It was tabloid news time on Fox News over the weekend. It's not nearly as good without Rita Cosby, but Geraldo was there to do his schtick. Geraldo is a big supporter of Jacko, and Geraldo doesn't even try to hide his bias behind that Fair and Balanced facade. Geraldo's story is that Jacko is innocent, albeit a little misguided, and that all this silly trial business is just... well, that's where Geraldo kind of trails off into gibberish because other than the old they're-lying-grifters-out-for-money, he can't come up with a reason for going through this whole prosecution fiasco that makes any sense. He did toss in the suggestion that there's racism at work here because there was careful planning to be sure there were no African-Americans on the jury. Right. There's Hispanics and relatives of sex offenders which normal people consider minority representation. Except Geraldo. He's still hanging onto the race card.
It didn't take long to get the idea that Rivera is the only media person out there who gives much credibility to Jacko's innocence. It seems that, on the basis of one last look at the police questioning of the accuser during the initial investigation, the courtroom was swayed toward the boy's side. That must have been some kind of impressive tape because for months all the media has been saying is that the boy's mother is a liar ergo so is he. There was even talk about how the mother sent the boy for acting lessons. So taken to its logical conclusion, I'd have thought the last minute airing of the police tape would have been riddled with accusations of acting. Instead, Dan Abrams was almost moved to tears. Others talked about how powerful that video was. And what did Jacko have to counterbalance that tape? A video of him talking about having celebrity chimp parties. Geraldo was the only one I heard who was swayed by the chimp parties rather than the accuser's emotional discomfort at talking about being molested. But then this is Geraldo who once seriously did a piece encouraging people across the country to participate in an Adopt-A-Horse program. Wild mustang horses. First you have to catch it, and if it doesn't stomp you to death in the process, then you can adopt it.
The rest of the media had an epiphany that last day in court during the summations. All of sudden they noticed that Jackson didn't look well. He'd lost weight. No one could say with a straight face that his color wasn't too good or that he looked peaked, because we all know that's his natural look. But since his dad says he's not eating and has lost weight, OMG! Jacko is worried. One media stooge mentioned that if Jacko goes to jail he'll have to lose the wig and the plastic nose. So THAT'S why the judge didn't revoke his bail and put him in lock up when he pulled all those stunts being late. No one wants to face the wigless, noseless moonwalker on a daily basis if they don't have to. It's okay for other prisoners awaiting Jacko in his new home to see that, but us regular folks must be spared.
So what does Jackson do now that the media has, for the most part, gone over to the other side? He gets sick again. Stories start surfacing about unapproved machines showing up at Never Land. Machines that have something to do with regulating the heart. There's hydration problems. With Jacko, not the machine. Dick Gregory materializes from nowhere to give medical opinions. Gregory is not a doctor, but this is Jacko-land. We don't bother with trivialities like common sense or credentials.
While no one in the media comes right out and says it, although a few have come close to brushing up against it, after all this time and all these grand stand plays, Jackson still doesn't get it. He still doesn't seem to have a clue that no matter how much he protests that he is Peter Pan living in a magical world, the rest of us don't live there with him so we don't view his life in the way he wants us to. No matter how much he manipulates events.
Michael Jackson has been whining for years that he never had a childhood so he's going to spend the rest of his life recreating one. And if there's events here and there that look like pedophilia, well, so be it. He's Peter Pan, you see.
I don't buy that Peter Pan crap. What I see is a petulent child who will do anything to get his way. That's learned behavior. I have no doubt that he had a seriously screwed up childhood with a family that redefines lunatics. But at some point Michael must have learned how to manipulate the people around him to bend to his will. Because of his celebrity and talent, he pulled the same routine on his fans and those who viewed him with casual amusement.
Only he's not funny. Normal 45 year old men do not sleep with little boys. As hard as Jackson protests his innocence, he has flatly refused to accept the rest of the world's definition of normal by passing it off as something that simply doesn't apply to him. Except laws do apply to him. In spite of the histrionics of hospital visits in the middle of the night and clear attempts to manipulate the press and everyone else watching, the law of the land and of California does apply to him. Now I just hope the jury sees it that way.
