he is guilty he’ll be imprisoned and
bankrupted and no one will shed any tears. If he is innocent he’ll
be bankrupted anyway and the tears won’t matter.
The greater tragedy will have occurred if Jackson is
guilty. Not only will a young boy have been molested, he’ll have
been violated by the media, knee-jerk attacks from Jackson’s famous
friends, and by fans with nothing to go on but celebrity worship.
If it is painful to think of a child being molested, think of one
whose molester is getting candlelight vigils.
This may well become the “case of the century” as some
predict, though I hope not. Novel as the idea may be, it would be a
good time to leave justice to the courts and let the media find real
news to cover.
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