A Sick & Twisted Dynasty

There are many days in our history that people remember. People remember where they were the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The assassination of John F. Kennedy. The explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. September 11th, 2001. And now...where were you when you heard the verdict? Not guilty on all counts. Michael Jackson was acquitted yesterday on several counts of lewd acts on a child, conspiracy, molested, yadda yadda yadda. I didn't bother to get the technical titles for the charges - if you want to see them go to www.cnn.com. So what do y'all think? I'll tell you what I think. I heard a contributor on CNN yesterday on the radio - just minutes before the verdict was read on a live audio feed - who said that he was disappointed cameras weren't allowed into the court room to show the public an example of our justice system at work. I agree. It was obvious from the beginning that the case against Michael Jackson was flawed. It wasn't just flawed, it was really, really flawed. We mustn't forget that one is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If you're on a jury and you can say for even a moment - well it's possible he didn't - then there is doubt. Case closed. The defense took the angle of the accuser's family and the actions that presented them as somewhat shady, and they went at that angle with everything they had. The prosecution tried to ignore it all and hoped it would all amount to nothing in the shadow of a child's accusation. The most profound statement in the coverage just after the verdict was read, came from a commentator at Fox News. I call him a commentator because that's all Fox News is. I don't think it's a news program at all. You have to actually go look for stories, get facts and report them to be considered a news program - but I digress...and I watch it for good commentary. Shepard Smith made a statement that after this saga, it must be impossible for Mr. Jackson to not know that now, the world thinks he's a freak. His family are freaks and that all of these freaks should really change their behavior. Stop the sleep overs, Michael. Good point. People who are disappointed in the judicial system should be disappointed in the fact that this man has been in the public eye for decades and has shown to us all for all these years we have seen that there is something wrong with Michael Jackson. His behavior suggests a deeply rooted psychological problem. And what did we do? We bought it. We bought the tabloids, we bought the publicity and we bought into it. Hook, line and sinker. Nobody ever bothered to tell this man or his family for that matter - hey...there's um, something wrong with you guys. It's not healthy. You need some help, at least for the benefit of your son. No one ever cared enough to do so. Instead we let it fester like a boil and yesterday was the painful lancing that did nothing but leave us with a bigger mess. Nothing like some bitter resentment for the press, celebrification and commentary with my morning coffee.